Horrible Histories is an educational entertainment franchise encompassing many media including books, magazines, audio books, stage shows, TV shows, and more.
In 2013, Lisa Edwards, UK publishing and commercial director of Scholastic Corporation, described Horrible Histories as one of the company's "crown jewels", and said it is at an "advanced stage of evolution". She added: "We have covered every possible era that has a commercial outcome...We're now in the era of the box set, annuals, newly presented editions and licensed products".
Books Main series
Horrible Histories began as a book series by author Terry Deary.Jerome de Groot Consuming History: Historians and Heritage in Contemporary Popular ... 2008 p. 39 "Horrible Histories are designed to engage and enthuse the reader about the subject while appearing subversive.30 The books are primarily entertainment, with educative purpose. They are ancillary to school history, offering an iconoclastic ..." The series began in 1993 with The Terrible Tudors and The Awful Egyptians. The following titles continued the trend to describe British history through the context of the ruling dynasties, and explored significant worldwide cultures, often within the context of British history, such as the Viking and Roman conquests on the British Isles. A series of specials and novelty books have been released, and the last book was announced to be released in 2013.
Gory Stories Fiction-type of Horrible Histories books were added to the series, called Gory Stories. The first set of these books were published in July 2008: Gory Stories – Tower of Terror (Terrible Tudors) Gory Stories – Tomb of Treasure (Awful Egyptians) Gory Stories – Wall of Woe (Rotten Romans) Gory Stories – Shadow of the Gallows (Vile Victorians) Gory Stories – Raiders and Ruins (Vicious Vikings) – March 2009 Gory Stories – Blackout in the Blitz (Woeful Second World War) – May 2009 Gory Stories – The Plague of Pain (aka Plague and Peril) (Measly Middle Ages) – 2009 Gory Stories – The Trail of Treasure (aka Pirates and Plunder) (Putrid Pirates) – 2009 Big Book of Gory Stories (Pack of Tomb of Treasure, Wall of Woe and Tower of Terror)
Blackout in the Blitz is listed on Terry Deary's website as Bombs on Britain. On Amazon.co.uk it is listed as Blackout in the Blitz, along with a cover.
Grisly Quiz Book and Gruesome Games Pack.
Film and television 2000 TV series From 2000 to 2001, Horrible Histories was adapted into an animated series consisting of 26 episodes. The premise revolves around kids Mo and Stitch's adventures through time and how they learned lessons that could be applied to their modern-day situations.
2009 TV series In 2009, a live-action series, styled as a sketch show, began airing on CBBC. It won many awards over its 5 series run, including some British Comedy Awards – the first children's show to do so.
With Stephen Fry Horrible Histories with Stephen Fry was an edited version of the 2009 series, hosted by Stephen Fry instead of Rattus Rattus, broadcast in 2011. It was aimed at an adult audience.
2015 TV series In 2015, a A rebooted version of the 2009 sketch show began airing, retaining some members of the original cast in guest roles but with each episode focusing on a particular historical figure. Actors in Series 6 included Ben Miller, Rowan Atkinson, Kathryn Drysdale, Kevin Eldon, Simon Farnaby, Sarah Hadland, Lorna Watson, Jim Howick and Jessica Ransom. This series was directed by Simon Gibney and Ian Curtis. It won an International Emmy Kids Award in Cannes in April 2017 for the episode 'Crooked King John and Magna Carta’. Jessica Ransom won a Children's BAFTA for her performance as Mary Queen of Scots. Episodes continue to be produced.
Gory Games Gory Games is a children's game show, and is a spin-off to the 2009 series. It is hosted by Rattus Rattus and Dave Lamb. Each episode has three contestants competing in challenges to collect Year Spheres.
Films The writers and cast of the 2009 series were responsible for the 2015 family adventure comedy film Bill, a fictional imagining of what happened during the 'lost years' of William Shakespeare's life. Bill has no formal connection to the Horrible Histories franchise, but through its writers, performers, content and humour shows a number of similarities.
In 2019, the film Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans, from a new cast and writing team, was released to positive reviews, though generally less favourable than those for Bill.
Magazines One of the first additions to the franchise was a series of magazines in 2003. A new magazine series was launched in 2012.
2003 series In late 2003 the Horrible Histories Magazine Collection began, a series of magazines based on Terry Deary's book series. They were published by Eaglemoss Publications, distributed by Cornag Magazine Marketing, printed by UK company Headley Bros, colour originated by Icon Reproductions, and released every fortnight. Some of the material was previously published in the Horrible Histories books on the same topics.
Originally planned to be 60, the series was continued with an additional 20. Items in each edition included Terrible Timelines, Wild 'n' Wicked cards, and royal family trees. The set came with tins to put the cards into, files to hold the timelines and trees, and boxes to hold the magazines. Here is a list of the 80 Issues of the magazine in the order in which they are received:
Each issue came with small cards depicting historic people, places, events and customs as well as a collection of timelines. The first 60 issues came with timelines each showing an era of human history, while the later 20 had timelines showing the history of themes such as fashion, art and science. Some of the first 60 issues also had a royal family tree based on a certain period of history. The only exception of for Savage Stone Age, which instead had a comparison of all the ancient forms of man and what they ate.
