Still churning out stories
SUNDERLAND AUTHOR MARKS 25 YEARS OF HORRIBLE HISTORIES
Blood, guts, gore and a lot of good fun proved the perfect combination for a Sunderland writer 25 years ago.
It was quarter of a century ago that Terry Deary first picked up his pen to produce TerribleTudorsandAwesome Egyptians, the first of what wouldbecomehisfamousHorrible Histories series.
Two and a half decades latertheserieshassold30million books which have been translated into 40 languages.
Alongside illustrator Martin Brown, the pair offered children – and adults – somethingunique.Historytold,not through dreary dates and boring lectures, but via silly jokes, bloodybattlesandalotofgore.
Terry said: “I published my first children’s book 40 years ago and I remember the publishersayingthatwritingislike a sausage machine – you have to keep putting it in one end to get the product out of the other. I spent my youth in my dad’sSunderlandbutchershop making sausages, so that is an image that has stuck with me.
“Three hundred books later I’m still turning the handle to churn them out.
“The secret of longevity in this industry – since aspiring authors ask – is to create a “series” of books, a string of sausages.
“And I found that series in Horrible Histories. Twentyfive years after producing the first Horrible Histories book I’veproducedover100ofthose titles, selling well over 30 million copies in 40 languages. That’s an awful lot of sausage.”
Indeed, Terry and Martin’s work has gone on to become a multi-million pound industry, spawning TV programmes and stage shows.
Terry was born in Sunderland in 1946, his dad was a butcher in Hendon and his mum, a manageress of a clothing shop.
As well as writing, Terry is an actor and singer and a keen charity runner. He was awarded a degree as Doctor of EducationfromtheUniversity of Sunderland in 2000.