- Paperback: 192 pages
- Publisher: Hodder Paperback; New edition edition (29 Jun 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0340897120
- ISBN-13: 978-0340897126
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 1.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 511,944 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
"'Hilarious' The Sunday Times 'Side-splitting' Daily Telegraph 'Craig Brown is the business' Independent 'Craig Brown's 1966 and All That is a fabulous spoof history of modern Britain. Inspired by its irreverent predecessor 1066 and All That, which was published in 1930, it begins with the First World War and ends with the Millennium Dome. It is effortlessly brilliant, eminently quotable and very much 'A Good Thing'... Like the best satirists, Brown skewers our pretensions, ridicules our foibles and holds a mirror up to our times...1966 and All That is a worthy successor to 1066 and should be required reading in every school across the land.' Sebastian Shakespeare, Tatler * 'Craig Brown is one of the funniest writers in Britain - wise, clever, hilarious and a national treasure.' - Helen Fielding, author of Bridget Jones's Diary * 'Craig Brown is Britain's greatest parodist... This weird and wonderful book has more common sense in it than most dutiful histories.' - John Mortimer, Mail on Sunday * 'A work of comic brilliance... disconcertingly like my GCSE History course.' - Ben Schott * 'The wittiest writer in Britain today.' - Stephen Fry"
Andrew Roberts
'Easily the funniest comic writer in Britain today, Craig Brown has precisely caught the genius of Sellar and Yeatman'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I note that not all the readers reviewers liked this, and although the 1930's original "1066 And All That" is rightly acknowledged as a classic, the effect of this kind of parody is always likley to be amusing rather than belly-laugh funny.
True, some of the puns are overly and sometimes unnecessarilly contrived, but there are some good moments: Grandhi walking round India "stirring up inaction"; Jesse Matthews, unexpected victor of the 1936 Olympics; the coronation in black and white, "as colour was still strictly rationed"; British World War 2 pow's, permitted nothing but "a selection of ropes, false passports, fancy moustaches, German phrase books, a selection of pantomine costumes, a wooden horse and a couple of gliders".
My favourite characters: Alexander Gissa Bell, and, for some reason, my biggest personal laugh: "the Webbs, Donald and Daffy" (bit of an historians' in-joke, that one); most obscure pun, Admiral Duncan Donitz; and Most Memorable event: the end of Mrs Thatcherism; her "loyal ministers" have individually "told her she was absolutely marvellous, but that she'd possibly be even that a little bit more marvellous if she left and never came back. She took the hint, opting to make a dignified exit from Downing Street, howling in tears, hammering on the windows and waving a blue hankie through the back windscreen of her locked car".
Nearest the knuckle of bad taste are the attempted Princess of Wails jokes, one of which makes you wince but is aimed at Tony Blur and hits the mark. Most painfully satirical are the French Resistance jokes: "under the brilliant guise of collaboration" the French "performed well disguised acts of resistance such as entertaining Nazi stormtroopers in their homes and turning in Jews". They also whistled the Marseillaise in the streets, but "for maximum impact", in 1946. Ouch.
The exam papers are better than the original, surreal and spot on, particularly the absurd sources questions (and I've marked a few). It was a brave decision to update the original, but someone had to. It may not have worked. On the whole, this does. A worthy sequel. "1066 II."
True, some of the puns are overly and sometimes unnecessarilly contrived, but there are some good moments: Grandhi walking round India "stirring up inaction"; Jesse Matthews, unexpected victor of the 1936 Olympics; the coronation in black and white, "as colour was still strictly rationed"; British World War 2 pow's, permitted nothing but "a selection of ropes, false passports, fancy moustaches, German phrase books, a selection of pantomine costumes, a wooden horse and a couple of gliders".
