Anthony Buckeridge author of Jennings dies

The first book, Jennings Goes To School in 1950, was followed by 24 others, selling millions worldwide.

Buckeridge continued writing until 2002, when he suffered ill health. His wife of 42 years, Eileen, said the author had "a very peaceful end".

She had nursed Buckeridge through a blood transfusion and the beginnings of Parkinson's Disease.

As well as the Jennings books, Buckeridge also wrote plays and musicals, and his autobiography.

In 2002 he visited the Edinburgh Festival and was awarded an OBE for his services to literature. His wife said the honour brought an "evening glow to a life's work".

"One of the things I have always been pleased about for him was the retrospective view of his books," Mrs Buckeridge said.

Boys' own adventures

"The old stuff on Children's Hour always concentrated on the humour - which is there and added to the popularity - but he has lived long enough to get a reassessment of the literary worth of his writing," she said.

JCT Jennings was an accident-prone 11-year-old at the fictional Linbury Court School.

Jennings was modelled on a boy called Diarmid Jennings, a year older than Buckeridge, who left school at 1928 and moved to New Zealand. Buckeridge never saw him again.

Buckeridge once said of Jennings: "If I had let him grow up he'd probably be drawing the dole now.

"Jennings is often misunderstood. He's not a rebel. No one got hurt by anything he did. There is no chance I will update him and turn him into a glue-sniffer." The books popularised phrases such as "goodo" and "fossilised fish hooks".

As well as his wife, Buckeridge, of Lewes, Sussex, is survived by three children and four grandchildren.

'Could you pleasx sxnd mx somx morx lxttxrs of thx kind that comx bxtween d and f?'

D: Hey Jen, why do I always have to be Australia?
J: What are you whining about, Australia are nearly always the better team.
D: But I'm English as well. I want to be England for once.
J: But by always being Australia you are doing your bit to make sure England keep the Ashes. You should be proud to be of service to your country that way.

This match ended with Darbishire bowling a ball on line for the first time in living memory, and Jennings putting the ball straight into a brand new glass cucumber frame a couple of hundred yards away. Of course major ructions ensued.

Could the estate of the late Mr B sue the Simpsons people for misappropriation of the first word?

In contrast, the William books were simply translated, so that they still took place in an English public school -- and while reasonably popular, they don't compare to Stompa's success at all.

I'm sure neither of us are the first people to think this. Mmm, I think you might be right about his sporting prowess - but he was hampered by his muddleheadedness, hairbrained schemes etc

tribute to Anthony Buckeridge up on the blog now. his leftist politics - never made public until quite late in his life - are very important, i think, and they are certainly the main reason why the books are still read today; his politics ensured that he never filled the books with the sort of class-based prejudices and stereotyping which has prevented many similar books of the same era (and slightly earlier) from enduring in anything like the same way.