Greg Jenner
About Author
Greg Jenner, historian, author and podcast host, tells ReadingZone about his new Totally Chaotic History series, starting with Ancient Egypt Gets Unruly!
Greg is best-known for his educational comedy podcast for the BBC, You're Dead to Me, which has had over 70 million downloads. His Homeschool History radio series won him an army of new fans when it launched on BBC Radio 4 during the Covid pandemic. As historical consultant to the CBBC comedy series Horrible Histories, Greg ensured the factual accuracy of hundreds of side-splitting sketches. He has written several books for adults, and his first children's book was You Are History.
Greg lives in Surrey and you can find more about him at www.gregjenner.com or on twitter @greg_jenner
Interview
Totally Chaotic History: Ancient Egypt Gets Unruly (Walker Books)
April 2024
Historian, author and Horrible Histories fact-checker Greg Jenner joins ReadingZone to tell us about his new Totally Chaotic History series, and why his book about Ancient Egypt covers more than 3,000 years! So let's go back in time with Greg Jenner, to discover the totally chaotic history of Ancient Egypt....
ReadingZone's reviewer says.... "If you would like to know what it would really have been like to live in Ancient Egyptian times, then this is the book for you."
Q&A with Greg Jenner
"I finally got to do for other children what my fave comedians had done for me when I was young…
make history funny, and let everyone know that the past belongs to everybody!"
1. Can you tell us a little about yourself - your loves, your loathings, and what gets you up in the mornings?
Hi! I'm a historian who loves to laugh - I'm very lucky that my job is working with lots of funny and clever people, so it's a wonderful thing to wake up each day and know I'm about to laugh while I learn something new.
When I'm not working, I love spending time with my family, watching movies and TV show, and shouting at my fave football team, Tottenham Hotspur (who are almost-very-good, but never quite good enough… it's very annoying!)
2. What got you interested in history, and how did you become a Horrible Histories expert? Why do you enjoy sharing your love of history with young readers?
I fell in love with history because of comedy! When I was a teenager, I noticed loads of my favourite comedians, writers, and actors were setting their stories in the past. I came to realise that I was laughing at the stupid sketches because people used to be so different from us, but also because people are always the same - the food, fashions, ideas, and technologies change, but people are always people!
At university I wrote a few of my own comedy sketches, and studied the history of comedy. I then went to work in the TV industry. I was incredibly lucky to one day be in the right place at the right time, and I ended up with my dream job: working as the…uh… 'Chief Nerd' (Historical Adviser) to BBC Horrible Histories.
Over 11 years of making the show, I finally got to do for other children what my fave comedians had done for me when I was young… make history funny, and let everyone know that the past belongs to everybody!
"We race through the centuries at 100 miles per hour, and my writing style is as chaotically
comedic as the book's title!"
3. Can you tell us about your new series, Totally Chaotic History, and the first book, Ancient Egypt Gets Unruly? What makes these books different from other books about history?
Totally Chaotic History is my answer to a group of teachers asking me to write my next history book in chronological order (from start to finish), without jumping around in time. However, to make it fun for kids to read (and not just teachers!), we race through the centuries at 100 miles per hour, and my writing style is as chaotically comedic as the book's title! Oh, and the amazing illustrations by Rikin Parekh are hilarious too…
However, what's really different about Totally Chaotic History, compared to other history books, is that I'm co-writing them with expert historians, to ensure readers are getting the very latest research.
The first book in the series is about Ancient Egypt, and my co-writer is the fantastic Dr Campbell Price, who is in charge of the Egyptology collections at Manchester Museum. Together we race through 3,200 years of Egyptian history in a funny, messy, fascinating way. Even adults who think they know lots of history will be surprised by what's in the book. However, obviously I want children to enjoy it the most!
4. Why did you start with this period, the Ancient Egyptians? What impresses you the most about this civilisation?
We started with the Egyptians because their society was so amazingly different from ours, and lasted so long - a whopping 3,200 years! That gives us plenty of opportunity for funny facts and hilarious illustrations. But I also thought the Egyptians were the perfect subject because they are often studied at school, and I wanted to help children enjoy their history lessons more.
