Books - Double-take on local tales brings history to life for kids (Notts)

DID you know about the Great Meat Riot of 1792, when an angry mob chased Nottingham's butchers out of the Market Square and made a bonfire at which they "danced around like savages"?

Have you heard about the hanging of local cow rustler John Milner – whose rope snapped as he dangled?

Or the villainous highway lady Joan Phillips who – dressed as a man – robbed coaches along Loughborough Road in Notts?

If the answer to all these questions is "no" then you can soon ask your children about them because such grisly stories can be found in two new children's books about Nottinghamshire's history.

The new books tell the county's history from earliest times to the present day with the help of cartoon illustrations and lots of quirky tales about little-known stories and strange characters.

The authors know that a guaranteed way of grabbing a child's interest in history is to throw in a few battles, executions, riots and other blood-thirsty goings-on.

And Notts has had its fair share of those, when you include Roman, Viking and Norman invasions, the beginning of the English Civil War, machine-smashing by Luddites and the burning of Nottingham Castle in the 19th century.

"You've got to give children that 'wow' factor and a sense of amazement," says Michael Cox, a full-time writer whose A Grisly History of Nottinghamshire in 10 Spine-Chilling Chapters is the first children's book to be published by Nottinghamshire Archives.

His text is complemented by cartoons by Clive Goddard, whose work can usually be seen in magazines such as Private Eye and New Statesman.

The other book, A Children's History of Nottinghamshire, is by Ian Douglas, who writes children's fiction when he's not working part-time in social care.

Ian's book is in a bigger format and, unlike Michael Cox's book, uses full colour throughout.

It also takes a more serious tone which perhaps reflects the fact that the publisher, Hometown World, wants the book to contribute to learning history at school.

"The publisher basically asked me to look at time periods such as the Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Victorians because ideally they want the book to link up with the school curriculum," says Ian.

"I did the research two days a week for about five months and there was so much that I learned myself.

"I didn't know that Nottinghamshire was part of the Danelaw and that the Danes were here for about 40 years, living in a divided town with them on one side and the Anglo-Saxons on the other.

"It was the same when the Normans were here. Imagine if that was to happen now? It's mind-boggling."

Neither Michael nor Ian know each other and were not aware that the other's book was coming out.

Publication of both in the same month is pure coincidence.

Of the two authors (who, incidentally, wish each other good luck) Michael is the more experienced, with over 50 children's books to his credit.

A former teacher at the old Cottesmore School in Radford, he knows well what gets children interested in history and has taken great delight in using his new book to recount such strange stories as that of Kitty Hudson, the 18th century Arnold church-cleaner who swallowed pins.

Other lesser-known historical episodes in the book include the Great Cheese Riot of 1764 and the crushing to death of spectators who turned out to see the hanging of Colwick Woods murderer William Saville in 1844.

The book begins with an imagined mammoth hunt at Creswell Crags in 15,000BC and moves forward to the founding of Nottingham in the 6th century AD by that lovely Anglo-Saxon called Snotta.

Yet one character who doesn't make an appearance in Michael's book is Robin Hood – indeed, he almost didn't make it into Ian's book either.

There were two big reasons for this: first, Ian's view is that Robin Hood is a myth, not a historical character.

Secondly, he was tired of hearing about him.

But, says Ian, "the team of historical experts the publishers have to verify the facts seemed to think that Robin Hood was a real person.

"They wanted to know when was he born? When did he die? So I had to write a chapter about Robin Hood."

Where Michael Cox's book begins with woolly mammoths, Ian's starts with the Roman invasion and he devotes two pages to the long-disappeared Roman town of Margidunum near East Bridgford.

After the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons settled around the Lace Market and founded a town called Snotengaham (or, as Michael Cox's book has it, Snotta Inga Ham).

Differences aside, what the publication of both books suggests is that publishers still believe that children want to read history in those old-fashioned paper things called books, as opposed to in e-books or on Wikipedia.

"History is incredibly important," says Ian. "It gives you a sense of identity and place so you know where you're going. It's mind-blowing how people used to live."

* A Grisly History of Nottinghamshire in Ten Spine-Chilling Chapters by Michael Cox is published by Nottinghamshire Archives, £5.95.

* A Children's History of Nottinghamshire by Ian Douglas is published by Hometown World, £7.99.

From: http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Double-local-tales-brings-history-life-kids/story-14068523-detail/story.html

Book - A Children's History of Nottinghamshire

Ian Douglas discusses Nottingham's grim past. Words: Megan TaylorLocal freelancer Ian Douglas began his writing career in newspapers and magazines. He’s still busy reviewing and interviewing, but since graduating from Nottingham Trent’s Creative Writing MA, he’s also been steadily honing his reputation as a fine children’s writer. He’s had many short stories published, including the award-winning, ‘Making Grampie’, but here, he reveals his passion for Nottingham, and the squeamish secrets he uncovered during the creation of his first non-fiction book, A Children’s History of Nottinghamshire.

Your book is crammed with fascinating Nottinghamshire facts – how do you go about researching a book like this?

