Horrible Histories
Sep. 15th, 2022 08:52 pmI have stumbled upon one of the most delightful things I never knew about: CBBC's Horrible Histories. I have one of the books (bought it in England, right after they started coming out *cough* 20 years ago *cough*) but did not know until last weekend that there was a TV SHOW!*
It's a sketch comedy show with music. Think Saturday Night Live meets Monty Python, but less absurd-for-the-sake-of-absurdity than Monty Python. It is, theoretically, for children, but you generally can't tell until they make a fart or poop joke. The sketches are often hilarious, but the music videos parodying specific songs or musical styles are my favorite bits.
My personal favorite is highwayman Dick Turpin lecturing that he shouldn't be romanticized (while being played by a be-eyelinered Mathew Baynton, who could easily pass as an 80s New Waver) to a version of Adam and the Ants' "Stand and Deliver."
It's no fun hanging with highwaymen when you're hanging from a rope!
A close runner up is The Borgia Family," set to the dulcet tones of "The Addams Family."
With suddenly no status/It seem the whole world hate us/They excommunicate us/The Borgia Family!
And you can't forget Charles II, the king who brought back partying! (And will rap about it to you.)
You can listen to William the Conqueror, "practically a Viking," tell you about Gangnam, I mean Norman, style.
Grab your surfboard, because Drs. Jenner, Pasteur, and Fleming have "Good Vaccinations"!
Richard III was a NICE GUY, DAMMIT. Anything to the contrary is Tudor propaganda.
The four King Georges make a rather good boy band.
And don't miss the Cavaliers and the Roundheads having a dance battle a la the Sharks and the Jets.**
Finally, if you want an earworm that WILL NOT LEAVE, you could do worse than novelty dance song "The Pachacuti."
I drink from their skulls/Pull out their teeth whole/Turn teeth into charms/Make flutes out of their arms!
("I'm a Knight," while less clever, is also very good at getting stuck in one's head.)
* Apparently it's a TV show (2009-2013) and a remake (2015-present). The internet seems to hold the remake in much lower esteem, but I think it's okay. It's not lightning in a bottle like the first one, which had a cast that loved each other so much that they went on to make a movie and two more TV shows together, but it has its moments.
** As an aside, this series makes clear how much more focus the British educational system puts on the English Civil War and the Stuarts and such. I guess we were busy with Jamestown and Pilgrims and Salem and so on. I don't think I even knew there was an English Civil War until my last year of high school.
It's a sketch comedy show with music. Think Saturday Night Live meets Monty Python, but less absurd-for-the-sake-of-absurdity than Monty Python. It is, theoretically, for children, but you generally can't tell until they make a fart or poop joke. The sketches are often hilarious, but the music videos parodying specific songs or musical styles are my favorite bits.
My personal favorite is highwayman Dick Turpin lecturing that he shouldn't be romanticized (while being played by a be-eyelinered Mathew Baynton, who could easily pass as an 80s New Waver) to a version of Adam and the Ants' "Stand and Deliver."
It's no fun hanging with highwaymen when you're hanging from a rope!
A close runner up is The Borgia Family," set to the dulcet tones of "The Addams Family."
With suddenly no status/It seem the whole world hate us/They excommunicate us/The Borgia Family!
And you can't forget Charles II, the king who brought back partying! (And will rap about it to you.)
You can listen to William the Conqueror, "practically a Viking," tell you about Gangnam, I mean Norman, style.
Grab your surfboard, because Drs. Jenner, Pasteur, and Fleming have "Good Vaccinations"!
Richard III was a NICE GUY, DAMMIT. Anything to the contrary is Tudor propaganda.
The four King Georges make a rather good boy band.
And don't miss the Cavaliers and the Roundheads having a dance battle a la the Sharks and the Jets.**
Finally, if you want an earworm that WILL NOT LEAVE, you could do worse than novelty dance song "The Pachacuti."
I drink from their skulls/Pull out their teeth whole/Turn teeth into charms/Make flutes out of their arms!
("I'm a Knight," while less clever, is also very good at getting stuck in one's head.)
* Apparently it's a TV show (2009-2013) and a remake (2015-present). The internet seems to hold the remake in much lower esteem, but I think it's okay. It's not lightning in a bottle like the first one, which had a cast that loved each other so much that they went on to make a movie and two more TV shows together, but it has its moments.
** As an aside, this series makes clear how much more focus the British educational system puts on the English Civil War and the Stuarts and such. I guess we were busy with Jamestown and Pilgrims and Salem and so on. I don't think I even knew there was an English Civil War until my last year of high school.
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