BookRags.com Literature Guides Literature
Guides		 Criticism & Essays Criticism &
Essays		 Questions & Answers Questions &
Answers		 Lesson Plans Lesson
Plans		 My Bibliography Periodic Table U.S. Presidents Shakespeare Sonnet Shake-Up
Research Anything:        
History | Encyclopedias | Films | News | Create a Bibliography | More... Login | Register | Help

Horrible Histories

 Print-Friendly
About 12 pages (3,675 words)

Bookmark and Share Know this topic well? Help others and get FREE products!
Horrible Histories

The front cover of France.
Author Terry Deary
Illustrator Martin Brown; Philip Reeve; Peter Hepplewhite
Cover artist Martin Brown; Philip Reeve; Peter Hepplewhite
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Subject(s) Periods of, and people in, history
Genre(s) Children's; history
Publisher Scholastic
Publication date 1993

Horrible Histories is a series of illustrated books published in the United Kingdom and now from 2007 officially in India 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. In May 2007, 8 of the original series of books were relaunched with new covers and extra content. The remainder will be published over the next two years.

Contents

Titles in progress

2008

  • Horrible Histories Cut-Throat Celts - Feb
  • Horrible Histories Savage Stone Age - Feb
  • Horrible Histories Villains - March
  • Horrible Histories Barmy British Empire - April
  • Horrible Histories Villainous Victorians - April
  • Horrible Histories Savage Sticker Book - April
  • Horrible Histories Wales - May
  • Horrible Histories Angry Aztecs - June
  • Horrible Histories Incredible Incas - June
  • Horrible Histories Fiction - The Egyptians (Jul 08)
  • Horrible Histories Fiction - The Tudors (Jul 08)
  • Horrible Histories Fiction - The Romans (Jul 08)
  • Horrible Histories Fiction - The Victorians (Jul 08)
  • Horrible Histories Handbook - First World War (Sep 08)
  • Horrible Histories Annual 2009 (Oct 08)
  • Horrible Christmas – mini edition (Oct 08)
  • Horrible Histories Fiction - The Greeks (Nov 08)
  • Horrible Histories Fiction - The Vikings (Nov 08)
  • Horrible Histories - Tudors Action Pack
  • Horrible Histories pop-up book

2009 plans

  • A Horrible History of Britain
  • Who's Who in History
  • Horrible Histories Handbook – Second World War
  • Horrible Histories Handbook – Spies
  • Egyptian Shuffle Puzzle
  • Horrible Histories Handbook - Gladiators (Gladiators)
  • Horrible Histories - China - (History of China)
  • Horrible Histories Handbook - Spies

Titles in the series

France.
France.
The Slimy Stuarts.
The Slimy Stuarts.
The Rotten Romans.
The Rotten Romans.

Book categories

Though all of the Horrible History books are part of the same series, they are split up into many sub-series. Here are some of them:

Ordinary books

These are the original books that began the famous series:

  • The Angry Aztecs
  • The Awesome Egyptians
  • The Awful Egyptians
  • The Barmy British Empire
  • The Blitzed Brits
  • The Cut Throat Celts
  • Even More Terrible Tudors
  • The Frightful First World War
  • The Gorgeous Georgians
  • The Groovy Greeks
  • The Incredible Incas
  • The Measly Middle Ages
  • The Rotten Romans
  • The Ruthless Romans
  • The Savage Stone Age
  • The Slimy Stuarts
  • The Smashing Saxons
  • The Stormin' Normans
  • The Terrible Tudors
  • The Vicious Vikings
  • The Vile Victorians
  • The Villainous Victorians
  • The Woeful Second World War

Horrible Histories Two in One

There are also the 'Two Horrible Books in One' versions

  • The Frightful First World War and The Woeful Second World War
  • The Groovy Greeks and the Rotten Romans
  • Gorgeous Georgians and Vile Victorians
  • Smashing Saxons and Stormin' Normans
  • The Terrible Tudors and The Slimy Stuarts
  • Vicious Vikings and Measly Middle Ages
  • The Barmy British Empire and The Blitzed Brits
  • Angry Aztecs and Incredible Incas

Novelty books

According to the Scholastics [1] website,

  • The Horrible (Wicked) History of the World
  • Awesome Annual 2007
  • The Mad Miscellany
  • Cruel Crime & Painful Punishment

are considered Novelty Books, and are not classified with the ordinary books.

