When the first Horrible Histories book was published in 1993, writer Terry Deary and illustrator Martin Brown couldn’t have imagined that it would grow into the best-selling children’s book series that it is today. But with their mix of comedic wit, weird and wonderful facts,and hilarious cartoons, they captured the hearts and minds of kids, teachers and parents alike. Their latest book is all about Bath, from the ‘Rotten Romans’ to the ‘Terrible Twentieth Century’. Isabelle Blakeney catches up with Martin ahead of his visit to Bath this month…
Rotten Romans, Stormin’ Normans, Gorgeous Georgians… these are just some of the figures who have traversed (and built!) Bath’s streets over the course of its history. And while Bathonians like to think of the city in all its magnificent architectural glory, the reality of its past is a bit more, well… gory. In Horrible Histories: Bath, Martin Brown and Terry Deary turn their wit and wisdom to the myths, legends and both well and lesser-known facts that make up Bath’s history, from Bladud and his leprosy-curing pigs to Queen Victoria’s supposed quibble with the city.
“I can’t believe it’s taken us so long to write about Bath!” Martin exclaims when we chat. “I’ve been coming to Bath for more years than I’d like to count, taking part in the utterly brilliant Bath Children’s Literature Festival. It’s such an obvious city – it’s got a marvellous history, and it’s so beautiful. If you’re going to write a book about a city’s time passing, it’s a great choice.”
Born and raised in Melbourne, the cartoonist moved to London in his twenties and started illustrating for educational books publisher Scholastic. After working on the Coping With… series, he was paired up with writer Terry Deary to work on the first ever Horrible Histories books in 1993. Over 30 years later, this has grown into countless books, magazines, attractions, exhibitions, stage shows, a TV series and even a feature film.
The Bath ‘guide book’ starts right at the beginning of the city’s story with the formation of the hot springs, and traces its history all the way up to World War II. But where most books about Bath focus on its beauty and elegance, Horrible Histories peels back the architectural facades to reveal the grubbier bits underneath…
“Jane Austen wrote novels. People think she loved the city, but did she? In 1808 she wrote to a friend, ‘It is two years since we left Bath … such happy feelings of escape.”
Martin explains the concept: “They say history is written by the winners. The books are always about the elegant and the wealthy, but then you see the mere mortals, the people like us, who just got on with their lives. And like with all these beautiful things, you look closer and you find that they’re not quite as perfect as we might have thought.”
“With the Roman Baths, for example, you dig a little bit deeper and you find that in fact, rather than the glamour of all these Romans lying around bathing, the Baths probably actually gave you gangrene – even the Emperor Marcus Aurelius thought that bathing in the water was probably disgusting and full of the most hideous things.”
But while the focus is indeed on Bath’s horrible bits, the city did get some special illustrative treatment…
“Bath was particular because I felt that I had to get the architecture right,” Martin explains. “When you’re a cartoonist like I am, a building is a building. But here, with the Crescent and some of the buildings on Queen Square, for example, you couldn’t just do any old building, because everyone in Bath would know exactly where you went wrong! In fact, we don’t always draw the beautiful bits – we’re Horrible Histories, so we’re all about the icky bits, the nasty bits of history… but with Bath, how could you not?”
We’re accompanied on our journey through Bath’s history by two ‘narrators’: one a school-aged boy, and the other one of Bladud’s legendary pigs. “Carrying a story from the earliest origins right through to contemporary times with both a historical character and a school kid works, because they can bounce conflicting ideas off each other. It allows for the opinions and the stories of the past to be reflected against the attitudes of today.”
Martin describes himself as a cartoonist rather than an illustrator. Inspired by editorial cartoonists such as Jeff MacNelly, Johnny Hart and Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes), their influence is evident in his work. Martin’s illustrations, rather than being patronising, are sharp and witty, and the humour is intergenerational.
“The books were aimed at Key Stage Two (ages 7–11), but right from the start we were writing jokes about topics that probably went right over the kids’ heads. But that’s fine, because kids are really aspirational”, Martin explains.
“No one likes being talked down to, or being spoken to in baby language. So if you introduce them to something, whether it’s with a joke or with something a bit disgusting, you spark this flame of interest. And then they start digging. They want to know more. And then it blooms into something, into a fascination.”
The landscape for children’s entertainment has undoubtedly changed over the last 30 years, with many platforms re-evaluating what is deemed to be appropriate. Has Martin’s work felt this shift?
“Attitudes have always changed – some things you could have said 30 years ago certainly wouldn’t be acceptable now, and rightly so. There’s a bit of a trope among old farts in the entertainment industry that everything has become a bit safe, people are scared of saying the wrong thing – but on the other hand, we are more aware of other people’s feelings, which is absolutely appropriate. You know, the nature of Horrible Histories is slightly gruesome and disrespectful and bloody and irreverent, but you never want to be insulting, or to upset people. But I do think that the Horrible Histories have stayed pretty true to themselves.”
“Beau Nash had to stand out in the crowds, so he dressed in velvet coats with golden lace and ruffles.”
Despite the success of their long working relationship, Martin has admitted that he and Terry don’t see each other much. “We’re remarkably collaborative, even though we don’t sit in the same room and pore over each other’s work. Terry is a very generous writer, and we’ve become so symbiotic that he knows what I can do and I know what he can do, so he’s writing gags for my cartoons in a way. I do write my own jokes, and that’s fine, because we’re a team. We can’t always see where the join is- if there’s a terrible pun, I sometimes can’t tell if it’s his or mine!”
Each manuscript that Martin receives from Terry offers a whole new landscape for learning, and having grown up in Australia, Bath wasn’t a subject he had known much about. So after absorbing all that new knowledge, what’s his favourite Bath fact?
“I didn’t know that William Herschel and his sister Caroline discovered the planet Uranus in Bath – that’s an impressive claim, as there aren’t many planets to discover! In fact, I think it should have been called ‘Batheus’. Also, his sister didn’t get a lot of credit at the time, but times change and she’s now included in that discovery, which is kind of cool.”
On top of illustrating Horrible Histories, Martin is the author of several books himself: Nell and the Cave Bear and its sequel and Lesser Spotted Animals, which he was inspired to write after seeing that only the ‘cute’ animals got any attention. “Why is it only the famous people, the pretty people, the rich people in history that get all the attention? Why is it always the glamorous? Why the tigers and the gorgeous, big-eyed seal babies? We don’t want to go around clubbing seals, of course, but what about the ugly things?”
I’m really a cartoonist – I love the writing.
I love the gag-smithing and the cartoons and trying to come up with a twist
His Horrible Histories work is all about rooting for the underdog, too. “It’s easy to like the kings and queens and the Cleopatras and the Georgians with their flamboyance and their hair, but I really like the peasants. Not just because they’re easy to draw, but because they matter. When Beau Nash was having these parties, the slaves of Roman Bath were having to muck out all these horrible, icky places, and that’s where most of us would have been. But if I was going to the Dark Ages, I think I’d want to take a dentist with me!”
It seems there’s no sign of this creative team slowing down.
“The series is definitely successful, and it still has its spark. It’s fun to read about the history. Every time I get a new manuscript, I get so excited. I love the writing, I love the gag-smithing and the cartoons, and trying to come up with a twist. And if I ever stop liking that, then I’ll have to stop. But that’s not happening any time soon.”
Horrible Histories: Bath by Terry Deary and illustrated by Martin Brown is out now (Scholastic).
Book tickets for Martin Brown’s Horrible Histories: Bath family show and book signing on Thursday 29 May at St Swithin’s Church by visiting toppingbooks.co.uk
Illustration credit:
Illustrations © Martin Brown, 2025.