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The man who made history horrible
Onward, onward rode the . . .er . . .three in The Charge of the Light Brigade. Picture: Ian Tilton Horrible Histories has grown from a
book into a series into films, TV and stage shows introducing a more
interesting history view of hiostory, with all its gory, nasty and yucky
bits to generations of schoolchildren – and adults. Diane Parkes has had
a Q and A session with its author, Terry Deary Q: When you wrote your first Horrible Histories
did you ever imagine the idea would go on to be so successful? A: We didn't at all. I had written about 50 books
by then and had got used to the idea of them selling for a few months
and then going out of print. With the first Horrible Histories I wrote
the publisher said ‘writing is like a sausage machine and you have to
keep stuffing in at one end so something comes out the other end – it is
like a process'. But I never imagined I would have a series which would
become first of all iconic and secondly that would still be selling 20
years later because books, especially children's books, don't tend to do
that. I mean, there is Roald Dahl, but I can't think of anyone else who
is still selling so well. What usually happens is that people have
sensational ideas and they sell really well for a while but they do tend
to come and go. It is a shame you can't predict which are the ones which
will last! Q: What do you believe is behind the popularity
of Horrible Histories? A: Nobody had done anything like them before and
they filled a desperate need. There were fact books for children but
they tended to be written by experts on the subject. They knew their
history but they didn't have a clue how to write about it for children.
So with Horrible Histories, instead of an expert who couldn't write,
they approached a children's author who knew nothing about history. I
get all my facts from research. I do my research and say ‘you will never
guess what I discovered' and ‘phwoar, this is great'. It is actually a
simple answer. I say I am not an expert in history and this is why they
work. Down the years people have tried to copy Horrible Histories by
doing funny fact books but they never get it right because they use
experts not writers. Q: Have you ever found any facts which were too
horrible to include? A: Well the publishers have said so. For example
when the Vikings invaded they became settlers and had families here.
But these settlers were as vicious as the Vikings and when they invaded
a Viking village they would find a Viking child, swing it by its legs
and bash its brains out. But when I told the publishers they said ‘we
can't have that' which is strange as I can't see it is any worse than
some of the other parts which have been included. On the other hand there are facts which some
people feel you can't talk about, say in World War Two. For example when
we came to the television series, we were sitting round the table and we
talked all about the bombings and the Blackout and got that sorted. Then
we got to the Holocaust and there were six or seven pages and they read
them in silence and then said ‘of course we can't do that'. I am
actually quite proud of the fact that television can't do the Holocaust
but I can. In fact I have only ever had one comment about it
and that was very recent when I received a letter from a Jewish woman
saying her Rabbi had told her Jewish children should not be exposed to
facts about the Holocaust until they are 13 and what age were my books
aimed at? But it isn't a matter of age, a child is ready when they are
ready. You, the parent, should know your children and should know
whether they are ready to read about these things.
But you shouldn't not tell that story. All
children should be disturbed by that story and to not tell them would be
to lie to them. And children are lied to, they are lied to in history
lessons all the time. Schools lie to children about history. When I went
to school it was all about the Romans. It was the Romans who brought
civilisation, the Romans who gave us water supplies and aqueducts, the
Romans who brought us straight roads – that is what they told us all the
time. But the Romans were the most evil people there were. They are the
only people who killed people for sport. Thousands of them would go to
an arena and watch people killed for sport and they are held up as
models of civilisation. And, because teachers are telling them that,
children grow up thinking the Romans were really civilised. Q: This tour is Terrible Tudors and Vile
Victorians. Why do you think these two eras are particularly appealing
to children? A: The Tudors were on the cusp between the Middle
Ages and the modern ages. In some ways they were very modern and stable
and yet in others they were totally barbaric. People were being burnt
alive, hanged, drawn and quartered. It was a time of real upheaval. Part of the reason the Tudors are so popular is
that children study them in school. Some numpty in Whitehall said ‘I
think children should learn about the Tudors'. So it is all about the
Tudors, the Victorians, the Vikings and World War Two. There are
thousands of children growing who are not learning anything about the
Saxons, or the Normans, the Middle Ages or the Georgians. All because
someone somewhere said children can't learn so much. These people are
deciding what children will learn. Someone even said that children will
do Hitler three times on the school curriculum but never do the Middle
Ages at all. Q: The Tudor kings and queens were particularly
terrible though? A: One of the points I try to make is that
somebody, through an accident of birth, happens to end up on the throne
and they are cruel or stupid. Henry VIII was a psychopath. He is
remembered because he did outrageous things. Children in school are told
he was cruel but he was a strong leader and therefore he was good. But
he wasn't. You know he emptied the treasury of England to go to war with
France because that was some kind of fetish for him. He wanted to be
seen as a warrior king. The man was an idiot. He ruled over a country
which was so inhumane but because he was king he got away with it. There is a story that the Bishop of Rochester's
cook was upset and so he cooked a dinner and added some herbs to give
the guests diarrhoea. It worked but two of the guests died. When Henry
VIII found out about this he said ‘hanging is too good for this man, I
want him boiled in his own pot'. And when he was told the law did not
allow him to boil someone alive he said ‘change the law' and they did. He was utterly barbaric and was able to be so
just because he was born who he was. Monarchs are an utter waste of
time. You wouldn't have seen me celebrating the Jubilee. Q: Barmy Britain is a sweep through our history
in an hour. How did you decide what to include and what to leave out? A: We had already written the stage versions of
the Romans, Tudors and Victorians so we already had that material. We
then wanted to include World War Two and the Blitz and a bit of the
Middle Ages. It is very much a fast run through of English history. Q: Why do Horrible Histories work so well on
stage? A: We work really well as a team. BSC
actor/director Neal Foster is very knowledgeable and experienced in
children's theatre. BSC has been going 20 years now. I have been a
professional actor for 40 years. So, between us, we know what we are
doing. We are not trying to write literary stuff. It isn't the books on
stage, we are not determined to be true to the books, we are writing for
theatre. So it is fresh and original. Q: So what next for Terry Deary? A: I am working on some adult books. One is a
novel about football and I am also doing a history series for adults.
They are stories about real people. They will have a layer of humour and
will be a bit gruesome. They are more or less Horrible Histories for
adults but we can never ever use that title.
Q: After all this research are you now an
accidental history expert? A: I am not encyclopaedic because I can't retain
it all in my brain. I have only got about three brain cells. I often
forget what I have written because I can't hold all those facts. I pick
up a Horrible Histories book, maybe to revise it, and I read something
and think ‘I never knew that!' But I can be an anorak with facts. I was watching
Horrible Histories on television and up came the Vile Victorians and
along came Burke and Hare, the body snatchers. And I was jumping up and
down and shouting at the television ‘no, they were 1827 – 12 years
before Victoria came to the throne. They weren't Vile Victorians!' Now
that is anorak.” *Birmingham Stage Company performs Horrible
Histories – The Terrible Tudors and the Vile Victorians at Birmingham
Town Hall on Sept 25-29. Tickets: 0121 345 0601, www.thsh.co.uk |
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