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Horrible Histories (book series)

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Horrible Histories
The front cover of France.
AuthorTerry Deary
IllustratorMartin Brown; Philip Reeve; Peter Hepplewhite
Cover artistMartin Brown; Philip Reeve; Peter Hepplewhite
LanguageEnglish
SubjectPeriods of, and people in, history
GenreChildren's; history
PublisherScholastic
Publication date
1993
Publication placeUnited Kingdom

Horrible Histories is a series of illustrated books published in the United Kingdom by Scholastic. They are designed to get children interested in history by concentrating on the trivial, unusual, gory, or unpleasant. The series has proved exceptionally successful in commercial terms. The books are written by Terry Deary and illustrated by Martin Brown.

The first books in the series, The Terrible Tudors and The Awesome Egyptians, were published in June 1993.

Controversy

One particular book, Bloody Scotland, was almost banned in Scotland by the Scottish Separatist Group, who claimed it promoted a UK centric, anti-Scottish viewpoint of Scottish history, using comments like "Cook the haggis until it looks like a hedgehog after the fifteenth lorry has run over it". This section of the book was called Horrible Haggis, which was also annoying to the SSG. [1]. The books were taken to the Commission for Racial Equality, who threw out the claims.

Similarly, the National Trust tried to ban Cruel Kings and Mean Queens because it made jokes about Prince Charles's ears, who happens to be a patron of the Trust; some text on Elizabeth II was also disliked. According to Terry Deary's homepage, the content of the book The USA has been banned in some areas. [2]

There was also some controversy on eBay about The Barmy British Empire, over what Queen Victoria said in the book about her husband, Albert.

Titles in Progress

  • Horrible Histories Annual 2008 - (Aug 07) (Calendar)
  • Horrible Histories Handbook - Witches - (Sept 07) (Witches)
  • Horrible Histories Handbook - Gladiators (Gladiators)
  • Horrible Histories Handbook - Warriors - (Mar 07) (Warriors)
  • Horrible Histories Handbook - Knights (Knights)
  • Horrible Histories Handbook - Villains - (Villains)
  • Horrible Histories - China - (History of China)
  • Horrible Histories City - Oxford - (Feb 07) (History of Oxford)
  • Horrible Histories - Wales - (Feb 08) (History of Wales)
  • Horrible Histories pop-up book - (Sept 08)

Titles in the series

France.
File:Slimystuarts.JPG
The Slimy Stuarts.
File:Rottenromans.JPG
The Rotten Romans.

There are also the 'Two Books in One' versions

  • The Frightful First World War and The Woeful Second World War - (World War 1 and 2)

Magazines

In late 2003 Terry Deary released the Horrible Histories Magazine Collection and in 2005 some of the titles in the series were released as free audiobooks as part of a promotion with breakfast cereal. Here is a list of the 60 Issues of the Magazine in the order in which they are received:

File:HHMagME.jpg
Magazine 5: The Measly Middle Ages
File:HHMagCM.jpg
Christmas Special

According to Horrible Histories, the series had become so popular that they decideded to add another 20 issues including: The Scary Scots: Woad Warriors, Awful England, The Super South Africans, The Shifty 50s, Extraordinary Explorers, The Terrifying Trojans, The Shocking 60s, The Elegant Edwardians and many more.

The issues are as follows:

There have also been three 'special' magazines in the series.

They are:

Fictions

A series of fiction written by Terry Deary about history will be published, but all are still in progress.

  • Horrible Histories Fiction - The Romans - (Jul 07)
  • Horrible Histories Fiction - The Egyptians - (Jul 07)
  • Horrible Histories Fiction - The Tudors
  • Horrible Histories Fiction - The Victorians
  • Horrible Histories Fiction - The Greeks

Spin-Offs

There have been several spin-offs written in a similar style to Horrible Histories:

External links

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