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| One Of The Stars Of Horrible Histories |
One of the greatest challenges faced by any local history organisation is regenerating itself with 'new members'. At Waterford County Museum we have chosen to expend quite a bit of our members time and scarce museum resources on children's events. At some point it is hoped that these kids will be the museum members and community activists of the future. If we can give a few of them an interest or enthusiasm for Waterford history they will become the standard bearers for their community's heritage.
My opinion is that a passion for history is something that one normally picks up early in life. Even if you drift from your early enthusiasm as 'life gets in the way' you can always rekindle the love affair in later life. My own interest in history came about when a friend of my father gave me an encyclopedia about World War 2 and was further enhanced by reading large quantities of Commando, Warlord and Battle comics as a child.
Anything that can get kids interested in history has got to be a good thing. My 5 year old daughter has recently developed a passion for the Horrible Histories™ TV series. All 13 episodes of the first series are now available on DVD at a low price from Amazon.co.uk and from Amazon.com
The series is described as 'History with the nasty bits left in! Based on the best-selling series of books for kids (and for adults, but they just won’t admit it), Horrible Histories is an anarchic, surprising and unconventional take on history’s most gruesome and funny moments.'
This DVD is produced by the BBC and is not to be confused with the cartoon series also based on the Horrible Histories™. These DVDs are not on a par with the BBC production.
Some of the humour is ribald and fake gore abounds but as a primer to spark an interest in history I don't think you could do better. The only caveat I would place on the purchase is that it is very Anglocentric, for an Irish audience this won't be so much of a problem but for other countries some of the history may be unfamiliar.
Link: Horrible Histories YouTube Channel