Specials

There are a few books in the Horrible Histories series that have a special sign on the front cover stating that they are part of the Special sub-series of Horrible Histories. They are:

  • Rotten Rulers
  • England
  • France
  • The USA
  • Ireland
  • Rowdy Revolutions
  • Bloody Scotland
  • The Twentieth (20th) Century
  • Wicked Words
  • Cruel Kings and Mean Queens

Horrible Histories Cities

Some Horrible Histories books have been based around a particular city, rather than a nation or a specific time period. They also have a map when the front cover is folded out, and explain some structures in the city when the back cover is folded out. Therefore, many people consider them to be a sub-series as well. (Even though Loathsome London doesn't have these qualities, it is still based on a city.) They consist of:

  • Oxford
  • Stratford-upon-Avon
  • Dublin
  • York
  • Edinburgh
  • Loathsome London

Handbooks

The Horrible Histories Handbooks also differ from the original books. They have colour and are shaped differently. They consist of:

  • Warriors
  • Knights
  • Pirates
  • Witches

Quiz books

Sometimes, as well as the ordinary books, there is a quiz book that comes with it, testing your knowledge of that particular subject. They are:

  • The Awesome Ancient Quiz Book
  • The Horribly Huge (Massive Millennium) Quiz Book

Others

These are the books that don't fit into the other categories. They are:

  • Dreadful Diary
  • The Mad Millennium
  • Poisonous Postcards

Sticker & Activity Books

See Sticker and Activity Books

Horrible Histories fiction

See Horrible Histories Fiction

Book Makeover

Terry Deary has resold 8 of his books in a new style. According to the Horrible Herald [2] (A ficticious newspaper made by Terry Deary), the new books have more information on the back cover, an index and lots more quiz questions. He also states that he will resell the rest of his books in the near future. The new books inlcude: The Measly Middle Ages and The Awesome Egyptians.

Contradictions

In the Horrible Histories series, there are two books titled The Horrible History of the World and The Wicked History of the World; however, they are the same book, only with different headings. To confuse things further, compact and mini editions are planned for release at the end of 2007. The same incident occurred with The Horribly Huge Quiz Book and Massive Millennium Quiz Book, and The Mad Millennium and Mad Millennium Play. Also, there are two different covers for Horrible Christmas, as well as new paperback, compact and mini editions soon to be published.

Controversy

The book Bloody Scotland drew the ire of the tiny 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". They reported the book to the Commission for Racial Equality, who rejected their claim [1]. The National Trust was unhappy with Cruel Kings and Mean Queens because it made jokes about Prince Charles's ears (the prince is the trust's patron) and Queen Elizabeth II[1]. According to Terry Deary's homepage "Several of the books have been banned in some places" [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 .

Sticker and activity books

There are also quite a number of 'Horrible Histories Sticker and Activity Books'

Audio tapes

There is also a large collection of Audio tapes including:

  • The Woeful Second World War
  • The Terrible Tudors
  • The Vicious Vikings
  • The Frightful First World War
  • The Groovy Greeks
  • The Vile Victorians
  • The Measly Middle Ages
  • The Rotten Romans
  • The Savage Stone Age
  • The Stormin' Normans

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:

Magazine 5: The Measly Middle Ages
Magazine 5: The Measly Middle Ages

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

The magazine collection may be relaunched in the UK from January 2008.

