History Literature / Jennings

%%* WhoWouldWantToWatchUs: Jennings at the end of the first book, combined with Mr Carter.

* TheInspectorIsComing: One of the plots in ''Thanks to Jennings''.

** Later, based on examples such as SherlockHolmes, Sexton Blake and Ferrers Locke, they decide that if your character is a GreatDetective, they must have a two-syllable first name and a one-syllable surname.

* CatchPhrase: "D'oh! You silly little boy!" (Mr Wilkins)
** "Fossilised fish-hooks!" "Petrified paint-pots!" "Crystallised cheesecakes!" (Jennings, Darbishire and their fellows)

--> '''Mr Carter:''' What position would you like to play?
--> '''Darbishire:''' ...I think I'd like to be wicket-keeper, sir.
* HardboiledDetective: Flixton Slick - Super Sleuth.

* ItMakesSenseInContext: Teachers are often baffled by the boys' logic for this reason. For example, why Jennings decided to name a guinea pig "F. J. Saunders".
** Also, Temple's nickname being "Bod" seems to come out of nowhere... until you get the story behind it. His full name is "Charles A. Temple", which means his initials are "C.A.T." Naturally, because of this, the kids started calling him "Dog", which was eventually lengthened to "Dogsbody", which was then shortened again to "Bod".
* LastNameBasis: Everyone. It's rare to hear any first names, be they of students or teachers.
* LiteralMinded: Both Jennings and Darbishire, in their conversations with each other -- If one of them uses a metaphor or exaggeration, it's a pretty sure bet that the other one's going to take it literally.

* LongRunningBookSeries

---> '''Jennings:''' We've got a policeman at home--he's not a detective, of course, but he might be one day--and he's called Bill Smithson.
---> '''Darbishire:''' Well he'll never get anywhere as a detective! Unless he turns it around and calls himself "Billson Smith".

* NewMeat: Jennings and Darbishire get treated this way in the first book, ''Jennings Goes To School''; ironically, after Temple and Atkinson convince them the school is a horrible place they must escape, their "heroic" failed escape attempt serves to make Jennings' reputation and ensure they are immediately accepted as equals.
** Especially lampshaded when, after much advice from "veteran" Atkinson, Jennings asks him how long he's been there:

* RedOniBlueOni: Jennings and Darbishire have this dynamic; Jennings impulsive and over-enthusiasthic, Darbishire timid and cautious.

* SugarBowl: Is this the sweetest, loveliest school ever? All the teachers are nice guys really, no one ever gets into any real trouble and bullying doesn't exist.
** Often, the fun part is how the characters manage to convince themselves otherwise, Jennings in particular. He has a tendency to forget or downplay in his mind just how reasonable and understanding the teachers in reality are, and tends to violently exaggerate and blow out of proportion any problems he might run into or inadvertently cause -- going to ludicrous lengths to keep the teachers from finding out and thrashing him within an inch of his life. Though he deep down knows they'd never ''actually'' do this (though corporal punishments are occasionally hinted to take place, they are very rare and never to the extent of Temple's horror stories), he generally acts as if he's convinced they will.

* TheOtherDarrin: Stompa is played by Rolf Kirkvaag Jr. in the first movie and Ole Enger in the following three.

* TwoTeacherSchool: We're told there ''are'' other teachers, but the only ones we meet are Mr Carter and Mr Wilkins, plus occasional appearances by music teacher Mr Hind.

** And the absurdity of such a custom is also {{Lampshaded}} in a couple of the books, in scenes where Lektor Tørrdal talks with some of the parents or grandparents of the boys, and desperately tries to hide that he has no idea whose parents or grandparents they are because he can't remember the boys' real names. During such instances he'll invaritably question whether the nicknaming tradition of the school is really such a good idea.

* {{Spoonerism}}: Darbishire on photographing a squirrel. "It'd make a snappersonic soupshot...I mean, a supersonic snapshot."

* ThudAndBlunder: Darbishire actually comes up with this same spoonerism joke (by accident) [[OlderThanTheyThink over twenty years before Poul Anderson did it]].

* AuthorAvatar: Mr Carter. At the end of the first book, he advises Jennings to make his first term at school into a work of fiction for the school magazine: "You might call it - er - something like "Jennings Goes to School". To which Jennings replies "Well, sir...if you think it's such a good idea, why don't you do it yourself?" And Mr Carter is really quite taken with this idea...

* CompetitionCouponMadness: In "Especially Jennings", Jennings and Darbishire exploit the fact that the school orders hundreds of boxes of a certain cereal to collect hundreds of the prize coupons that come with each pack ([[OhCrap but without noticing you also have to include a cash contribution when ordering the prize]]). Darbishire has a nightmarish ImagineSpot of a family force-feeding themselves to death in order to accumulate the same number of coupons.

* CoveredInMud: Happens to Jennings in "Jennings' Little Hut" and "Jennings, Of Course".

* EconomyCast: There are about 80 students in the entire school (Buckeridge uses "seventy-nine ''pupils''" and "seventy-nine ''boarders''" interchangeably, with at least two named day students).

* ForcedIntoTheirSundayBest: In "Jennings' Little Hut", the pupils are forced to wear their best uniforms when General Merridew, the school's most revered former pupil, is visiting.

* TheInspectorIsComing: One of the plots in "Thanks to Jennings".

** Also, Temple's nickname being "Bod" seems to come out of nowhere... until you get the story behind it. His full name is "Charles A. Temple," which means his initials are "C.A.T." Naturally, because of this, the kids started calling him "Dog," which was eventually lengthened to "Dogsbody," which was then shortened again to "Bod."

---> '''Darbishire:''' Well he'll never get anywhere as a detective! Unless he turns it around and calls himself "Billson Smith"
* MysteriousTeachersLounge: In "Thanks to Jennings" the boys become convinced that the teachers go up to their room after every meal in order to secretly snack on an extra course.

** Especially lampshaded when, after much advice from 'veteran' Atkinson, Jennings asks him how long he's been there:
--> '''Atkinson:''' Me? Oh, I've been here donkeys' years. Ages and ages. Well...two terms, anyway.

* SeriousBusiness: Much of the humour comes from the boys treating random crazes in this way. One example is the Great Underwater Breath-holding Championships that form the opening scene of "Especially Jennings".

* StylisticSuck: Jennings's attempt to write a detective story.