Test your Horrible History knowledge with our ultimate quiz – from rotten Roman bloodbaths to the world’s worst palace
DID you know that Horrible Histories is 30 years old this year?
That’s 30 Horrible years of rotten rulers, savage sports and bloody battles.
To celebrate, author Terry Deary has written Horrible Histories: The Worst In The World, where he awards gold, silver and bronze medals for the very worst in lots of categories.
But how much do you know?
Test your wits on Terry’s horrible quiz.
- Text © Terry Deary and illustrations © Martin Brown.
1. The Worst Food
Q) THE rotten Romans were famous for their foul feasts.
Emperor Vitellius ate FOUR feasts – a day. But what were some of his favourite snacks?
a. Cockerel crests
b. Flamingo brains
c. Live thrushes
2. The Worst Robber
Q) THE most famous highwayman is Dick Turpin.
Highwaymen were sometimes known as “Gentleman of the road” because they robbed the rich and gave to the poor.
But how was the terrible robber finally caught?
a. He tripped up on his cloak.
b. He shot a chicken.
c. His horse Black Bess neighed loudly and alerted the police.
3. The Worst Emperor
Q) THERE are a lot of evil emperors in horrible history but have you heard of Irene of Athens?
When her husband died, Irene took the throne as their son Constantine was only nine years old.
But what did she do when Constantine grew up?
a. Retired to a bungalow by the seaside
b. Killed herself because she lost the throne
c. Had Constantine’s eyes gouged out and locked him away to die
4. The Worst Ruler
Q) THE world has been full of rotten rulers but what did Ivan the Terrible do to the great lords of Russia, the “boyars”, in the 1560s?
a. Gave them a good talking to
b. Locked them in prison until they agreed to do as they are told
c. Had his special police kill them by drowning, strangling, flogging or roasting them on a spit
5. The Worst Palace
Q) THE French don’t have kings these days.
But one of the most famous was Louis XIVwho ruled in 1643–1715.
“The Sun King” had a vast palace at Versailles.
What is one of the most surprising things about his palace?
a. It had two toilets
b. It had 500 servants
c. It had 1,000 fountains
6. The Worst Punishment
GAMES are for fun, right? Not the Roman “Games”.
The evil emperors built arenas so their people could watch gladiators fight, often to the death.
The greatest arena was the Colosseum of Rome, opened in AD80.
How many people died in the Colosseum?
a. 100,000
b. 200,000
c. 400,000
7. The Worst Sea Disaster
THE Romans were worse than most empires at bringing disaster to other people.
But sometimes they suffered their own disasters.
When the Romans tried to invade Carthage, Tunisia, soldiers from Greece brought their war elephants to help with the task and the Romans fled.
What happened next?
a. The fleeing Roman ships hit an iceberg in the Mediterranean.
b. The Roman ships hit a storm and most died
c. The war elephants smashed the ships with their trunks
8. The Worst Pirate
IN 1718 the dreaded pirate Blackbeard was shot and beheaded by a navy officer.
Blackbeard’s body was thrown overboard.
What do stories say happened to his headless corpse?
a. It sank never to be seen again
b. It floated for 50 miles
c. It swam round the ship three times
9. The Worst Youth
YOU don’t have to be old to be horrible!
Roman Elagabalus was just 14 when he was made emperor and he had some very horrible habits.
Which of these is NOT true?
a. He sacrificed dozens of sheep and goats
b. He drowned guests at a feast
c. He fed bits of his enemies to a wolf
10. The Worst Cure
IN horrible history, sometimes the cures are worse than the illness.
And others just don’t work at all.
In the 1430s the Inca tribe in South America had some curious cures.
What did they do to treat headaches?
a. Wind on a very tight bandage
b. Dip the head in freezing water
c. Gouge a hole between your eyes
11. The Worst Knight
IN days of old, knights were bullies and thugs.
They rode on horses and chopped down peasants for fun.
Black Douglas was a freedom-fighting Scottish knight in the 1300s who brought terror to England.
He actually died fighting in Spain but how was his body brought home?
a. In a fridge full of mountain ice
b. Boiled till the flesh fell away and his bones taken home
c. In a barrel of vinegar like a pickled egg
12. The Worst Job
SOME London children made their living by collecting treasure found in the River Thames.
The “mudlarks” waded through the slimiest mud that was full of toilet sewage.
What did they usually find?
a. Gold
b. Coal
c. Jewels
The Awful Answers
- Vitellius ate ALL of them – and a whole horrible lot more.
- b. After a life of crime, Dick Turpin was arrested for shooting a chicken. It gets stranger… He gave a false name and wrote a letter to his brother. His old teacher saw the letter waiting to be delivered, recognised his writing and betrayed him. Turpin was hanged for his crimes.
- c. Of course (because this is Horrible Histories). Irene got her friends to blind her own son.
- c. Of course – the awful answer is C.
- d. Louis’ palace had hundreds of fountains and 5,000 servants but only two toilets. Rich visitors had to bring their own potties. These were emptied in a ditch – and Louis made sure unpopular guests had their rooms just above that dreadful ditch.
- c. 400,000 people were killed in the Colosseum and maybe a million animals.
- b. A storm in the Mediterranean sank 284 Roman ships and 100,000 died. It was one of the worst sea disasters in history.
- c. Legend has it that Blackbeard’s corpse swam around the ship three times.
- c. Elagabalus actually fed bits of his enemies to a lion, a monkey and a snake who were kept in a temple named after him.
- c. Yes, the answer is a hole in the head – ouch.
- b. Black Douglas’s bones were put in a grave near the family home.
- b. Coal, scrap metal or firewood. Hard work for little reward and, with sewage and disease in the water, even a small cut could equal a death sentence.
- THIS quiz includes just some of the “worsts”. Dare you read the whole book and see what you think?
- Horrible Histories: The Worst In The World, by Terry Deary and illustrated by Martin Brown (Scholastic), is out on Thursday, £7.99, or £4.99 pre-order.
Secret to cut tales
WHEN Terry Deary sat down to write The Terrible Tudors 30 years ago he had no idea he was beginning a series that would be called a “cultural phenomenon”.
The original readers of the 1990s are now parents and new generations continue to discover the wicked wit and incredible illustrations of the series.
With more than 35million copies sold, an award-winning TV series, sell-out stage shows, live attractions and 2019’s Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans, fans can’t get enough of the historical tales.
Yet surprisingly, Terry, 77, says his secret is that he is not a historian at all.
The grandad of three, from County Durham, says: “I don’t look at past events through a historian’s eyes.
“I am a children’s author and storyteller and write books using language that children can relate to.
“I’ve still got as many ideas as I did in my twenties and it’s nice to be wanted and for people to say, ‘I love that, will you do more?’ I’ll only stop when I’m in a wooden box.”
Terry’s books are all brilliantly illustrated by Martin Brown, 63, who says his stack of Horrible Histories illustrations is now 3ft tall.
Reflecting on his favourite book he has illustrated, Martin, who lives with his family in Dorset, says: “You like them for different reasons. The Stone Age was great because the clothes were easy to draw. The Georgian was fun because the clothes were so bizarre.”
If you want to improve your own drawing style, Martin suggests: “Draw as often as possible, learn as many different techniques as you can and teach yourself how to draw the tricky things, such as drawing horses or cars.
“But most of all, have fun and don’t worry if it doesn’t look ‘right’.”
Terry has the following advice for wannabe writers: “Write the last sentence first, that way it’s like having a map to guide you
“Apparently J.K. Rowling did this, and she did all right, didn’t she?”