Voting Was Done by Ballad

This is an amusing read, in the spirit of "1066 and All That". (Via A&L Daily)

Comments

[DaninVan]

"1066 and All That"...Man, I loved that book!!! Better'n most textbooks! :)

[Mick H]

I wasn't sure if that title would mean much outside the UK. Glad to hear it does.

[Dom]

I just looked up 1066 in Wiki, and apparently it is a parody of "Our Island Story". Did they mean "An Island Story"?

A blogger who can't be found anymore (Ian Murray?) pointed to an on-line version. I still have it. I love this description of the Boston Tea-Party:

Many an honest merchant looked sadly on, many a thrifty housewife sighed to see the waste, but no one stopped the work. It was the greatest tea-making that had ever been seen, and for long after it was called the "Boston Tea-Party."

When King George heard about this tea-party he was very angry.

And so on. I don't know why, I just think it's a fun read. Makes me think if Alistair Cook, Bertie Wooster, and all that.

[Mick H]

"Our Island Story" was a well-known Edwardian history book, written at a time when much of the world was coloured pink on the map, Britain was top nation, and it was all for the best. But really "1066" was a good-natured spoof on history teaching generally: I think it's unnecessarily restrictive to call it a parody of Our Island Story in particular.