1066 and All That
Mom returned from her trip to Knysna with a bundle of books from my grandfather. Among them was a novelty collection of historical anecdotes,1066 and All That by W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman (published in 1956.) The subtitle: A Memorable History of England, comprising all the parts you can remember, including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings, and 2 Genuine Dates. According to the “compulsory preface”:
Histories have previously been written with the object of exalting their authors. The object of this History is to console the reader. No other history does this.
History is not what you thought. It is what you can remember. All other history defeats itself.
This is the only Memorable History of England, because all the History that you can remember is in this book, which is the result of years of research in golf-clubs, gun-rooms, green-rooms, etc.
A serendipitous book to begin reading right after marveling at the perplexities of memory last night [Side note: Greatly appreciated the responses to that post. Would have ‘liked’ them all if I could] Haven’t even finished the Roman numeraled introduction and already know I am going to love it. Cartoonish sketches of historical pratfalls, a cheekily self-aware narration, purposely archaic language and note of the following “Errata”:
Pg. 3. For Middletoe read Mistletoe.
Pg. 9. For looked 4th read looked forth.
Pg. 43. For Pheasant read Peasant, throughout.
Pg. 44. For sausage read hostage.*
* Will henceforth make this substitution in every instance that I read this word anywhere.
1066 And All That and Down With Skool! A Guide to School Life for Tiny Pupils and their Parents were two of the most formative books of my childhood. Which did me no good at all in the Canadian Arctic in the late 1970s. I have no idea how they ended up in my hands, but they helped make me a very odd small boy.