My favourite characters: Alexander Gissa Bell, and, for some reason, my biggest personal laugh: "the Webbs, Donald and Daffy" (bit of an historians' in-joke, that one); most obscure pun, Admiral Duncan Donitz; and Most Memorable event: the end of Mrs Thatcherism; her "loyal ministers" have individually "told her she was absolutely marvellous, but that she'd possibly be even that a little bit more marvellous if she left and never came back. She took the hint, opting to make a dignified exit from Downing Street, howling in tears, hammering on the windows and waving a blue hankie through the back windscreen of her locked car".
Nearest the knuckle of bad taste are the attempted Princess of Wails jokes, one of which makes you wince but is aimed at Tony Blur and hits the mark. Most painfully satirical are the French Resistance jokes: "under the brilliant guise of collaboration" the French "performed well disguised acts of resistance such as entertaining Nazi stormtroopers in their homes and turning in Jews". They also whistled the Marseillaise in the streets, but "for maximum impact", in 1946. Ouch.
The exam papers are better than the original, surreal and spot on, particularly the absurd sources questions (and I've marked a few). It was a brave decision to update the original, but someone had to. It may not have worked. On the whole, this does. A worthy sequel. "1066 II."
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I think Sellar and Yeatman would have approved of this - huge fun which had me laughing helplessly page after page. The more history you 'know' the funnier it is, though it also helps to have a taste for appalling puns. As with 1066 and all that, this take on history is sometimes very pointed and insightful. Recommended.
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I loved 1066 and All That so I was interested to hear that Craig Brown has written a sequel. He's done it brilliantly. This is modern history as filtered through the mind of the average Brit who didn't pay enough attention at school, and can't quite remember what they read in the newspaper at the weekend.
It begins in 1918 (for reasons that the fans of 1066 And All That will appreciate) and then goes on a v. funny journey through the 20th century to the dawn of the millennium when "all the most brilliant and attractive Britons joined arms in the splendid New Millennium Dome happy in the knowledge that this magnificent creation would act as a shining beacon to the whole World. From now on, nothing could possibly go wrogn." There are too many funny bits to quote here. Look out for the exam questions (Question 7. Draw a map of Barbara Castle, with ramparts.) and for John Humphrys's interview with Churchill on the Today programme. Craig Brown is also very funny about the Royal family (Okay, not that difficult these days...) and about the national curriculum's obsession with Hitler's rise to power.
A worthy sequel to 1066 And All That, and a very funny book in its own right. 1966 and All That is a 'Good Thing'.
It begins in 1918 (for reasons that the fans of 1066 And All That will appreciate) and then goes on a v. funny journey through the 20th century to the dawn of the millennium when "all the most brilliant and attractive Britons joined arms in the splendid New Millennium Dome happy in the knowledge that this magnificent creation would act as a shining beacon to the whole World. From now on, nothing could possibly go wrogn." There are too many funny bits to quote here. Look out for the exam questions (Question 7. Draw a map of Barbara Castle, with ramparts.) and for John Humphrys's interview with Churchill on the Today programme. Craig Brown is also very funny about the Royal family (Okay, not that difficult these days...) and about the national curriculum's obsession with Hitler's rise to power.
A worthy sequel to 1066 And All That, and a very funny book in its own right. 1966 and All That is a 'Good Thing'.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Staring into space is much more profitable.
Some people evidently find this kind of contrived humour amusing; unfortunately I don't. It's weak, laboured and repetitive and although I didn't have the stamina to wade through... Read more
Published on 18 May 2006 by Simon Oxley
A Bad Thing
"1066 and All That" is a wonderfully mangled view of history; "1966 and All That" is a disappointingly weak sequel. Read more
Published on 28 Jan 2006
Based on the extract in the Guardian...
This is the least funny book of this or the last century. Here is a quote regarding 80s music:
"... Read more
Published on 10 Nov 2005 by Andrew Brady
hilarious
Is Craig Brown the funniest writer of our times? This is his latest, and though I prefer some of his old Private Eye stuff, it's spot-on. Buy it now!
Published on 23 Oct 2005 by Sarah
Listmania!
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