It took a lot of work. But it was enjoyable work. Hours in the local studies library browsing old Evening Post reports from the 1930’s for example. Trips to the Castle Museum and Southwell Minster. Tons of academic reading. Thankfully so much info is online these days. Medieval tax receipts, Norman death certificates, Tudor wills. These all helped me get my head around the story. There are also some excellent local history web sites that pointed me in the right direction. I even became a fully paid up member of the Thoroton Society. This is Nottinghamshire’s very own history and archaeology society named after a local physician from the Stuart era. They have a warehouse of research data.

But make no mistake, condensing 2000 years of history into 15 pages of language suitable for children was no easy task. At times my head was swimming with Viking warriors, Victorian capitalists, Luftwaffe bombers! One thing that I quickly realised is that there’s a reason we call it the Midlands. It’s because we’re right there, in the middle of everything that’s ever happened in this country.

My nine-year-old daughter particularly enjoyed the more gruesome information (the plague years, the child labour...) Which facts are your favourites? And did you find out anything that truly surprised you?

All kinds of things surprised me. That there was a bustling Roman town called Margidunum that thrived for 4 centuries before vanishing into the county turf. That Nottingham was a Danish colony for nearly 50 years. That Prince Edward was still 17 when he led his daring sneak attack through the Castle Caves to capture his treacherous mother and her lover. But that’s just it, history is full of amazing surprises. Both on a grand epic level but also in the day-to-day minutiae of ordinary Nottingham people. I also found out a lot of poo-related facts! The Theatre Royal had no loos when it first opened and theatregoers would just do their business anywhere in the auditorium. Every new season they had to burn all the poo to get rid of the smell.

You have children of your own. Did that help when it came to making your book so thoroughly accessible?

A little. I ran some excerpts past them to make sure the sentence structure and vocabulary was age appropriate.

What do your kids think of their published Dad?

The eleven-year- old is mildly embarrassed I think. ‘Why can’t you be normal like other dads’. And the eight-year-old doesn’t really understand it. Maybe he thinks I'm pulling his leg when I show him the book and say ‘that’s the book what I wrote’.

You’ve travelled extensively, but there is such involvement and appreciation for Nottingham in your Children’s History. Is Nottingham home now?

I do suffer from chronic wanderlust. But I’ve been a resident of Nottingham for over 30 years on and off. I even like mushy peas now, (joke, joke!). Most of those 3 decades have revolved around my beloved Sneinton, so yes I am a Midlander now. I adore the East Midlands, it has so much culture, landscape, history and above all, fantastic folk. There again I will always be footloose with one eye on the prevailing breeze. My grandmother was a Romany gypsy so I guess it’s in my blood. One day, like Bilbo Baggins, I’ll be off on one last adventure.

I know you also create your own (fabulous) fiction. Working on a project like this, where you have a certain format to follow and you’re negotiating with editors and illustrators, must be very different to the solitary act of writing your own stories. How did you find the collaborative process?

I’m a born collaborator, so it’s no problem. Feedback from seasoned editors is a vital part of producing quality prose, for anyone. Of course there are always minor professional differences but you have to take it on the chin. I wrote for the press in Thailand for a few years and I learned there how to deal with furious, desk-thumping editors. Duck!

However, I realised how important it was for a local writer to do the Children’s History of Nottinghamshire. Although the book was verified by independent historical experts, they needed someone with local knowledge to fill in the gaps. I feel I’ve made the book truly local. Then there was the picture research, which I helped with, but I found it fascinating. There are a couple of my photos in the book. It’s beautifully illustrated by the way.

Which do you prefer writing? Fact or fiction?

The book does have micro fiction inspired by real life. This helps children feel what it must have been like, for instance, to watch the Romans arriving in your village or the Vikings sail up the River Trent. Furthermore it has so made me want to write historical fiction. Use my knowledge to pen ripping sagas situated in and around the Trent Valley of yore. So if any publishers or agents out there are reading this, I’m your man.

On the other hand it really opened my eyes to the joy of non-fiction for children. It’s a way of capturing the marvels of life and pegging them down on a rectangle of paper, and in an easy-to-understand format. I would really like to do more, although no plans in the pipeline at the moment. So to answer your question I enjoy both, especially if I get paid! One more thing, even when doing fiction you have to do research, so the differences are not that great.

What’s next for Ian Douglas?

Well, we’re hoping to put together a bit off a road show to take around the local schools. I’ve been doing yet more research, stocking up with Victorian photos of Notts, composing fun quizzes, that kind of thing. We’ve got a day at the Angel Row library later this month welcoming a school party to the Local Studies wing. Meanwhile I’m hard at it with my children’s fiction. That’s the great thing about being a writer. One day I’m exploring the canyons of Mars. The next I’m rubbing shoulders with Roundheads and Cavaliers.

A Children’s History of Nottinghamshire is published by Hometown World and available from all leading bookstores.

From: http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm/title/a-children-s-history-of-nottinghamshire/id/4068