Everyone agreed that Jennings' plan to raise money for a worthy cause was highly commendable. They agreed, too, that Jennings' plans always worked well - on paper! In practice, however, the master-planner's schemes ran into such difficulties between lift-off and splash-down that he was frequently obliged to improvise new plans in order to stave off the disasters caused by the old ones! There was, for example, The Plan of the Secret Haircut, and The Plan of the Antique Piano - and other schemes which failed at the moment of crisis...
Anthony Malcolm Buckeridge was born in London but following the death of his banker father in the First World War he moved with his mother to Ross-on-Wye to live with his grandparents.
At the end of the war they returned to London where he developed a taste for theatre and writing. A scholarship from the Bank Clerks' Orphanage fund permitted his mother to send him to Seaford College boarding school in Sussex. His experiences as a schoolboy there were instrumental in his later work, particularly in his famous Jennings series of novels.
Following the death of his grandfather, the family moved to Welwyn Garden City where his mother worked in promoting the new suburban utopia to Londoners. In 1930 Buckeridge began work at his late father's bank but soon tired of it. Instead he took to acting including an uncredited part in Anthony Asquith's 1931 film 'Tell England'.
After marrying his first wife, Sylvia Brown, he enrolled at University College London where he involved himself in Socialist and anti-war groups and he was later to become an active member of CND. Unfortunately at university he did not take a degree after failing Latin.
By then the couple had two children and, with a young family to support, he found himself teaching in Suffolk and Northamptonshire, which again provided further experiences for his later work. During the Second World War, he was called up as a fireman and wrote several plays for the stage before returning to teaching in Ramsgate.
He used to tell his pupils stories about the fictional character Jennings, who was based on an old school chum of his, Diarmid Jennings. Diarmid was a prep schoolboy boarding at Linbury Court Preparatory School, where the headmaster was Mr Pemberton-Oakes.
After World War II, he wrote a series of radio plays for the BBC's Children's Hour chronicling the exploits of Jennings and his rather more staid friend, Darbishire. 'Jennings Learns the Ropes', the first of his radio plays, was broadcast on 16 October 1948. And then in 1950, the first of 26 Jennings novels, 'Jennings Goes to School' was published.
'Jennings Follows a Clue' appeared in 1951 and then Jennings novels were published regularly through to 1977 before he reappeared in the 1990s with three books that ended with 'That's Jennings' in 1994. The books were as well known and as popular as Frank Richards' Billy Bunter books in their day and were translated into a number of other languages.
The stories of middle class English schoolboys were especially popular in Norway where several were filmed. The Norwegian books and films were rewritten completely for a Norwegian setting with Norwegian names and Jennings is called "Stompa". And in France Jennings was, rather oddly, known as Bennett!
He also wrote five novels featuring a north London Grammar School boy, Rex Milligan, one other novel, 'A Funny Thing Happened: The First [and only] Adventure of the Blighs' (1953), wrote a collection of short stories, 'Stories for Boys' (1957), his autobiography, 'While I Remember' (1999) and edited an anthology, 'In and Out of School' (1958).
In 1962 he met his second wife, Eileen Selby. They settled near Lewes where he continued to write and from where he also appeared in small (non-singing) roles at Glyndebourne.
He was awarded the OBE in 2003.
He died on 28 June 2004 after a spell of ill health with his second wife Eileen and three children, two from his first marriage, surviving him.
Kocak parah 🤣 such a nostalgic vibes baca serial Jennings, seandainya GPU bersedia cetul serial ini.. Padahal serial serupa seperti Malory Towers sudah dicetul entah berapa kali, kenapa Jennings tidak disentuh yak?? Pokoknya Serahkan saja padahal Jennings jika butuh bacaan ringan menghibur nan kocak yang sanggup membuat tertawa terbahak bahak tiada henti, minimal tersenyum senyum sendiri saat membaca😅😂
Buku Jenning pertama yang saya baca, dan langsung jadi fans :D
Kisahnya tentang petualangan penghuni sekolah asrama di Inggris; terutama tentang si sableng Jennings, sobatnya yang nggak kalah sablengnya Darbishire, dan guru mereka yang galak-galak-baik Pak Wilkie. Di setiap buku, selalu ada plot konyol yang dijalankan Jennings dkk. dan membuat mereka harus sering-sering mengakali guru-guru dan peraturan asrama yang superketat. Khas bocah laki-laki seumuran itu lah: hal-hal sepele sekalipun bisa dibuat seseru mungkin dan dianggap seperti medan perang yang memerlukan strategi mahapenting.
Mungkin yang paling saya suka dari Jennings, Darbi, dan teman-teman mereka adalah bahwa mereka sering bersikap bandel dan melanggar peraturan untuk tujuan yang mulia. Di buku ini misalnya, gol utamanya adalah mengumpulkan dana untuk beramal kepada kaum fakir miskin, walau dengan cara yang nyeleneh dan penuh rentetan kekonyolan. Sementara plot utama berjalan, pembaca pun dikocok perutnya oleh berbagai kejadian seru bin lucu di keseharian bocah-bocah ini.