There have also been three "special" magazines in the series:
S1. Horrible Christmas S2. Cruel Crimes and Painful Punishments S3. Cruel Kings and Mean Queens – (English Monarchs)
The collection would not be relaunched in the UK in September 2009 due to low trial sales., House of Adventure, URL retrieved 7 April 2008
2012 series A monthly Horrible Histories magazine aimed at ages 7 to 10 was launched in the UK in October 2012, published by Immediate Media Company. A digital edition of the magazine was launched in 2013.
Illustrations Across the franchise, Horrible Histories is recognisable by the illustrations of Martin Brown, an Australian cartoonist/illustrator.
Regardless of what type of illustration is required, Brown's first step is to read the accompanying text. With Horrible Histories colleague Terry Deary, his task as a cartoonist is to inject humour into the books. He bounced ideas back and forth, "either coming up with gags to suit the text or interpreting Terry's instructions for best comic or dramatic effect". The third stage is working out how "angles, scale, aspect, style, pace etc" will be considered in the design space.
After that he draws the roughs and the finished drawing. The roughs are first sent to the publishers who make their comments, and then they are sent to Deary. Tweaks are done in the rough stage. In the case of full colours books, the last stage is adding colour. He does it via ink and water-colour, or "the line-work is scanned and sent to a colourist who adds the colour on computer".
Theatre Some of Terry Deary's books have been adapted into plays. The children's theatre company Birmingham Stage Company Productions have the license to present Horrible Histories on stage around the world. They use the "bogglevision" 3D effects.
Horrible Histories: The Mad Millennium (1999) Horrible Histories: Terrible Tudors (2005) Horrible Histories: Vile Victorians (2005) Horrible Histories: Awful Egyptians (2007) Horrible Histories: Ruthless Romans (2007) Horrible Histories: Nottingham (2008) Horrible Histories: Frightful First World War (2009) Horrible Histories: Blitzed Brits (2009) Horrible Histories: Barmy Britain (2012) Horrible Histories: Horrible Christmas (2013) Horrible Histories: Groovy Greeks (2015) Horrible Histories: Incredible Invaders (2015) Horrible Histories: Wicked Warwick (2015)
Exhibitions Horrible Histories: Funfair of Fear (2000), described as an example of the "trivialisation" of history. The Horrible Histories: Crime and Punishment exhibition was held at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds between July and November in 2007. It broke attendance records. Horrible Histories: Frightful First World War (2008) Horrible Histories: Terrible Trenches (2009) Horrible Histories: Spies (2013) Horrible Histories: Rotten Rationing Big Picture Show (2013) Plague, Poverty and Prayer: A Horrid History with Terry Deary (2013)
Prom
Horrible Histories Prom was a 2011 concert showcasing the original songs of the 2009 TV series, interspersed with classical music. It was performed in the Royal Albert Hall in London as part of the BBC's annual Proms series of concerts. An edited version of the prom was televised as a special episode of the 2009 CBBC TV series entitled Horrible Histories Big Prom Party.
Audio tapes/CDs In 2003 and 2004, BBC Worldwide released 10 CDs of Audio tape/CD dramatizations of books from the Horrible Histories series, starring Terry Deary. Horrible Histories teamed up with Kellogg's. All of the CDs are read by Terry Deary and were available inside some Kellogg's cereals. The books contained material from the original books, as well as original material. In addition, the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph gave away four free audiobooks over a two-week period in October 2006.
The Savage Stone Age The Groovy Greeks The Rotten Romans The Vicious Vikings The Stormin' Normans The Measly Middle Ages The Terrible Tudors The Vile Victorians The Frightful First World War The Woeful Second World War
Between 8 and 14 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
Reception The response has been generally positive:Terry Deary and Martin Brown's brilliant books about the nastiest periods in history have now—with the help of some astounding actors—been transformed into a series of audio extravaganzas. Featuring new, extra material not found anywhere in the books, these sound spectaculars are just as thrilling and spilling, funny and fast as their printed counterparts. Horrible Histories are guaranteed to bring you history with the nasty bits left in! The Rotten Romans features beastly battles, deadly doctoring and marvellous myths—and you can even find out how to tell the future using a dead chicken! It's packed with quizzes, sketches, music and jokes, as well as mini-dramas and real life re-enactments—telling you the kind of foul facts which just aren't available from a classroom education!
Games and toys Virtual world
Scholastic went into partnership with agency Yomego to create an online world using the HuzuVirtual virtual world framework from software company HuzuTech. Visitors to the virtual world will be able to create an avatar dressed in historical costume, explore, look in a virtual world shop, chat, and subscribe to events where the children may meet the author, Terry Deary. The idea is that users will be able to explore areas with names like "Rotten Rome", "Awesome Egypt", and "Terrible Tudor London".
The virtual world went live in August 2011.
Battle Arena