Horrible Histories is a children's sketch-comedy adaptation of Terry Deary's long-running book series, produced by Lion Television with Citrus Television, that ran for five 13-episode series on Britain's CBBC from 2009 to 2013. Like the books, it was intended to foster children's interest in British and other Western world history through factual anecdotes retold with a focus on "gross-out"-style humour and comic violence – "history with the nasty bits left in". The producers of the TV series recruited writers and performers with roots in the adult British comedy community. These in turn took a deliberately non- condescending approach, relying instead on such influences as Blackadder and the Monty Python films. A focus on historical accuracy was combined with a comedy style relying heavily on parodies of current UK pop- culture to make those facts more accessible, leading to takeoffs of Masterchef, The Apprentice and Wife Swap among others. The result won numerous domestic and international awards, including two British Comedy Awards and four consecutive Children's BAFTAs (cast at 2011 ceremony pictured), and eventually garnered respect as a classic from viewers of all ages.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horrible_Histories_(2009_TV_series)
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1847:
New Zealand Wars: A minor Māori chief was accidentally shot by a junior British Army officer in the Petre settlement of New Zealand's North Island, triggering the Wanganui Campaign. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanganui_Campaign
1862:
Slavery in Washington, D.C., ended when the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act became law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_Compensated_Emancipation_Act
1917:
Vladimir Lenin returned to Petrograd from Switzerland, and joined the Bolshevik movement in Russia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin
1941:
World War II: After the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia ten days earlier, Ante Pavelić declared a new government in Croatia to be led by the fascist Ustaše. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usta%C5%A1e
1963:
Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote his Letter from Birmingham Jail in response to an open letter written by white clergymen four days earlier. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_from_Birmingham_Jail
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
heir apparent: (usually monarchy) Someone who will definitely inherit, assuming he survives the one from whom he is inheriting. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heir_apparent
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't. --Anatole France https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anatole_France