Fenland Woman: Grimy British History For Kids Of All Ages
Did you know that women used to pee in the pews of English churches?
Claire George tells of a series of children's books which throw a different light on history.
Did you know that women used to pee in the pews of English churches? Or that James I of England (VI of Scotland) liked picking his nose in public?
Neither did I until I read Slimy Stuarts by Terry Deary, arguably Britain's most popular writer of history for children.
Walk into any sizable bookshop in the U.K. and you are sure to find at least some of the books in Deary's Horrible Histories series.
With darkly amusing titles such as Rotten Romans, Vicious Vikings and Villainous Victorians, these are far from being the dry as dust history books that many of us remember from our school days.
Each one is illustrated with cartoons, peppered with quizzes and goes into surprising depth about key historical events.
The secret of the series' success with children and adults is that it focuses on the grim, grisly and quirky. Hence in Slimy Stuarts we learn that an informal marriage ceremony involved shaking hands over a dead horse, that a group of women beat up members of parliament in 1643 and that a snow dropper was someone who stole washing.
Slimy Stuarts also covers the standard facts of 17th-century history, introducing the kings and queens from James I to Queen Anne, the civil war and social themes such as eating habits, crime and punishment.
If Deary tickles your fancy you might also enjoy The Worst Children's Jobs in History by Tony Robinson.
Robinson is best remembered by many Brits as the filthy and idiotic Baldrick, servant to Blackadder in the popular historical comedy of that name.
Since taking a shower and changing into modern clothes Robinson has carved out quite a niche for himself as a presenter of archaeology and history shows on British TV.
The Worst Children's Jobs in History is full of interesting tidbits of information. It's well written, beautifully illustrated and has all the weird gross bits that anyone could ask for.
Did you know that a 19th-century prime minister, Lord Salisbury, hired a small boy to stand on the back of his tricycle and push him up hills? Or that in 1796 the injection of 8-year-old James Phipps with pus from a milkmaid's sore led to the first smallpox vaccine?
You do now.
