Terry Deary facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Terry Deary
Terry Deary at the 2024 Chiswick Book Festival
Born	(1946-01-03) 3 January 1946 (age 79) Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England
Occupation	Author

William Terence Deary (born 3 January 1946) is a famous British author who writes books for children. He has written 351 books, and over 38 million copies have been sold in more than 45 languages! He is most famous for creating the Horrible Histories series.

Since 1994, Terry Deary has been one of Britain's top-selling authors. In 2012, he was one of the most borrowed authors in British libraries. Books for Keeps magazine even voted him the best Children's Non-Fiction Author of the 20th Century.

Terry Deary's Life and Career

Terry Deary was born in Sunderland, England. His dad, Bill, owned a butcher's shop in a part of the city called Hendon. His mum, Freda, managed a clothing shop.

Early Life and School

Terry Deary went to Monkwearmouth Grammar School. He really didn't like his time at school. He especially disliked how he was taught.

As a child, he often helped out in his dad's butcher's shop. He started helping when he was only three years old!

From Acting to Writing

When he was 18, Terry Deary started working for the electricity board as a trainee. Later, in 1972, he joined the Theatre Powys drama company. As an actor, he traveled around Welsh villages, bringing theatre to children.

He also trained to be a teacher at Sunderland's College of Education. He taught drama for a while. Between 1975 and 1977, he was the Theatre Director at the Lowestoft Theatre Centre in Suffolk. This was an educational organization.

Terry Deary started writing in 1976. He became a full-time writer in 1994. This was when his very popular Horrible Histories series began to be published.

The Success of Horrible Histories

The Horrible Histories books are loved by children. They are full of interesting facts, lots of information, and funny pictures. Adults also like them because they help children get excited about history.

These books have been translated into many languages. Other authors have even tried to create similar series. The books were turned into a cartoon series that was shown on CITV in 2002.

A live-action comedy show called Horrible Histories has been on CBBC since 2009. Terry Deary himself has sometimes appeared on the show.

Awards and Interests

In 2000, Terry Deary received a special award. The University of Sunderland gave him an Honorary Doctorate of Education. This is a high honor for his work. He is also a big fan of the Sunderland AFC football team.

In 2011, he decided to stop writing children's books after 35 years. He lives in Burnhope, County Durham, England, with his wife, Jenny, and their daughter, Sara.

In 2024, it was announced that Terry Deary will write a crime fiction book for adults. It will be called Actually, I'm a Murderer.

Terry Deary's Thoughts on Education

Terry Deary has strong opinions about schools. He believes that schools mainly exist to keep children off the streets.

He once said that schools are not very useful in the 21st century. He thinks they were an idea from the Victorian era to get kids off the streets. He wondered who decided that putting 30 kids of the same age in a classroom with one teacher was the best way to learn.

He believes that testing can harm education. He thinks kids should leave school at 11 and start working. Not in dangerous jobs, but with computers or other modern skills. He feels that everything he learned after age 11 was a waste of time. He wished he had been taught life skills like building relationships, parenting, and managing money.

Terry Deary has even said that Horrible Histories should be banned from schools. He thinks that classrooms take all the fun out of his stories.

Views on Libraries

In 2013, Terry Deary also shared his thoughts on public libraries. He said they "have been around too long" and are "no longer relevant." He believes they "had their day."

He also talked about how authors are paid for books borrowed from libraries. He argued that people expect to read books for free, but this costs authors, publishers, and taxpayers. He compared it to not expecting free food from a "food library" or free Porsches from a "car library." He feels that if he sells a book, he gets more money than when it's borrowed from a library many times.

Selected Books by Terry Deary

Book Series

• Horrible History series
• Truly Terrible Tales
• Master Crook's Crime Academy
• Tudor Chronicles (also known as Tudor Terror)
• Tudor Tales
• Roman Tales
• Egyptian Tales
• The Fire Thief
• The Knowledge
• Pirate Tales
• True Stories
• Time Detectives
• The Spark Files
• World War I Tales
• World War II Tales

Other Books

• A Witch in Time
• The Ape Escape
• Classified
• Dangerous Days
• All about Bede: the life and times of the Venerable Bede, 672 – 735 AD (1996)
• Spooks (1997)
• Hat Trick
• Hope Street (1980); ISBN: 0-304-30514-6
• Ghost For Sale (2001)
• The Treasure of Crazy Horse (2001)
• The Custard Kid (2001)
• The Wishing Well Ghost (2002)
• Into The Lion's Den (2002)
• Footsteps in the Fog (2003)
• The Boy Who Haunted Himself (2004)
• The Last Viking (2005)
• Great big Father Christmas joke book
• The Vampire of Croglin
• Diary of a murder
• Thirteen Terrifying Tales (2024)
• A History of Britain in Ten Enemies (2024)

See also