The Gorgeous Georgians
by Terry Deary
Horrible Histories Blood-curdling Box of Books, Horrible Histories (Original)
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Learn all about the Gorgeous Georgians, like their sneaky schemes for hiding personal hygiene problems and the schoolchildren who went to war with their teachers! With a bold, accessible new look and revised by the author.Tags
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Member Reviews
Gorgeous Georgians covers English history from 1714 until Queen Victoria's ascension in 1837 (Yes, the reign of King William IV is being counted.) As usual with the Horrible Histories books, this one is funny with funny illustrations.
I've seen the Georgian Makeover verses 1, 2, 4, 5-7, & 10 (with some differences in wording) sung on a video from the British TV show. It was interesting to read verses 3, 8, & 9 in this book. I don't blame the singer for skipping the third one. Ew.
As for the men's fashions, I knew some of it from the amusing romance novels of Georgette Heyer. (If you've ever wondered about why Yankee Doodle called the feather he stuck in his cap 'macaroni,' you'll be able to infer it from this section.)
This book also show more taught me something about the pat-a-cake rhyme in the section on Georgian cooking. It includes a recipe for strawberry fritters, which I didn't try.
Daniel Defoe's seven classes of English inhabitants was pretty sad if one wasn't a member of classes three through one. The life of children and women of the period wasn't so great, either. The early Prime Ministers didn't sound so great, particularly Lord North.
If you enjoy reading about true crime, there's a section on that which includes highwaymen. We get the generally accepted story for Dick Turpin, Rob Roy MacGregor, and Blackbeard before the less pleasant truth. There's also information about pirates in general, and punishments during the Georgian period.
There's a section on bodysnatchers. The one on Georgian doctors and Georgian cures made me glad not to be living then. (I confess that I did not guess which one among ten cures listed was a fake. It sounded just as weird as the others, except for the one I knew was true.) Poor King George III underwent some pretty nasty attempts to cure his insanity.
I'd just as soon skip all of the Georgian games mentioned except the jingling match, which seems pretty harmless. The Georgian slang quiz I failed miserably.
The section on revolutions of the period introduced me to a heroine I'd never read about before: Jemima Nicholas of Wales. How she and some other women terrified some drunk French soldiers into surrendering was good reading! I knew about Luddites, of course, but not that the Ned Ludd from whom they got the name wasn't one of them. The Peterloo Massacre was very sad, especially that poor baby.
The last two sections before the index are a test and a quiz. I didn't do well with either, but I enjoyed reading them anyway.
Yes, I recommend this book as a painless way to learn about aspects of history usually ignored. show less
I've seen the Georgian Makeover verses 1, 2, 4, 5-7, & 10 (with some differences in wording) sung on a video from the British TV show. It was interesting to read verses 3, 8, & 9 in this book. I don't blame the singer for skipping the third one. Ew.
As for the men's fashions, I knew some of it from the amusing romance novels of Georgette Heyer. (If you've ever wondered about why Yankee Doodle called the feather he stuck in his cap 'macaroni,' you'll be able to infer it from this section.)
This book also show more taught me something about the pat-a-cake rhyme in the section on Georgian cooking. It includes a recipe for strawberry fritters, which I didn't try.
Daniel Defoe's seven classes of English inhabitants was pretty sad if one wasn't a member of classes three through one. The life of children and women of the period wasn't so great, either. The early Prime Ministers didn't sound so great, particularly Lord North.
If you enjoy reading about true crime, there's a section on that which includes highwaymen. We get the generally accepted story for Dick Turpin, Rob Roy MacGregor, and Blackbeard before the less pleasant truth. There's also information about pirates in general, and punishments during the Georgian period.
There's a section on bodysnatchers. The one on Georgian doctors and Georgian cures made me glad not to be living then. (I confess that I did not guess which one among ten cures listed was a fake. It sounded just as weird as the others, except for the one I knew was true.) Poor King George III underwent some pretty nasty attempts to cure his insanity.
I'd just as soon skip all of the Georgian games mentioned except the jingling match, which seems pretty harmless. The Georgian slang quiz I failed miserably.
The section on revolutions of the period introduced me to a heroine I'd never read about before: Jemima Nicholas of Wales. How she and some other women terrified some drunk French soldiers into surrendering was good reading! I knew about Luddites, of course, but not that the Ned Ludd from whom they got the name wasn't one of them. The Peterloo Massacre was very sad, especially that poor baby.
The last two sections before the index are a test and a quiz. I didn't do well with either, but I enjoyed reading them anyway.
Yes, I recommend this book as a painless way to learn about aspects of history usually ignored. show less
Refreshingly not politically correct. Loved the comic strips which rendered perfectly well on my Kindle. I was most interested in the Scottish history (e.g. Jacobite Rebellion) and the personal hygiene and fashion of the period. Had I still been a child I'm sure I'd have given this 5 stars. The only one I read and enjoyed back then was [b:The Vile Victorians|120816|The Vile Victorians|Terry Deary|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171830561s/120816.jpg|116331].
Making history interesting for children can be a challenge...focusing on the more horrible side is one way to get them reading and history. This book focuses on the harder side of the Georgian era in England. If you're 10, I suppose this book is alright although I have to admit, I don't think I'd let my kid read it. For one thing, there is misinformation - at one point, where the author discusses how false teeth were made with human teeth, he adds that George Washington had wooden teeth. While I agree that myth has been around for many years, it is, in fact, false. Washington's many sets of false teeth were made from a combination of hippo ivory, real teeth, and metal fasteners. At another point, while discussing King George III's show more trouble with the American colonists, the author makes a remark about how the Americans wanted to be "free to kill Native Americans and steal their land..." followed by idiotic comments about hamburgers and cowboys. I would point out that it was British citizens who killed Native Americans and stole their land. All in all, I wasn't a fan. show less
READ IN ENGLISH
I've always been a great fan of the BBC historical sketch show Horrible Histories. So, when I found these books in a London book-store, I was really excited and my sister and I bought about 8 books *oops*.