Seingat saya, Darbi benar-benar jadi 'bintang lapangan' di judul ini:
-Sewaktu jadi kiper di pertandingan penting, bukannya menjaga gawang dengan baik dan benar, malah baca komik
-Gagal ngasih sebelah sepatu ke Jennings sehingga sahabatnya itu harus bertanding dengan sepatu belang-belang
-Sewaktu rambut Jennings jadi bling-bling gara-gara main-main dengan cat semprot, si Darbi berusaha menyelesaikan masalah dengan memangkas rambut Jennings... pakai GUNTING KUKU (*sumpah yang ini ngakak abis).
Kadang saya berpikir apakah tokoh-tokoh di buku ini berdasarkan kenyataan, atau jangan-jangan karakter Jennings ini adalah perwujudan Anthony Buckeridge cilik semasa ia bersekolah. Keriuhan dari buku ini bersumber dari persiapan para siswa Linbury Court dalam perayaan "Guy Fawkes Night", malam peringatan atas suatu kejadian bersejarah dimana terjadi kegagalan percobaan pembunuhan terhadap Raja Inggris (I'm not sure, CMIIW).
Benih-benih kekacauan mulai terasa pada saat Jennings dan teman-teman membuat boneka Guy Fawkes yang rencananya akan diarak keliling desa dan dibakar pada malam api unggun. Parahnya lagi, tanpa sengaja mereka mengambil jaket Pak Wilkins, guru yang terkenal pemarah dan tak sabaran, untuk dipasangkan di boneka itu.
Dari situlah rangkaian kekacauan yang sangat konyol dimulai.
Many years after I first read this book it still makes me laugh out loud and I can now appreciate something I probably didn't notice on my first reading which is how much attention to cadence and rhythmic consistency is evident in each sentence. The boarding-school japes of Jennings and his friend Darbishire might seem dated to some, but I revere Anthony Buckeridge as someone who made me laugh more than any other writer when I read him as a boy.
The Jennings books represent English boarding school fiction at its best. Believable, but not spoilt by overt realism. Funny. Sympathetic. Educational (how to talk yourself out of trouble). A great read at any age. “Trust Jennings” is a particularly apt read for this time of year, as the days pass closer to Guy Fawkes (November 5th). Budding inventors /lawyers will lap up the lesson on copyright protection.
Jennings and Darbyshire are winsome young schoolboys. Buckeridge is a master of cause, effect and consequence. He effortlessly builds towering plots, each plank within each scene is perfectly believable; yet when taken together the reader wakes up to the utter improbability of it all. Every adventure/mishap begins with the very highest of good intentions … but somehow the eventual outcome is never, just never, quite as originally planned by the boys and their classmates.
Note how clever Buckeridge’s perfectly described “Contents” list is. Read the book once, and one instantly knows exactly where to look back to find whichever of Jenning’s escapades one’s thinking of.
Iseng mbongkar tumpukan, nemu empat novel Jennings yg belum kebaca. Seri ini adalah salah satu seri favorit gw, bahkan sejak pertama baca jaman SMP dulu. Namun, entah kenapa, buku ini ngilangnya cepet banget. Gw harap ada yg mau nyetak ulang, mengingat Lima Sekawan aja terbit ulang *berdoa*
Seperti biasa, bukan J.C.T. Jennings namanya kalo nggak bikin masalah pas sekolah mau ngadain event besar. Mulai ketidaksengajaannya mengosongkan kolam renang sekolah tetangga, memakaikan jaket kesayangan pak Wilkins ke boneka orang-orangan sawah yg mau dibakar hingga mengumpulkan sumbangan di pinggir jalan. Yang jelas, segala keisengan Jennings tersebut selalu bikin dag-dig-dug, kira-kira ketahuan nggak ya? Tapi memang Opa Anthony sayang sama Jennings. Meski isengnya minta ampun, keberuntungan Jennings kalo ditotal bisa-bisa kalo dipake beli Lotto malah menang besar. Yakali....
At this stage in the series, Buckeridge's struggle for ideas continues. Every single situation that comes about in this book is through some behaviour – often from Jennings, sometimes from another character – that I simply don't believe, by any stretch of the imagination. This is a new candidate for worst Jennings book, but it does have a couple of decent moments; Darbishire reading in goal deserves an honourable mention.
Highlight: Jennings writes a letter to Miss Thorpe concerning arrangements for a trip into Dunhambury. Lowlight: Mr Hind sends Jennings and Darbishire to fetch 'rubbish' for the bonfire from the head's garden totally unsupervised, and isn't even there anymore when they bring back their findings.
