According to Jennings

The boys at Linbury Court Preparatory School are eager to speed up the progress of space travel, and none more so than Jennings, whose first task is to find a suitable helmet. But is it really a good idea to take a dome-shaped glass-case, which previously housed a stuffed woodpecker, and place it over his head? Petrified paintpots!

Jennings and Darbishire's luck is in when they hitch a ride with an international cricketer, and could it be that they've done something right for once when they attempt to apprehend a suspected burglar? Bat-witted clodpoll! According to Jennings is one of a series of 25 books by Anthony Buckeridge. The Jennings stories originated in a series of radio plays for the BBC s Children s Hour, which proved so popular they spawned this delightful series of books.

The tales make liberal use of Buckeridge's inventive schoolboy slang ("fossilised fish hooks!," "crystallised cheesecakes!," and others)