I don't want to read them all in a row, because then I will run out far too soon. So, this is my fourth HH book since August.
I really liked it, and on the way even learned some things about those Gorgeous Georgians.
I've always been a great fan of the BBC historical sketch show Horrible Histories. So, when I found these books in a London book-store, I was really excited and my sister and I bought about 8 books *oops*.
I don't want to read them all in a row, because then I will run out far too soon. So, this is my fourth HH book since August.
I really liked it, and on the way even learned some things about those Gorgeous Georgians.
Horrible Histories are automatic 4s. Love them!
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Author Information
397+ Works 29,434 Members
Terry Deary is an actor, TV presenter and author. He has written 315 books, both non-fiction and fiction, for children and adults. His famous Horrible Histories books have sold over 32 million copies in 40 languages since their launch in 1993 and have appeared as an award-winning television series, theatre tours and a movie. He has also written show more fifty professional plays, the TV series Terry Deary's Twisted Tales and has designed museum exhibitions based on themes from his books. He was born in Sunderland in 1946 and as a young lad helped out in his father's butcher's shop, which he credits as having imbued him with a sound work ethic. The Peasants' Revolting Lives is his second book for adults for Pen Sword, after The Peasants' Revolting Crimes (2019). show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Gorgeous Georgians
- People/Characters
- George I, King of Great Britain and Ireland; George II, King of Great Britain and Ireland; George III, King of the United Kingdom; George IV, King of the United Kingdom; Blackbeard / Edward Teach / Edward Thatch; Beau Brummell (show all 61); Bonnie Prince Charlie; Captain Cook; Nicholas Cresswell (writer); Daniel Defoe (writer); Garrick (theatre director); William Hogarth (cartoonist); Henry Hunt (workers' leader); King Louis XVI of France; Rob Roy MacGregor; Napoleon Bonaparte; Horatio Nelson; Jemima Nicholas (Welsh heroine); Lord North (Prime Minister); Spencer Perceval (Prime Minister); William Pitt the Elder (Prime Minister); William Pitt the Younger (Prime Minister); Alexander Pope (poet | satirist); Alexander Selkirk; Robert Louis Stevenson (Victorian writer); Richard Trevithick (British inventor); Dick Turpin (highwayman); Robert Walpole (Prime Minister); George Washington; Jonathan Wild (corrupt thief taker); Lady Wortley Montague (famous for being filthy); William Verral (cookbook writer); Tobias Smollett (writer); Jonathan Swift (satirist); Elizabeth Brownrigg (abusive employer of orphans); Catherine Hayes (burned alive for murdering her husband); Susannah Lott (husband murderer who died at the stake before she could burn); Daniel Clarke (rich man who disappeared in 1745); Eugene Aram (found to have some of Clarke's jewels); Chater (betrayed some smugglers); Galley (the officer who tried to arrest smugglers); Susannah Fleming (put in the pillory for fortune-telling); Ruth Osborne (suspected witch); Edward Henson (sailor who saved his late friend from bodysnatchers); the Spoon (bodysnatcher); the Mole (bodysnatcher); Merry Andrew (bodysnatcher); James Woodforde (used the black cat cure for his sty); Dr. Willis (George III hated him); William Webb Ellis (created Rugby football); Mr. Lunardi (aeronaut); Master Ralph Heron (killed when dragged up by balloon rope); John Wilson (accidentally killed by boys playing chuckers); Jedediah Buxton (math whiz); Lord Cawdor of Stackpole Hall; Ned Ludd (his name was used for Luddites); Tom Shelmerdine (rode down his childhood nurse during the Peterloo Massacre); Special Constable Thomas Ashworth (killed during the Peterloo Massacre); John Lees (Waterloo survivor killed during the Peterloo Massacre); William Fildes (baby accidentally trampled by the MYC on their way to Peterloo Massacre); Bob (Henry Hunt's horse)
- Important places
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; Great Britain; England; Scotland; Wales
- Important events
- Jacobite Rising (1745); Enclosure Acts (1773); Industrial Revolution (1760-1840); French Revolution (1789-1794); Ireland (joins GB to form UK, 1801); Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) (show all 9); slave trade (banned by UK, 1807); Luddite Movement (1811-1816); Peterloo Massacre (1819)
- Dedication
- This book is for Charlotte Clare, winner of the Horrible History joke competition. Her joke is in the picture on page 16.
- First words
- History is horrible. For a start, everybody in history is dead.
- Quotations
- [Regarding Jemima Nicholas and her group of women in red cloaks and tall black hats armed with pitchfork and reaping hooks who captured 20 of the 1,400 French soldiers who landed on the Welsh coast in 1797.]
Sadly, Jemi... (show all)ma Nicholas and the Pembroke 'Mum's Army' have been almost forgotten. She was a woman, of course, and it doesn't seem to matter that she actually won! (You could be reading this in French if she hadn't!) (Rotten Revolutions chapter) - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)But Georgian Britain is a bit like the moon; it's bright and flashy to look at from a distance... you may even like to visit it... but you wouldn't want to live there. Would you?
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Statistics
- Members
- 701
- Popularity
- 40,439
- Reviews
- 5
- Rating
- (3.84)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 15
- ASINs
- 7
