Horrible Histories author Terry Deary says he loathes the British Empire with a passion

There was ‘nothing brave or courageous’ about our imperial past, says Terry Deary.

The author of the Horrible Histories series has admitted he hates the British Empire “with a passion”.

Terry Deary, who has sold more than 36 million copies of the children’s books worldwide, said he “loathes” Britain’s imperial legacy and that there was “nothing brave or courageous” about it.

In a scathing attack, the 78-year-old told the All About History magazine: “You can’t judge people by what they achieve, but only by what they achieve it in opposition to.

“All nations remember their successes against the odds, but they don’t remember the ones where they marched in with ease.

“The British Empire, which I loathe with a passion, wasn’t won with courage but with the machine gun. The British had the machine gun, the native populations didn’t. Nothing brave or courageous about it!”

Comparing the empire to playing football against children, Deary continued: “Seventy years ago, I was playing for the Cubs football team and in the first half we were 7-0 up, and I’d scored six.

“In the second half I ran up the field and scored my seventh. My team was leading and the referee blew his whistle to put the other team out of their misery.

“For 50 years, I thought I was a great footballer and then I realised I wasn’t. The opposition were probably little seven or eight-year-olds, who were easy to dribble around.

“You’re only great if the opposition is great and that’s my mind shift which I then applied to the book.”

Deary recently released his first book aimed at adults, titled A History of Britain in Ten Enemies.

The Horrible Histories books were first published in 1993, and have gone on to inspire a Bafta-winning CBBC television series, theatre shows and a film.

In the interview, Deary noted another part of British history that he believes has been forgotten.

“People forget things like the battles against the Tasmanians,” he said. “Why? Because there were 20,000 Tasmanians and 60 years after the British landed there were no Tasmanians at all. Why don’t we learn about that in school?”

In the 1820s and 1830s, the British colonists fought with the Aboriginal Tasmanians in a war that nearly wiped out the entire indigenous population.

by threebodysolution

19 comments

  2. Gotta love an aul bash the Brits post on here on a Sunday.

    It’s like some folks have nowt else to do than hate based on a period in history that no one alive today can take any blame for.

    It’s like hating rats for the plague. The Spartans for their treatment of anyone they didn’t see as up to their standards and the victorians for sending kids up chimneys.

  4. The Spanish conquistadors invading Aztec and Incan Empires were brave even if evil.

    I absolutely would not have done that even if I thought it was morally right thing to do

  5. That is surprisingly stupid. The British Empire was formed against France and the rest of the European powers. Most importantly, it was formed against the Indians, or rather collaboration between some Indians against others.  As well as Russia and China.

    I didn’t know Terry Deary was so uninformed. Also, I don’t mean to be a snob, but his book on the History of Britain is 250 pages. I mean, c’mon. Either you aim books at adults or children. 

  6. He wears his hair shirt with pride, as an representative of the British Empire I’m truly heartbroken by the size of the chip on Dave’s shoulder, I’m sure he’s a bundle of fun when not shouting at the clouds so his neighbours know how righteous he is 🇬🇧

  7. British empire was the best thing that happened to the world.

  8. His new book actually includes Ireland as one of the ten enemies, and he takes a *very* well-reasoned pro-Ireland stance from the skim read I did in the bookshop. It translates well with what he’s said here.

    Though it’s no surprise he hates the Empire – reading his book on Ireland alone makes that very clear. The way he laid out the various Bloody Sundays has always stuck in my head from a young age, and that’s not to speak of what he wrote in the Vile/Villainous Victorian books (the animal fat cartridges leading to the Indian Mutiny come to mind) or the Barmy British Empire.

    I mean, *really*, you just have to look at how he titled his books to realise how he hated the British Empire. None of the other titles are quite as strong – the closest is probably the Terrible/Terrifying Tudors.

  9. Yeah, no surprise. I’m English and I grew up reading The Horrible Histories books. I was like 12 or so reading The Barmy British Empire and it points out the immorality of imperialism the very first page. I never grew up thinking or being told that the Empire was something to be proud of, in part because writers like Deary weren’t pulling punches.

  10. >***In a scathing attack***

    In a statement of universally accepted fact everywhere apart from Britain.

  12. I found his history books very Pro-British as a kid, not a terrible crime given they were basically historical fiction but I’m glad to hear his opinions have changed.

  13. Who is he?

    Edit: Jesus, you did some hatchet job of the article!

  14. This was a brilliant kids show. 👏 

    Palestine is the far end of this shit spectrum. Babies being blown to smithereens before they can pick up a rock from the rubble if their homes. 

    The midst of the spectrum is the wee guy sitting beside a bin begging and smoking a roll up made from pavement tobacco 

    Down vote away 

  15. Oh yes, it’s funny that after Brexit a grateful empire failed to shower the U.K. with trade deals

  16. Did he mention Ireland, probably not. Does he include Ireland in this criticism, probably not. Most Brits don’t care about what happened here, even the critical ones like this.

  17. Everyone always hates the most successful, whether you’re Man City, Real Madrid etc. like how he skips straight to Britain were dominant. For the 1000years previous to that where Britain built its success over centuries, not a peep about that though. Makes it sound like we cheated

  19. There was a post I read about the horrible histories books and how they described empire in a way that was not questioned at then time but nowadays would be seen as forcing woke propaganda on children. There’s been a move towards a more apologetic narrative in the past few years with people becoming actively more conservative.

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