"I really hope that readers will come away understanding that History is a subject that never sits still;
experts like Campbell keep finding new evidence, changing their minds, proposing new theories."
5. How is the book arranged and what kinds of things will readers learn as they read it? What do you hope they'll remember?!
When planning the Totally Chaotic History series, I came up with a fun idea of pretending that I'm stuck in the past, not knowing what chaos is coming next. Usually when I write history books, I know how the story ends - so it's a fun game to imagine I am cluelessly clinging on to the historical rollercoaster ride! But to ensure the reader actually learns stuff, Campbell brings his modern day expert knowledge to the book by scribbling all over the page margins to correct my mistakes. Our messy double-act means you're getting the best of both worlds, hopefully - madcap storytelling from me, and sensible fact-checking from Campbell.
I hope readers will learn a tonne of stuff about the ancient Egyptian gods, pharaohs, dynasties, medical ideas, mummification customs, where they lived, how they worshipped animals, and how they build pyramids, etc. But I also really hope that readers will come away understanding that History is a subject that never sits still; experts like Campbell keep finding new evidence, changing their minds, proposing new theories, taking accepted facts and realising they might be myths, and trying to rethink all the things we thought we already knew… and that's how History should be! It's important to think for yourself, and always ask questions.
6. Have you been to Egypt? How did you go about researching Egyptian history for this book?
Sadly I've not yet been to Egypt, but luckily Campbell goes out there all the time to do his historical research - so I was very reliant on his big brain to help me write this book. And, as I said before, historians often argue and disagree about theories and facts! So, it was really fun for Campbell and I to have a big ol' argument in the middle of the book about why we think Egyptians did mummification. Don't worry, we weren't grumpy with each other, debating ideas is an important part of what historians do. In fact, a group of cows is called a herd, but a group of historians is called 'an argumentation' of historians… we love a passionate disagreement!
"Because Ancient Egypt lasted for so long, Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs did archaeology digs
on their own ancient civilisation"
7. What are your three top weirdest facts about Egypt?
Hmmmm… well, they might be surprised to learn that because Ancient Egypt lasted for so long, Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs did archaeology digs on their own ancient civilisation, including digging up the Sphinx after it had been buried in sand! Oh, and Ramesses the Great maybe had 103 children! And they might be shocked that King Tutankhamun was buried in his tomb with 145 spare pairs of underpants, which seems like waaaaaaay too many, right?
8. What else do you have planned for Totally Chaotic History; which civilisations are you planning to write about?
Next up is Roman Britain in October, then it'll be the Stone Age, and then the Ancient Greeks… all of them co-written with great experts. But I'd love to do loads more, if people want to read them!
9. What are your favourite historical times and people across history?
At university I studied medieval history, but these days I prefer studying famous celebrities in the 1700s (the Georgian era). But my fave ever person from history was the genius artist and inventor Leonardo Da Vinci, who lived in Renaissance Italy and France. I'd love to spend a week hanging out with him, if anyone knows where I can get a time machine?
"Never forget that there is a vast amount of amazing history sitting right there on your doorstep."
10. Do you enjoy travelling to different parts of the world to explore their histories or are you more of an armchair researcher? Where can we go to get inspired by history?
I'm a big fan of a cosy armchair and a good book, but yes, travel is a wonderful thing and historians do love to visit faraway places when we research them. I'm especially keen on going to France and Italy (nice weather, great food!), but I've also had a brilliant time visiting historical sites in Mexico, Norway, Ireland, Denmark, Bulgaria, and Canada.
However, never forget that there is a vast amount of amazing history sitting right there on your doorstep. If you can't afford to go to Egypt, there are brilliant Egyptology collections in many museums around the UK, and loads of fantastic collections from other historical periods too, so you can see great stuff wherever you live!
Totally Chaotic History: Ancient Egypt Gets Unruly!
