Gruesome Guide to Stratford-upon-Avon (newspaper edition) ebook

Horrible Histories Gruesome Guides #2

by Terry Deary

 

Discover all the foul facts about the history of the Bard's hometown with history's most horrible Stratford-upon-Avon edition. The master of making history fun, Terry Deary, turns his attention to the historical town of Shakespeare's birthplace. From why fleabites turned fatal and what bloody battles took place there to why locals lob cheese in the river. It's all in Horrible

fully illustrated throughout and packed with hair-raising stories - with all the horribly hilarious bits included with a fresh take on the classic Horrible Histories style, perfect for fans old and new the perfect series for anyone looking for a fun and informative read Horrible Histories has been entertaining children and families for generations with books, TV, stage show, magazines, games and 2019's brilliantly funny Horrible the Movie - Rotten Romans.  

Get your history right here and collect the whole horrible lot. Read all about it!

Genres: History, Nonfiction, British Literature, Childrens, Middle Grade, Shakespeare

146 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 24, 2006

About the author

A former actor, theatre-director and drama teacher, Deary says he began writing when he was 29. Most famously, he is one of the authors of the Horrible Histories series of books popular among children for their disgusting details, gory information and humorous pictures and among adults for getting children interested in history. Books in the series have been widely translated into other languages and imitated.

A cartoon series has been made of the series of books and was shown on CiTV for a period in 2002.

The first series of a live-action comedy sketch show of the same name was shown on CBBC in 2009 and a second series is due.

Terry is also known widely throughout children and adult reading groups alike for his True Stories series (see below for series list).

He received an Honorary Doctorate of Education from the University of Sunderland in 2000. His numerous accolades also include the Blue Peter "Best Nonfiction Author of the Century" Award in the U.K.

-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Horrible Histories turns its hand to town guides. This takes the Warwickshire town made famous by Shakespeare and tells the reader all about the gruesome parts of history that are not as well known. Loved learning little facts about the streets I was walking and was a little unnerved by the ghost in the hotel I was staying at!

[Xanthi · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first time reading one of these ‘places’ books in this series. There was too much ‘filler’ in this one - stories and information that did really directly relate to this town.

[Marina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not a child – but I read this during a family break in Stratford. I thought I would be able to share some amusing/ interesting facts with my teenage son. I did …but some of them were too gory even for him. Also, a large part of the book wasn’t really about Stratford Upon Avon but generally about Warwickshire and Shakespearan times. Entertaining overall though.

[R. Fulleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished Terry Deary's "Historical Guidebook" [Stratford Upon-Avon (Horrible Histories Series)] of the bizarre and horrible things that happened throughout history in and around the area of Stratford Upon-Avon. Stratford, probably most famous for being the birth and death place of William Shakespeare, is well documented in this 95-page, easy read book.


Deary uses a very liberal amount of humor in sharing the information and events. There are several cartoons throughout the book to help highlight some of the events being described.  At times, it seems a little too caotic for me to appreciate, but certainly something often sought after by younger readers.

I think the reader will learn a great deal about the city and its history, although it might be a bit more difficult to remember it all; there was so much.

[Tex · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Stratford-Upon-Avon” (SUA) is one of the Horrible Histories Gruesome Guides series of individual towns and cities by Terry Deary. While not a long book (96pages) it’s jam packed full of the towns horrible highlights from 55BC right through to the early 2000’s.

Here you’ll find out about SUA’s orful olimpicks, Shakespeare’s Stratford, uncivil wars, hard times, and terrific toilets.

While aimed at kids these books are fascinating reading for kids and adults alike. Informative, funny, and easy to read the reader is actually in danger of learning something whilst being entertained.

Horrible Histories Gruesome Guide to Stratford-Upon-Avon gets 4 deadly dramas out of 5!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Horrible Histories book to tick off the list. This one focusing on Stratford Upon Avon and the history of that particular areas through the years.

Obviously, Stratford is most known for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare but there are a lot of other things that have happened there that are worthy of note. Even if Shakespeare is the one to endure, it’s always best to give name to the other people would would normally have been forgotten.

I haven’t been to Stratford in a long time but I might have to make a trip down there and maybe do a bit of ghost hunting and see what we can see.

