- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Boxtree (2 Sep 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0752215337
- ISBN-13: 978-0752215334
- Product Dimensions: 24.6 x 18.6 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
372,873 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #94 in Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Film > History of Film > Britain
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Product Description
Product Description
A no-holds-barred look at the most unenviable jobs of the last two thousand years.
Book Description
As befits the man behind Baldrick, Tony Robinson sets out to investigate life in the underbelly of history. Whether it's swilling out the crotch of a knight's soiled armour after the battle of Agincourt, risking his neck in the rigging of HMS Victory, or as 'Groomer of the Stool' going to places where none of Henry VIII's six wives would venture - Tony endures it all to get to the bottom (sometimes literally) of the story. Covering the Roman invasion to the reign of Queen Victoria, Tony's challenge is to seek out the worst jobs of each era. The very names Scab Eater, Powder Monkey and Seeker of the Dead underline the fact that the past is a different and fairly disgusting country. The Gunpowder Plot drew Tony to the role of the Saltpetre man who collected human waste for its nitrate content to turn into gunpowder. In the same vein, there’s a look at some of the worst jobs behind the building of the great medieval cathedrals. We look at the dire conditions on Nelson’s Victory where the most common form of retirement was being sewn into your hammock with a couple of cannon balls and dropped over the side. Then there’s the impact of the Industrial Revolution, a source of wealth and power for the few, but a cornucopia of lousy jobs for the many. Richly illustrated with artwork, photographs and diagrams, The Worst Jobs in History really gets into the grime of how life was for ordinary people and provides a vivid, alternative and fairly disgusting history of Britain.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is an excellent companion to the television series of the same name or just as a stand alone book giving a very good insight into the worst jobs accross our past. If you thought you had a bad job which you do not enjoy read this book then think again!. It covers a period which starts in Roman times and goes through history to finish in Victorian times, giving lots of details of trully revolting and tough jobs though that period, such as puke collector, illuminator, egg collector, leech collector, spit boy, toad eater, plague burier, topman, stone picker and chimney sweep. As with anything Tony Robinson is involved in it is very factual, detailed and interesting. Once picked up and started it is difficult to put it down.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Ahh here standeth the legend that is Tony Robinson. This book is a follow-up to the extremely interesting, funny and often bone-tingling series which saw Tony getting down and dirty with re-creations of all the nastiest jobs imaginable. They are all replicated in here and it truly is very interesting and somewhat bazzare.
My personal favourite is the 'Hermit' where you have to live in a cave at the bottom of a rich family's garden and your only job is to come out and stand outside it holding a skull whenever any guests walk buy - brilliant.
Buy the book, and if you can, see the series!
My personal favourite is the 'Hermit' where you have to live in a cave at the bottom of a rich family's garden and your only job is to come out and stand outside it holding a skull whenever any guests walk buy - brilliant.
Buy the book, and if you can, see the series!
Format:Hardcover
You could say it was the biggest cover up of all.The way life was portrayed via a half million paintings showed an ideal world of jolly peasants dancing round maypoles and families on picnics.Eventually you notice that art reflected life because this was how rich people lived.
By the time of the earliest photography the people had changed.No family photos for instance showed anyone looking happy.
Possibly that was because their lives were so hard whether they were farmworkers or factory workers that was their lot in life.The lower classes were living in Hell.
Amongst the worst jobs were Human Scarecrows who had to stand still for hours at a time in all weathers their only protection being the ragged clothes they wore.For this they earned the grand sum of shilling a week-which in today's money was about 5p-hardly enough to buy a loaf of stale bread.
By the time of the earliest photography the people had changed.No family photos for instance showed anyone looking happy.
Possibly that was because their lives were so hard whether they were farmworkers or factory workers that was their lot in life.The lower classes were living in Hell.
Amongst the worst jobs were Human Scarecrows who had to stand still for hours at a time in all weathers their only protection being the ragged clothes they wore.For this they earned the grand sum of shilling a week-which in today's money was about 5p-hardly enough to buy a loaf of stale bread.
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