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''Horrible Histories'' is a series of illustrated history books published in the United Kingdom by Scholastic, and part of the Horrible Histories franchise. They are designed to engage children in history by presenting the unusual, gory, or unpleasant aspects in a tongue-in-cheek manner in contrast to the formality of lessons taught in school. The series has proved exceptionally successful in terms of commercial revenue. The books are written by Terry Deary, Peter Hepplewhite and Neil Tonge and illustrated by Martin Brown, Mike Phillips, Phillip Reeve, and Kate Sheppard. The first titles in the series, ''The Terrible Tudors'' and ''The Awesome Egyptians'', were published in June 1993.〔("Deary Diary" ), House of Adventure, URL retrieved 7 April 2008〕 As of 2011 with more than 60 titles in the series, the books have sold over 25 million copies in over 30 languages.〔(''The Independent'' 19 June 2011 "Terry Deary: 'I'm not some Koko the Clown coming over to perform for you". )〕〔("History as it bloody well was" ) ''The Telegraph'' 19 June 2011.〕 The books have had tie-ins with newspapers such as ''The Telegraph'', as well as audio-book tie-ins with breakfast cereals. Deary announced that the series would officially come to an end in 2013. The Telegraph said "after Deary was reported to have given up the bestselling series because he had run out of tales to tell...his publisher would not risk putting out any new ones". Deary says he cannot write a new book unless commissioned, and though he has not been told to stop writing, he has not explicitly been asked to continue, citing the gamble of a new book, "when you've got 60 titles there that you can rework and freshen up for the new audiences that are growing up all the time", as a probable cause. ==Development== Deary discovered he had a knack for writing in his high school years. He said, "I was clearly good at it, getting good marks, but no teacher ever said to me: you should try to do something with this". Instead, he pursued acting, and the writing "eventually stemmed from that".〔 Terry Deary studied at drama college and worked as an actor-teacher at the TIE company in Wales. He then became a theatre director and began to write plays for children. Many of his TIE plays were eventually rewritten and adapted into the ''Horrible Histories'' book series.〔 Deary said "I was in this small touring company, taking plays for children round Welsh village halls. I did find I had this facility for knocking ideas into scripts".〔 After a particularly successful tour of a play called The Custard Kid, about a "cowardly cowboy", Deary decided he wanted to immortalise the production, so turned it into a book and sent it out to publishers. The 24th publisher said yes to the publication of the work by Deary, now around 30 years old.〔 By the time the idea of Horrible Histories was presented to him by his publisher, Deary had written around 50 children's novels. The Guardian explains, "they wanted a 'history joke book' and – when he protested that he knew nothing about history – offered to provide the facts to go with the gags".〔 Deary explains the series' inception this: "The publishers originally asked for a joke book with a history theme. They said, ‘Put in a few interesting facts to break up the jokes because some of your jokes are very bad.’ And when I looked at the facts, I found they were much more interesting than the jokes. So we ended up with a fact book with jokes. We created a new genre". The fifth book in the series, ''Blitzed Brits'', was published in 1995, by chance coinciding with the 50th anniversary of VE day. The book reached no. 1 on the bestseller list. Deary decided that the book only gave the British viewpoint during World War II. Therefore, Deary wrote ''Woeful Second World War'', focusing on experiences in France, Poland, Germany and Russia during the war. The book was published in September 1999, which coincided with the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II In 2003, to celebrate the 10th anniversary, Scholastic held a contest to find ''Horrible Histories Brainiest Boffin. Deary played the Quizmaster and through a series of rounds, gradually eliminated five of the six finalists to be invited to the London vaults from 500 applicants.〔(Charles makes history — Lancaster and District News — Lancaster Guardian )〕 Deary eventually returned to the stage. ''Mad Millennium'' was commissioned by director Phil Clark, who was a fellow TIE participant 25 years before. He suggested turning the books into large-scale theatre productions. Deary was happy to return to writing plays.〔 By the early 2010s, Deary decided that the series had naturally come to an end. He said "It has had a good run, it's had a better run than most children's series", and added that while his publishers have not officially stopped the series, there was "a general feeling" it would finish. The Guardian explains, "Deary long ago handed over the reins for (franchise ), saying he's more than happy to leave it in the hands of others". This includes to companies like the Birmingham Stage Company that puts on stage plays adapted from his books, and CBBC that has broadcast an award winning live-action adaption of his books since 2009.〔 The Horrible Histories franchise has expanded into video games, toys, magazines, and a gameshow. In 2007, the original series began to be republished with a new look and new content. The new books had altered information on the back cover, an index and a brighter, redesigned front cover. Around the same time the Horrible Histories live action TV series aired, many of the books were republished as TV tie-ins. In 2013, many of the books were republished in a "20 horrible years" theme. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Horrible Histories (book series)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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