Author: WC Sellar and RJ Yeatman
Publisher: Barnes & Noble
Rating: WORTHY!
Illustrated amusingly by John Reynolds.
This is a parody of British history textbooks written along the lines of Monty Python (but predating that by several decades). It was first published in 1931, and is tied to that era. This doesn't mean it has nothing to day about textbooks of more recent vintage. I went to school in Britain and I can tell you that this definitely spoke to me the first time I read it, but that was a while ago. Who knows - maybe history's changed since then!
It really helps if you have some experience of British life and know some details of British history, otherwise you'll get very little out of this, but how charming and satisfying is it that even getting on for a century ago, there were crazy people in Britain who predated The Goon Show (by twenty years) and Monthy Python's Flying Circus by almost half a century?! It's a fine tradition of insanity of which all Brits are justifiably proud.
This book covers all important history from 55BC through World War One. What a startling thought it is that that when this was written, it was still a handful of years before World War Two was even a cloud on the horizon and Anne Frank was barely two years old.
Walter Sellar was a Scots writer who penned humorous articles for the British journal Punch which specialized in humor and satire. He fought in World War One and was a teacher during WW2. Robert Yeatman had a very similar history.
The book promises to deliver "...all the parts [of history] you can remember including one hundred and three good things, five bad kings, and two genuine dates" and proceeds to take history apart at the seams. It features bizarre quizzes, and "important notes" along the lines of this one on page eight:
The Scots (originally Irish, but by now Scotch) were at this time inhabiting Ireland, having driven the Irish (picts) out of Scotland; while the Picts (originally Scots) were now Irish (living in brackets) and vice versa. It is essential to keep these distinctions clearly in mind (and verce visa).
The questions in the "test papers" are completely nuts. Here are some random examples:
12. Would you say that Ethelread the Unready was directly responsible for the French Revolution? If so, what would you say? (p16)
2. How did any one of the following differ from any one of the other?
1. Henry IV, Part I
2. Henry IV, Part II (p58)
10. Describe in excessive detail:
(a) The advantages of the Black Death
(b) The fate of the Duke of Clarence
(c) A surfeit (p58)
1. Stigmatize cursorily (a) Queen Mary (b) Judge Jeffrey's Asides. (p77)
5. In what ways was Queen Elizabeth a Bad Man but a Good Queen? (p77)
10. Why on earth was William of Orange? (Seriously, though). (p78)
I highly recommend this if you're into British history or if you think you're up to it, but please don't try to read both sides of the page at once....
