Atkinson has been given a player's autograph at a cricket match.
'The chap's writing's a bit wobbly...but if you look at it one way up it looks like B.K.Inman, and upside down it might be E.J.O'Reilly.'
'And which do you think it was?'
'Well, it's probably Smith, sir, because there wasn't an Inman or an O'Reilly in either of the teams.'
My copy of Jennings Goes To School has been read to pieces. It still makes me laugh and laugh, despite the fact that the world of a boys' boarding school has never been relevant to me.
But who needs relevant? I mean, if something's relevant then I'm bound to find out about it anyway. It's other people's worlds I need to explore.
Anthony Buckeridge was an opera singer, as well as a writer. What a guy!
Word to use today: wobbly. This word was wabbly until the 1600s. It's from the Middle High German wabelen, to waver.
I used to love these books. Does any child get led to them today? They must surely still be in print. Word Den might be leading the way to a revival. Hope so...long overdue!
ReplyDeleteI love Jennings (though Darbishire was always more my type).
ReplyDeleteAnthony Buckeridge was a man of many talents. He was a member of the Glyndebourne Chorus and I have a video of him playing the (non-singing) role of the Notary in Glyndebourne Festival Opera's The Barber of Seville.