It's totally acceptable for a 20 year old to watch Horrible Histories now Steven Fry hosts it, right??
As most people my age, I've read the horrible history books. I also bought my much younger brother the series in a hope to educate him out of his nerdy, computer obsessed ways. At first when I heard they were turning the books into a tv series I was slightly annoyed; as a passionate reader, to me the horrible histories books encouraged children to read worthwhile, relatively educational books. But when I first watched an episode it was like how I imagine taking your first hit of heroine would be- highly addictive.
The show works on the hypothesis that children are vile creatures who only care about poo and macabre tales, and it undoubtedly works. It crams nuggets of worthwhile facts into peuney brains, although I'm sure they only remember the runny poo nuggets rather than the factual nuggets- although there's always the possibility that a few historical facts will seep through into their minuscule brains. I'm sure my A level history class would have been much more exciting if we'd been learning tales about Black Death paramedics paying small children to wee on people's heads. Rather than spend a whole year learning about the Russian revolution- We didn't even get to do Stalin!
Simon Farnaby as the grim reaper, singing Stooopid deaths, stoopid deaths, they're funny cause they're troooo. and the Simon Cowell-esque layout is one of the highlights of the show. But the winning sketch is without doubt the dainty summary of a tedious Cavalier vs Roundhead ample textbook into a delightful hip hop rap.
"When Ollie died, the people said :
"Charlie, me hearty, Get rid of his dull laws, Come back we'd rather party"
This action's what they call the monarchy restoration
Which naturally was followed by a huge celebration "
It's now a Bafta and British Comedy Award-winning sketch show and has been given a new look and time slot, featuring the very best sketches from the first two series, with added insight and historical golden nuggets provided by Stephen Fry. Now it has gone mainstream, surely it's acceptable for older kids, parents and grandparents to watch this guilty pleasure?
Having been an A graded history student once, I probably shouldn't be endorsing this simplified and moronic approach to history, but I love it. It's a fantastic blend on fact with entertainment. I'm certain David Starkey is weeping into a history of British constitution textbook somewhere.
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