Jennings si pecicilan dan aksinya yang selalu membuat masalah. Jennings ini saya pikir terlalu beruntung, semua tindakan yang dia lakukan, yang berakhir kacau balau, selalu terselamatkan oleh keadaan. Jadinya dia tidak belajar untuk lebih mawas diri atau hati-hati, karena pada akhirnya dia selalu lolos. Kurang sreg disininya sih. Dia juga dua kali menimpakan kesalahan pada orang lain, padahal dia yang salah. Yah dasar anak-anak sih.
Tapi beberapa bagian lucu, terutama menyangkut rambut gondrong Jennings.
"Pokoknya aku tidak ingin melihatmu berkeliaran dengan penampilan seperti anjing gembala yang gondrong.."
"Dia kelihatan seperti yak, sapi gondrong yang hidup di Tibet itu."
"Saya tidak mau melihat tumpukan jerami berjalan di sekolah ini selama dua minggu."
I found the old Armada paperback version (1973 edition) of this book in a second-hand book shop recently. This simple and highly entertaining tale about Jennings and his friends' attempts to raise money for famine relief made me laugh out loud.
Jennings is just super spiffing stuff! In this book we are not being asked to trust Jennings. The title refers to his ability to get into all kinds of amazing and highly improbable situations through over exuberence, imagination, coincidences and general haplessness. Children 8 and up should love these, and I was reading them still at 13 (and now again much older!)
I loved Jennings as a child, and I am not so old that the language of the books was very dated when I read them! So don't let that put you off. Indeed I think the dated prep school slang of Jennings really adds to the charm of these books which refelct on a slice of life that we all might like to have back.
The books are often hilarious. I devoured this series first time around, borrowing books from friends who loved them too. Recently I have been buying up and completing my collection, and re-reading them from the start.
Highly recommended. Personally I preferred these to Just William and other such stories.
Jennings is just super spiffing stuff! In this book we are not being asked to trust Jennings. The title refers to his ability to get into all kinds of amazing and highly improbable situations through over exuberence, imagination, coincidences and general haplessness. Children 8 and up should love these, and I was reading them still at 13 (and now again much older!)
I loved Jennings as a child, and I am not so old that the language of the books was very dated when I read them! So don't let that put you off. Indeed I think the dated prep school slang of Jennings really adds to the charm of these books which refelct on a slice of life that we all might like to have back.
The books are often hilarious. I devoured this series first time around, borrowing books from friends who loved them too. Recently I have been buying up and completing my collection, and re-reading them from the start.
Highly recommended. Personally I preferred these to Just William and other such stories.
I really feel that the comedic situations in this book are - on the whole - far too forced. Obviously the Jennings stories have always relied on farce and coincidence to make them work, but this is the first book that has left me questioning the in-universe credibility of the set-up. Also, the ludicrously misjudged Miss Thorpe/bird metaphors are almost certainly at their worst here. However, the familiar charm of Linbury Court and its inhabitants is still there, so I couldn't bring myself to give this book only one star.
It's getting very hard to choose highlights because the books aren't making me laugh out loud anymore, although the misapprehension that Mr Pemberton-Oaks was labouring under that Jennings and the rest of the gang wanted to borrow his trailer to transport apples (rather than a piano) was probably the closest I came.
punya iyut :) -------------------------- serahkan saja pada jennings! kalimat itu sering muncul di buku ini. ini buku jennings yg ptama yg aku baca dan skarang aku ngerti knapa iyut ma sil suka banget ma jennings :) Jennings anak lelaki yg banyak akal, sayang ide2nya selalu melibatkanya dalam masalah.. sebut saja masalah kolam renang di sekolah bracebridge, kunci paviliun olahraga, rambut yg berubah menjadi abu2, pohon2 poplar, jaket p'wilkins, piano.. tp jennings teman2nya slalu berhasil lolos dr masalah2 yg mereka hadapi, paduan keberuntungan dan kebaikan hati :)
"Kenal" Jennings secara ga sengaja. Saat Gramedia mengadakan bursa buku murah "bertemulah" dengan Jennings. So pasti yang dibaca versi bahasa Indonesia-nya lah :D Ga pernah berhenti ketawa dari awal baca sampai tuntas :D dan aq termasuk orang yang terkagum dengan sosok Jennings (yang otaknya seperti jelly hehehe...tapi ide gilanya keren abiez). Masih terbitkah buku ini???Cari di mana ya???Bekas pun tak apa lah...
Kali ini Jennings belajar untuk memikirkan orang lain yang nasibnya tidak sebaik ia dan teman-temannya. Ada saja ide Jennings untuk mengumpulkan sumbangan untuk orang-orang yang kelaparan mulai dari perayaan Guy Fawkes day, penjualan piano kuno dan saat ia menawarkan artikel tulisannya pada pak Carter! Tentu seperti biasa ada saja hal-hal iseng yang dikerjakan Jennings, yah, dia tidak bermaksud demikian tapi jadinya lucu. Cerita yang sangat menarik dari murid-murid kelas 3..