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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not buy Horrible Histories

30 replies

Smallbrownbird · 07/10/2011 10:54

Having heard Terry Deary "interviewed" on Woman's Hour this morning - by which I mean he took the opportunity to rant at, bully, dismiss, mislead and belittle the experts he was asked to converse with - AIBU to say that I will nver buy any of his books, ever?

OP posts:
Katisha · 07/10/2011 10:56

YANBU They are pretty samey IMO anyway.

TakeThisOneHereForAStart · 07/10/2011 10:56

Is there a link to the radio programme?

If you feel that's how he was behaving then YANBU to feel you will not support him by buying his books from now on.

Perhaps you should email the programme or even the author and tell him so too.

Hatwoman · 07/10/2011 11:01

fair enough but not much point in emailing the programme. they bought some rights off him. they have no influence over how he behaves.

Makiko · 07/10/2011 11:02

This reply has been deleted

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BatsUpMeNightie · 07/10/2011 11:02

Buy them. Don't buy them. It's so up to you and I'm finding it hard to understand why you want to share this.

Original poster
Smallbrownbird · 07/10/2011 11:03

I just wondered if anyone else had heard it and hopped furiously around the kitchen with clenched fists like I did?

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 07/10/2011 11:04

YANBU Horrible Science are much better Grin

BatsUpMeNightie · 07/10/2011 11:05

I didn't. My DS devoured these when they first came out and is now studying History at an American university. That'll do for me.

BertieBotts · 07/10/2011 11:05

No didn't hear it, sorry. But the wiki article on him has some of his views which seem quite controversial. I do actually agree with his points on schools, not sure I'd agree that children should go out to work at the age of 11 though Grin

ElaineReese · 07/10/2011 11:06

I didn't hear this, hope it'll be on WWH tomorrow! What did he say?

I really don't like the books, they're deliberately reductive to the point of misinformation sometimes.

Makiko · 07/10/2011 11:06

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Message withdrawn

AKMD · 07/10/2011 11:10

YANBU, I did the same thing about the Telegraph when I saw one of their columnists on Newsnight last week referring to another guest as 'the idiot' until they walked off. If they employ people that rude, then I don't want to be reading their newspaper.

meravigliosa · 07/10/2011 11:12

Was he the one talking about using a kindle, and being very discourteous about a Norwegian woman's research about children reading? If so YANBU to be very annoyed at him. I thought he was boorish, disrespectful probably sexist, and also rather stupid, as at one one he was saying that research on the reading habits of 15 year olds was invalid, because they were not "native users" of electronic books etc, yet the next moment claiming validity for his entirely anecdotal experience as being a happy 64-year old kindle user (whose reading abilities and habits will have been formed with traditional text, of course). He dismissed the author of the research as "just another luddite" -- totally unconnected with the fact he has a mobile phone novel to sell, of course.

Personally probably will buy the books if the children want them. There is of nothing to say that the quality of someone's work/art has anything to do with whether s/he is a total prick on a personal level. I don't think prickdom is sufficient to warrant a boycott.

MollyintheMoon · 07/10/2011 11:16

I met him at a book signing once and found him to be a bit humourless. He's been off my Christmas card list ever since.

hanahsaunt · 07/10/2011 11:17

He's a terribly rude, grumpy man. He was interviewed in the Radio Times a few weeks ago and his attitude to education is appalling but ... that doesn't diminish the value of his work because he's not writing about that. And once you see our 4yo do the Charles II rap then it's all worth while :) (Though I do appreciate that's the genius of the BBC bods who do the music).

Original poster
Smallbrownbird · 07/10/2011 11:45

Thanks everyone, glad to know I wasn't the only one thinking he was rude! I couldn't believe my ears this morning - calling the research of a Norwegian (or Swedish, as he would have it) researcher "laughable" then calling Susan Greenfield a luddite, then refusing to discuss the research with Susan Greenfield because he wanted to talk about "me"!!!!! Complete waste of an opportunity to discuss an interesting subject.

OP posts:
worraliberty · 07/10/2011 11:48

Surely it's not all about you unless you were buying them for yourself?

If they're for your kids and they like them, you might as well suck it up and continue buying them.

Anything that gets them interested in History is a good thing imo.

TakeThisOneHereForAStart · 07/10/2011 11:54

I meant the radio programme he was on, to give them some feedback from a listener who was unhappy, not the TV show.

RhinoKey · 07/10/2011 11:55

I will not believe anything bad about TL, HH is the best thing since sliced bread!

valiumredhead · 07/10/2011 12:00

I agree worraliberty!

Hatwoman · 07/10/2011 13:31

"once you see our 4yo do the Charles II rap then it's all worth while" - don;t credit TD with this! the Charles II rap is nothing to do with him. The songs are the work of the fanastic production team, cast and writers of the TV program. was it TD up there getting a BAFTA? no. he wrote the BOOKS. he was approached by the producers (not the other way round) who wanted to use his ideas and his brand but huge amounts of credit for the TV program goes to them - not TD.

Hatwoman · 07/10/2011 13:32

takethisone I see what you meant in your first post.

ZZZenAgain · 07/10/2011 13:37

have never heard him in an interview so don't really know what you heard . What is his "appalling attitude" to education (someone mentioned below)? Dd has his books and she is known to sing the HH songs - King of Bling, Boudicca superstar and something like "no one else could be a worse emporer than me". She likes them.

His books might still be alright and appeal to your dc even if he is a completely obnoxious character - a lot of authors seem to have been but their books are still a good read. Just buy them second-hand or borrow them from a library if you don't want him to profit from the sale

lljkk · 07/10/2011 13:49

He does constantly (or so it feels) slag off teachers in the audio versions we have of his books, saying basically, "I know how much you must loathe your teachers so here is a little nasty comment about them" or a similar jibe at schools, school dinners, etc. His whole manner is making jibes at things & people...
I think the books are much better than his interviews, I suspect that they have been well-edited! And the BBC broadcast version is better yet.

Dreary is primarily a comedic writer, he wrote "Terrible Tudors" in like 2 weeks (and is proud of it). He's not a historian, Just keep that in mind.

aldiwhore · 07/10/2011 13:53

Not liking an author personally won't stop me buying their books if I think they're good. This whole family loves Horrible Histories.

I don't like Arthur C Clarke as a human being for a few reasons, but I love his work.