1066 and All That
1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, comprising all the parts you can remember, including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates is a tongue-in-cheek reworking of the
history of England. It is written by
W. C. Sellar and
R. J. Yeatman and illustrated by
John Reynolds. First appearing serially in
Punch magazine, it was published in
book form by
Methuen & Co. Ltd. in 1930.
The book is a
parody of the
Whiggish style of
history teaching in
English schools at the time, in particular of
Our Island Story. It purports to contain "all the history you can remember", and covers the history of
Britain from
Roman times through
1066 and all that, up to the end of
World War I, at which time "
America became Top Nation, and history came to a
." (interestingly, this chapter is titled "A
Bad Thing").
Although the subtitle states that the book comprises "103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates", the book's preface (which is compulsory) mentions that originally four dates were planned, but last-minute research revealed that two of them were
not memorable. The two dates that
are self-referenced in the book are 1066, the
Battle of Hastings and the Norman invasion of Britain, and 55 BC, the first Roman invasion of Britain under
Julius Caesar. However, when the date of the Roman invasion is given, it is immediately followed by mention of the fact that Caesar was "compelled to invade again the following year (54 BC, not 56, owing to the peculiar Roman method of counting)", thereby adding the extra two dates that clearly are
not memorable.
A joke typifying the humour is listing
Shakespearean histories as kings of England, such as Kings
Henry IV, Part 1 and
Henry IV, Part 2. Famous phrases from the book include "This was a
Good Thing"; "This was a
Bad Thing"; "Wave of saints"; and "Do you consider yourself a Good King or a Bad King?". It also contains several joke test papers interspersed among the chapters, which contain nonsense instructions including the famous "On no account attempt to write on both sides of the paper at once" and "Do not attempt to answer more than one question at a time".
In 1938 a
musical comedy, entitled
1066—and all that: A Musical Comedy based on that Memorable History by Sellar and Yeatman, was produced. The book and lyrics were by
Reginald Arkell; the music was composed by
Alfred Reynolds.
1066 and All That inspired
Paul Manning's
1984 and All That, dealing with the subsequent history of Britain and the rest of the world up to 1984, and written in the same style, with similar prose, illustrations and tests. ("What caused the
Wall Street Crash? Speculate wildly.") The title also refers to
George Orwell's
Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Scoular Anderson has written a humorous history of
Scotland in two volumes:
1314 and All That and
1745 and All That. Although the titles reflect Sellar and Yeatman's work, the style of writing and illustration is very different.
In 2004, the cast and writers of
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart released
America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction, a similar parody, this one of American high-school civics textbooks. It was initially released in the months prior to the
2004 U.S. Presidential Election.
In 2005
Craig Brown released
1966 and All That which copied the book's style (including elements like the end of chapter tests), recounting the remainder of the twentieth century.
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