1066 and All That

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Later paperback edition (circa late 1960s).
Enlarge
Later paperback edition (circa late 1960s).

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. Written by W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman and illustrated by John Reynolds, it first appeared serially in Punch magazine, and 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".

[edit] Similar works

An Australian cricketer and cartoonist Arthur Mailey took all 10 wickets for 66 in a first class match during the 1921 tour of England, and subsequently titled his autobiography "10 for 66 And All That".

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 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.

The title was adapted by Raymond F. Streater and Arthur S. Wightman for their (serious) textbook on axiomatic quantum field theory, PCT, Spin and Statistics, and All That. This in turn influenced the titles of several other books, monographs, and papers on mathematical physics [1].

[edit] References

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../1/0/6/1066_and_All_That_4595.html"