1066 and All That

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1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, comprising all the parts you can remember, including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates is a tongue-in-cheek reworking of the history of England by W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman and illustrated by John Reynolds. First appearing serially in Punch magazine, it was published in book form by Methuen & Co. Ltd. in 1930.

The book is a parody of the Whiggish style of history teaching in English schools at the time, in particular of Our Island Story. It purports to contain "all the history you can remember", and covers the history of Britain from Roman times through 1066 and all that, up to the end of World War I, at which time "America became Top Nation, and history came to a ." (nevertheless, this chapter is titled "A Bad Thing").

Although the subtitle states that the book comprises "103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates", the book's preface (which is compulsory) mentions that originally four dates were planned, but last-minute research revealed that two of them were not memorable. The two dates that are self-referenced in the book are 1066, the Battle of Hastings and the Norman invasion of Britain, and 55 BC, the first Roman invasion of Britain under Julius Caesar. However, when the date of the Roman invasion is given it is immediately followed by mention of the fact that Caesar was "compelled to invade again the following year (54 BC, not 56, owing to the peculiar Roman method of counting)", thereby adding the extra two dates that clearly are not memorable.

A joke typifying the humour is listing Shakespearean histories as kings of England, such as Kings Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2. Famous phrases from the book include "This was a Good Thing"; "This was a Bad Thing"; "Wave of saints"; and "Do you consider yourself a Good King or a Bad King?". It also contains several joke test papers interspersed among the chapters, which contain nonsense instructions including the famous "On no account attempt to write on both sides of the paper at once" and "Do not attempt to answer more than one question at a time".

Similar works

In 1938 a musical comedy, entitled 1066—and all that: A Musical Comedy based on that Memorable History by Sellar and Yeatman, was produced. The book and lyrics were by Reginald Arkell; the music was composed by Alfred Reynolds.

1066 and All That inspired Paul Manning's 1984 and All That, dealing with the subsequent history of Britain and the rest of the world up to 1984, and written in the same style, with similar prose, illustrations and tests. ("What caused the Wall Street Crash? Speculate wildly.") The title also refers to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

References

• {{cite book

| title = 1066 and All That
| author = W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman
| year = 1930
| publisher = Methuen
| id = ISBN 0413772705 (1998 reprint)
}}

• {{cite book

| title = 1066 and All That
| author = W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman
| year = 1930
| publisher = Mandarin Paperbacks
| id = ISBN 0749309644 1993 (paperback reprint)
}}

• {{cite book

| title = And now all this
| author = W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman
| year = ????
| publisher = Methuen
| id = ISBN 0413773809 (reprint, 2004) An unmemorable sequel.
}}

• {{cite book

| title = 1984 and All That
| author = Paul Manning
| year = 1984
| publisher = Futura
| id = ISBN 0708826121
}}