[Katie & Alfie · Rating 4 out of 5]

We were in Stratford, I like Horrible Histories and I wanted to know more about Shakespeare, so we bought it.

I found out about how Stratford got it's name, Shakespeare's wife Anne and learnt about toilets and the first ones that flushed with water.

There are lots of ghosts in this book.

My favourite bit was when the dog ran past. It did a trick like a deer and disappeared into thin air. I liked the map in the middle too, why don't other Horrible Histories books have this?

I want to read more a Horrible Histories books now.

- AJH (age 7)

[lucy snow · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun little stories about stratford - interesting to have some stuff other than shakespeare, about civil war etc. preparing to go on friday! and i will now tell you all about the fact you had to ford the river until 1490 until they eventually built a bridge

obvs i love horrible histories but i think i have potentially aged out of the books (sorry)

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 4 out of 5]

274 - 2017

[Tammie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read- July 2021
- I felt really ill last night so didn't enjoy this as much as I could have done. It also just wasn't the strongest book from this author.

[Mahima · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good to know these horrible facts.

[Belinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always loved Terry Deary's Horrible Histories. They're partly the reason why I'm a history major and history teacher today. Although it's filled with corny jokes and aimed at early to mid teens, the tone is never condescending, instead at times it takes readers by the hand and invites them to believe in ghosts, folk tales and spooky stories. Even well outside the target age group, I really enjoy Horrible Histories.

Stratford-Upon-Avon is, naturally, the history of a place rather than a time period or a group of people, and so the choice not to cover the history of the town chronologically is interesting and at times confusing. Instead, it is portrayed thematically. There is a liberal dose of Shakespeare, but that is to be expected when he is Stratford's most famous export, but it never stops being an enjoying read.

Stratford-Upon-Avon, like all of the Horrible Histories series, is a cheap, cheerful read. They might be aimed at children, but read it with an open mind. You might even end up learning something.

[Michael P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since this series of books is fixated on the unsavory, Deary recounts tales of murder, execution, misfortune, ghosts, plague, and really indulges himself the waste disposal habits in Shakespeare’s time in a sequence that Shakespeare also hosts (79-86). Shakespeare turns up in two other sequences where he does not really fit as a kind of informal host. The book includes a lot of Shakespeare’s life in and out of Stratford, plus the oft’ told historical stories that more relate the history of Shakespeare’s popularity than the history of Stratford. Unfortunately, there are a number of inaccuracies in the Shakespeare portions of the book, which makes me wonder how careful Deary was when writing the portions that I do not know as well. An entertaining book, though not actually a good one.

[Rachael Hewison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read the vast majority of Horrible Histories but it was only when I was in a charity shop checking to see if there was any that I had missed that I came across this one. I wasn't aware that there was a collection of town related ones.

I thought the town theme worked well, although it doesn't centre on Stratford entirely, it includes its surrounding areas. The selection of stories Deary put together is fantastic and varied and there weren't as many references to Shakespeare as I thought there would be so it was a fair selection. I think it started off quite weak as it jumped from topic to topic without any links but then it settled in and became very easy to read.

Another fantastic one to add to my collection.

[Ethel the Read It · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is excellent for getting your kids interested in history, not only is it put across in a way that engages them, it is far more factual than a lot of history books for adults. It doesn't gloss over or romanticise the dark parts in our history, but nor does it go over bored on the gruesome, but what I like the most is that if something is unknown for certain the author states that, rather than trying to make his theory fit the facts like some researchers do.
My 8 year old nephew loved this, and learnt a lot on a subject that I think would have gone over his head if done in a dryer manner.

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Horrible Histories is a series of illustrated books published in the UK by Scholastic. They are designed to get children interested in history by concentrating on the trivial, unusual, gory, or unpleasant. They are exceptionally well loved by my history loving children

[Emma Coleman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this before visiting Stratford- upon -Avon to get an insight about the place but, I think I lot of the book is fiction to make it appear a great read. when I visited I some of the information in the book didnt match up with my visit to the town.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun and entertaining read. A very enjoyable way to learn about this topic.

[Arthur Coles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the ghosts, it was very spooky :)

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not actually that much to write about IN Stratford, so he includes a lot about nearby villages, including the Campden Wonder. That's HORRIBLE!

[Nori Fitchett · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fun, informative and horrible