Tell us about your new book, Revolting
It looks at 77 riots, rebellions and revolutions in history and challenges the reader to answer the question: “What would it take to make you rebel?”
Did you choose that subject because of the current political climate?
No, it was conceived in 2017 and commissioned two years ago.
Ireland is no stranger to revolution and rebellion against British rule. What’s your take on it?
It’s my job to report the facts and for the reader to make meanings. I am neutral and mustn’t impose on the readers my “take” on the past. I’m a reporter, not a preacher.
Britain has a long history of suppressing nonviolent protest. What do you make of Palestine Action’s proscription as a terrorist group?
Not sure if there is any evidence for that statement. Anyone who thinks Britain suppresses protest should take a holiday to Iran, North Korea, Russia, China ...
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You quote Oscar Wilde: ‘Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made.’ Does that still hold true?
Wilde was a humorist and delighted in iconoclastic jokes like that. It’s a generalisation and a Wilde witticism, not a universal truth so it can’t “hold true”.
What would drive you to open rebellion, or at least to risk being arrested?
Looking to the past, I think I’d have revolted against the enslavement of myself and my fellow humans, especially in the evil empire that was Rome. I hope I’d stand up to threats to my family from authority.
You have said that Mr and Mrs Peasant are the true heroes of history, not scientists or political leaders. Why?
The peasants (and today’s farmers) feed us in all weathers for little reward or recognition. That is heroism. Scientists are useful but live in a comfortable cocoon. Politicians want to destroy the modern farming industry with their regulations and their spiteful taxes. Ignorant buffoons don’t make true heroes. “No farms, no food, no future” as my sheep-farmer wife says.
If you could be one person from history, who would it be and why?
The past was dirty, cruel and dangerous with foul food and terrible toilets. I’d not want to be anyone in the past. A few rich rulers may have had a better life, but some rulers have been cruel, some stupid. Most have been both. Who’d want that? I’ll choose to be me, thanks.
If you could witness one historical event first-hand, which would it be and why?
See above answer. Anyway, my Tardis has a flat tyre.
You’ve been writing books for almost 50 years, most famously the Horrible Histories. Why did you switch to writing for adults?
Two reasons: firstly I believe “something ere the end, some work of noble note, may yet be done” as Tennyson put it. I want to create something worthwhile before my career ends. I probably won’t, but at least I want to try. And secondly, my children’s publisher explained how small the number of children is compared to adult population. I want to swim in a bigger pond, even if it is full of sharks.
Did you have any cameos in the TV series (and if more than one, which was your favourite)?
Yes, a couple of dozen on TV, the movie and stage productions. The most remarkable one was when I was asked to play the part of the Venerable Bede on TV. Bede was a great historian, my hero, and born in Sunderland, like me. The casting director had no idea of this coincidence when he invited me to play the part – with authentic accent.
Our present is pretty horrible. What warnings can history offer, and what hope?
Is the present horrible? Most people are healthier and better off than ever. If you think the present is horrible then you should try living even 70 years ago when I grew up.
History has been downgraded as a core subject in Britain, creating a crisis for university history departments. A mistake?
I have no idea. I have nothing to do with the schooling system and know nothing about universities. Crisis? What crisis? I’m a writer.
Yet history podcasts are thriving. Why is this, and which is your favourite?
I’ve never listened to a podcast and don’t understand the attraction. I am too busy earning a living.
Which are your favourite historical fictions and history books?
I don’t read historical fiction or fact books because I am not an historian. I read murder-mysteries. In my twenties I read all of Walter Scott’s historical novels.
Which projects are you working on?
I am editing my second murder story set in Sunderland in 1973. The first, Actually I’m a Murderer, was published in June, and the follow-up, Actually I’m a Corpse, follows in 2026. I’m lucky to be writing the books I’d want to read. I am halfway through my next nonfiction title, A History of the World in Ten Wars.
Have you made a literary pilgrimage?
Forty years ago I went to the home of Walter Scott, Abbotsford, but he was out – or dead – at the time. My baby daughter disgraced us by crawling under his desk/shrine and gurgling.
What is the best writing advice?
Write the last sentence of a book before you begin. Let those last words be your guiding star. Fix your eyes on it so you don’t wander off the narrative path and get lost.
Who do you admire the most?
My parents, who dragged themselves out of their impoverished pasts to give their son a chance in life. I mustn’t waste that chance and let them down.
You are supreme ruler for a day. Which law do you pass or abolish?
Abolish all rulers and all national borders so we share one world. I’d then propose that people wear red baseball caps with white lettering saying ‘WAAH’ ... We Are All Human.
Which public event affected you most?
Sunderland AFC winning the FA Cup final against Leeds in 1973. I had to watch it on a black-and-white television in the heart of rugby-mad Wales because I was a professional actor at the time and due on stage. I still remember the moment we scored. It has become a shared experience and contact point with my fellow Mackems.
The most remarkable place you have visited?
The north Pennines in 1966 on a bike. Blue remembered hills, as AE Housman put it so eloquently. (Why can’t I do eloquent?)
Your most treasured possession?
My running shoes.
What is the most beautiful book that you own?
Books are mass-produced paper and ink; they can’t be “beautiful” like a Van Gogh painting. It is the mind of the author – dead or alive – and what the author is saying to the reader that matters, not the format.
Which writers, living or dead, would you invite to your dream dinner party?
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. If they wanted to bring their boss along, he’d be welcome (or his dad).
The best and worst things about where you live?
I live on my wife’s farm so there are no close neighbours. It’s a shame that the broadband is awful because of the distance from civilisation.
What is your favourite quotation?
“It is the duty of righteous men to make war on all undeserved privilege, but one must not forget that this is a war without end.” – Primo Levi
Who is your favourite fictional character?
Father Brown by GK Chesterton.
A book to make me laugh?
Actually I’m a Murderer by Terry Deary. Pure genius.
A book that might move me to tears?
Revolting by Terry Deary. Man’s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn. (Burns)
Revolting by Terry Deary is published by Bantam