TV

There has also been a TV series made out of Horrible Histories featuring Stitch and Mo as they embark on journeys to discover the real secrets of the past - the gory ones. The series consists of: (This list is incomplete)

Season 1

  • Episode 1: Terrible Tudors

Original Air Date: 1 January 2001

  • Episode 2: Angry Aztecs

Original Air Date: January 2001

  • Episode 3: Measly Middle Ages

Original Air Date: January 2001

  • Episode 4: Vicious Vikings

Original Air Date: 1 February 2001

  • Episode 5: Groovy Greeks

Original Air Date: 2001

  • Episode 6: Rotten Romans

Original Air Date: 8 February 2001

  • Episode 7: The Wild West

Original Air Date: 2001

  • Episode 8: Savage Stone Age

Original Air Date: 21 February 2001

  • Episode 9: Revolting Revolution

Original Air Date: 21 February 2001

  • Episode 10: Royal Pain

Original Air Date: 1 March 2001

  • Episode 11: Ingenious Industrialists

Original Air Date: 7 March 2001

  • Episode 12: Marvelous Marco Polo

Original Air Date: 28 March 2001

  • Episode 13: Trading Timbuktu

Original Air Date: 6 April 2001

Season 2

  • Episode 1: Battlin' Bolivar

Original Air Date: 1 January 2002

  • Episode 2: Amazing Aussies

Original Air Date: 8 January 2002

  • Episode 3: Challenging China

Original Air Date: 15 January 2002

  • Episode 4: Magnificent Mounties

Original Air Date: 22 January 2002

  • Episode 5: Rockin' Renaissance

Original Air Date: 29 January 2002

  • Episode 6: Ancient Egypt

Original Air Date: January 2002

  • Episode 7: Perilous Plagues

Original Air Date: 14 February 2002

  • Episode 8: Stormin' Scots

Original Air Date: 21 February 2002

  • Episode 9: Surprising Samurai

Original Air Date: 28 February 2002

  • Episode 12: Extraordinary Explorers

Original Air Date: January 2002
A brand new television series based on the books is currently being discussed.

Kellogs/Telegraph audiobooks

Horrible Histories teamed up with Kellogs to produce a set of audiobooks for the following books:

  • The Rotten Romans
  • The Vicious Vikings
  • The Measly Middle Ages
  • The Vile Victorians
  • Incredible Ireland
  • The Terrible Tudors

All of the CDs are read by Terry Deary and were available inside some Kellogs cereals. In addition, the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph gave away four free audiobooks over a two week period in October 2006. They were:

  • The Awesome Egyptians
  • The Ruthless Romans
  • The Frightful First World War
  • The Woeful Second World War

Between 8th and 14th September 2007, the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph gave away 7 new Horrible Histories audiobooks, again read by Terry Deary and adapted from his books. They were:

  • The Villainous Victorians
  • The Savage Stone Age
  • The Angry Aztecs
  • The Incredible Incas
  • The Cut Throat Celts
  • The Groovy Greeks
  • The Barmy British Empire

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 08)
  • Horrible Histories Fiction - The Egyptians (Jul 08)
  • Horrible Histories Fiction - The Tudors (Jul 08)
  • Horrible Histories Fiction - The Victorians (Jul 08)
  • Horrible Histories Fiction - The Greeks (Nov 08)
  • Horrible Histories Fiction - The Vikings (Nov 08)

Spin-offs

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

References

  1. ^ a b "Horrible Histories Causes Havoc", House of Books, URL retrieved 24 December 2006
  2. ^ <ref>[http://www.terry-deary.net/shop/pages/horrhistory.html "Horrible Histories Causes Havoc"], House of Books, URL retrieved Fri Oct 26 17:51:52 CEST 2007</li></ol></ref>

External links

View More Summaries on Horrible Histories
 
View all | View only answered questions | View only unanswered questions
Ask any question on Horrible Histories and get it answered FAST!
Answer questions in BookRags Q&A and earn points toward
discounted or even FREE Study Guides and other BookRags products!
Learn more about BookRags Q&A
Copyrights
Horrible Histories from Wíkipedia. ©2006 by Wíkipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. View a list of authors or edit this article.

Article Navigation
Join BookRagslearn moreJoin BookRags
About BookRags | Customer Service | Report an Error | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy |