1066 and All That

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Jeremy Noel-Tod (University of East Anglia)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Birmingham Newman University), Louise McDonald (Birmingham Newman University), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Domains

Books
Literature Topic

Dates

Date of occurrence 1930

Places

United Kingdom (Location)

Genres and Modes

Historical representation

Resources

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1066 and All That

, a spoof history schoolbook first published in 1930, is a classic of twentieth-century English humour. Written by Walter Carruthers Sellar, a schoolmaster, and Robert Julian Yeatman, an advertising copywriter, the book has never been out of print, and its raffish title and facetious judgements (“a Good Thing”) have passed into popular usage.

The conceit of the book is stated in the preface: “History is not what you thought. It is what you can remember”. What follows is a potted narrative of the British ruling class from Julius Caesar (“the memorable Roman Emperor”) to the First World War – at which point, the final chapter notes, the United States of America became “top nation”, and “History came to a”. “History”, in other words, is English

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780 words

Citation: Noel-Tod, Jeremy. "1066 and All That". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 July 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=13861, accessed 21 November 2024.]