Horrible Histories

It is now 20 years since the first Horrible Histories books – Awesome Egyptians and Terrible Tudors – were published, so the first generation of children exposed to the grisly sensibility of Terry Deary and the cartoonist Martin Brown may now have children of their own. The output in those two decades has been extraordinary: there are now more than 100 titles, which have sold 20 million copies (eight million of those in translation), to 31 countries. There are sticker books, annuals, Horrible Histories Top Trumps, mugs, video games, roadshows and a magazine that was launched last autumn. The CBBC series was a relative latecomer to the party in 2009; before that, in 2001-2, there were two series of an animated version that never really took off, then in 2006 the Birmingham Stage Company secured the stage rights and has been touring with Horrible Histories stage productions ever since.

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".

Horrible Histories first began as a book series. The series began in 1993 with The Terrible Tudors and The Awful Egyptians, and the following titles continued the trend to describe British history through the context of the ruling dynasties, as well as explore 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.

There is also a fiction-type of Horrible Histories books that were added to the series called Gory Stories. The first set of these books were published in July 2008:

Blackout in the Blitz is listed on Terry Deary's website as Bombs on Britain, but on Amazon.co.uk it is listed as Blackout in the Blitz, along with a cover.

Horrible Histories was adapted into an animated series, starting in 2001. It was about Mo and Stitch's adventures through time and how they learnt lessons that could be applied to their modern-day situations.

A live-action series, styled as a sketch show, began airing on CBBC in 2009. It won many awards over its 5 series run, including some British Comedy Awards - the first children's show to do so.

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