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

About this book

This work is a satirical compendium of English history, presented as a “memorable” chronicle that deliberately blurs fact and farce. The editors begin by thanking a parade of periodicals and even their own wives, then launch into a mock‑scholarly preface riddled with bogus footnotes, errata, and tongue‑in‑cheek quotations from fictitious reviews. From the very first chapter, the narrative treats Julius Caesar’s 55 BC landing at Thanet as the inaugural date of English history, describing the Britons as “painted true blue” and the Romans as “top nation” while inventing absurd laws such as “He who baths first baths fast.” The text proceeds through a series of deliberately mangled episodes, waves of Picts, Saxons, Danes, and “Egg‑Kings”, each punctuated by whimsical illustrations, invented etymologies, and playful footnotes that parody academic conventions.

The voice is unmistakably early‑20th‑century British humor, echoing the wit of Punch and the absurdity of Monty Python. Its style mixes mock‑epic prose, pseudo‑Latin, and deliberately misspelled footnotes, creating a parody of both serious historiography and the pretensions of scholarly editing. Readers who enjoy a dry, erudite satire of national mythmaking, especially those familiar with British literary jokes, Victorian‑era footnote excess, and the playful irreverence of authors like Walter Carruthers Sellar and Robert Yeatman, will find this book an entertaining romp through a deliberately distorted past.

Opening lines

The Editors acknowledge their comparative indebtedness to the Editors of The Historical Review, Bradshaw, The Lancet, La Vie Parisienne, etc., in which none of the following chapters has appeared. Their thanks are also due to their wife, for not preparing the index wrong. There is no index. …

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