This is the book, published in September 2001,which does for history what Gez Walsh did for literacy. If your grasp of history stops (or starts!) at 1066 and all that, then you probably need the hysterical historical versification which Roger and Celia have made their own.
Are you one of those people who find history boring? Did you glaze over when they started talking about 1066 and all that? Does who did what to who, and why, in the past seem to be just a meaningless jumble of names and dates? Despair no more! The book you're now holding in your hands will put the fun back into it for you.
Authors Roger Stevens and Celia Warren have an alternative view of our putrid past, one that focuses on how people went to the toilet, what sort of underwear they wore, and the gross disgusting and horrible things they did all day and every day. From Henry VIII being hauled up in a sling by his hapless servant in order to go to bed, through to Bert the Bloodthirsty Barber, and false teeth fresh from the battlefield of Waterloo, from getting a sore bum by riding a penny-farthing to Aztec sacrifices and the tomb of Tutankhamun. Then there's the Royal post of Yeoman of The Stool and its associated duties (swimming in the moat is most definitely not recommended).
It's often said that the main difference between historical times and the present day is the absence of dung, decay and disgusting smells. Here's a naughty noisesome nosegay that'll bring back all the nasty flavours of history to your quivering nostrils, and much, much, muck, besides!
It was all smiles when Roger and Celia met a "real" Viking at the launch of their book at the Jorvik centre, York!
