The Wentworth Papers
3 total works
'It appears to me that a simple, straightforward account of my life in retirement from day to day should suffice to show that, for a variety of interests, civic sense, tolerance and a readiness to meet and mingle with all sorts and conditions of men and (up to a point of course) women, a retired schoolmaster can hold a candle to any Tom, Dick or Harry...'
So writes A. J. Wentworth (B.A.), formerly a teacher of mathematics at Burgrove prep school for boys, now passing his retirement years in a typically English rural village where somehow he seems unable to stay out of trouble. Indeed he lurches from mishap to misunderstanding, whether at the Conservative Association or the local am-dram society, the cricket club dinner or the vicarage Christmas Party. His pièce de resistance is the escorting of two schoolboys on a trip to Switzerland that unexpectedly detours into Italy. The misadventures that Wentworth records are many, but the reader soon sees that he brings them upon himself - by being irredeemably self-important, generally incompetent and persistently accident-prone.
Wentworth is the comic creation of H.F. Ellis, and was first introduced to readers in the pages of Punch magazine. A.J. Wentworth, B.A. (Retd) was first published in 1962, a sequel to The Papers of A.J. Wentworth, B.A. (1949). There is pathos as well as great humour in Wentworth's self-delusion, and he ranks alongside the Grossmiths' Mr Pooter as a classic comic study in blinkered English manners.
The last of the humorous fictional memoirs of a hapless assistant schoolmaster.
It is to be A.J. Wentworth’s final appearance on the scholastic scene. Once more he dons his cap and gown – or, to be more precise, Rawlinson’s cap and gown – and returns to Burgrove for just one more time.
His final term includes a brief but broadening visit to the United States, in addition to the usual intellectual cut and thrust of the classroom. Whether he’s causing a stir on Fifth Avenue, or merely ‘trying to knock a bit of sense into a bunch of thick-headed boys,’ A.J. Wentworth fumbles, blusters and generally carries on.
A comic study in blinkered English manners, the Wentworth Papers will delight fans of P.G. Wodehouse or Grossmiths' Mr Pooter. First introduced to readers in the pages of Punch magazine, it was later dramatized for both BBC Radio and ITV drama.
Editorial reviews:‘A splendid comic hero … cannot fail to engage the sympathy of everyone who has ever sat in a classroom either as master or pupil … Few books have made me laugh out loud quite so often.’ Evening Standard
‘I was often helpless with laughter. Not a book to be read in public.’ The Oldie
‘A truly comic invention.’ The Guardian
‘Masterly caricature.’ Times Literary Supplement
‘Wentworth turns out to be the hero of a work certain to be pigeon-holed as a minor classic by which people usually mean a classic more readable than the major kind … a man Mr Pooter would regard with awe but nevertheless recognise as a brother.’ Spectator
‘A book of such hilarious nature that I had to give up reading it in public.’ New Statesman
‘One of the funniest books ever.’ Sunday Express
The second of the humorous fictional memoirs of a hapless schoolmaster.
A. J. Wentworth, formerly teacher of mathematics at Burgrove prep school for boys, now passes his retirement years in a typically English rural village where somehow he seems unable to stay out of trouble.
Wentworth lurches from mishap to misunderstanding, whether at the Conservative Association or the local dramatic society, the cricket club dinner or the vicarage Christmas Party. His pièce de résistance proves to be the escorting of two schoolboys on a trip to Switzerland that unexpectedly detours into Italy.
A comic study in blinkered English manners, the Wentworth Papers will delight fans of P.G. Wodehouse or Grossmiths' Mr Pooter. First introduced to readers in the pages of Punch magazine, it was later dramatized for both BBC Radio and ITV drama.
Editorial reviews:‘A splendid comic hero … cannot fail to engage the sympathy of everyone who has ever sat in a classroom either as master or pupil … Few books have made me laugh out loud quite so often.’ Evening Standard
‘I was often helpless with laughter. Not a book to be read in public.’ The Oldie
‘A truly comic invention.’ The Guardian
‘Masterly caricature.’ Times Literary Supplement
‘Wentworth turns out to be the hero of a work certain to be pigeon-holed as a minor classic by which people usually mean a classic more readable than the major kind … a man Mr Pooter would regard with awe but nevertheless recognise as a brother.’ Spectator
‘A book of such hilarious nature that I had to give up reading it in public.’ New Statesman
‘One of the funniest books ever.’ Sunday Express