Walter Carruthers Sellar (27 December 1898 – 11 June 1951) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

humour Humour (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humorism, humoral medicine of the ancient Gre ...

ist who wrote for ''Punch''. He is best known for the 1930 book ''

1066 and All That ''1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, Comprising All the Parts You Can Remember, Including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates'' is a tongue-in-cheek reworking of the history of England. Written by W. C. Sellar and R. J ...

'', a tongue-in-cheek guide to "all the history you can remember," which he wrote together with

R. J. Yeatman Robert Julian Yeatman (15 July 1897 – 13 July 1968) was a British humourist who wrote for ''Punch''. He is best known for the book '' 1066 and All That'', a tongue-in-cheek guide to "all the history you can remember", which he wrote with ...

Early life

Sellar was born at Golspie in

Sutherland Sutherland ( gd, Cataibh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire (later ...

, the descendant of

Patrick Sellar Patrick Sellar (1780–1851) was a Scottish lawyer, factor and sheep farmer. In 1811, he was employed as factor by the Sutherland Estate in a joint (but subordinate) position with William Young. The estate had started some clearances, integral t ...

who had taken a leading role in the

Highland clearances The Highland Clearances ( gd, Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860. The first phase resulte ...

and a relative of

William Young Sellar William Young Sellar FRSE LLD (22 February 1825 – 12 October 1890) was a Scottish classical scholar. Life Sellar was born at Morvich in Sutherland the son of Patrick Sellar of Westfield, Morayshire and his wife Anne Craig of Barmakelty, ...

, a Scottish classical scholar. He won a scholarship to Fettes College where he was Head Boy in 1917. After serving briefly in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the King's Own Scottish Borderers, he took a degree in modern history at

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, wh ...

(which, as recorded in ''1066 and All That'', was awarded through an

aegrotat A medical certificate or doctor's certificate is a written statement from a physician or another medically qualified health care provider which attests to the result of a medical examination of a patient. It can serve as a sick note ( UK: fit no ...

in 1922). It was at Oriel that he met his contemporary Yeatman, and struck up a lifelong friendship. Although the two produced brilliant work together, they were entirely different personalities: Sellar was somewhat shy and introverted, although he enjoyed acting. He wrote melancholy

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

in addition to dry humour.

Teaching career

On leaving Oriel, Sellar worked as a schoolmaster at his old school

Fettes Fettes may refer to: * Fettes College, a private school in Edinburgh, Scotland * , a German hip-hop group * Fettesian-Lorettonian Club, Sports Club People with the surname * Christopher Fettes (born 1937), English-born Irish teacher and social act ...

, leaving in 1928 when he moved to Great Marlow in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

in the hope of becoming a full-time writer. However, the financial burdens of bringing up two daughters led him to take a job at

Canford School Canford School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18). Situated in 300 acres of parkland near to the market town of Wimborne Minster in Dorset, south west England, it is one of the largest sch ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

from the start of the school year in 1929, and he went on to teach at

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

from 1932 until his death. At first he taught history, but later moved to teach English and he became Housemaster of Daviesites from 1939. He used his own ration and money to buy extra food for the boys of the House during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, which made him very popular. During the period 1946-1950 he was again teaching history at Charterhouse, and even in his late years Sellar retained his sense of humour, for example putting on as the school play one year two trials. The first, in which he was somehow simultaneously the King of Spain and the Lord Chief Justice of England, was the trial of Christopher Columbus (played by the Head Boy) for the heinous crime of discovering America. The second, in his words "the most important negligence trial in history" was of course the trial of Guy Fawkes "in that he did fail to blow up the Houses of Parliament". The boys (Charterhouse was all-male in those days) all loved this (and also his habit of throwing blackboard rubbers at the headmaster!).

Writing

Sellar had begun to contribute to ''Punch'' in 1925 when three humorous short stories of his were published (he also contributed to other journals around this time). His collaboration with his old University colleague Yeatman, who was also writing for ''Punch'', appears to have begun in 1928 during his period out of teaching. The first part of ''1066 and All That'' appeared in ''Punch'' on 10 September 1930, taking its title from

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...

' autobiography ''

Good-Bye to All That ''Good-Bye to All That'' is an autobiography by Robert Graves which first appeared in 1929, when the author was 34 years old. "It was my bitter leave-taking of England," he wrote in a prologue to the revised second edition of 1957, "where I had ...

''. Sellar's contribution is particularly noted in the comic exaggerations and name confusions; his knowledge of English literature also inspired the book's many literary allusions and

pastiche A pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking it ...

s. After completing the book, Sellar worked with Yeatman again on a sequel, ''And Now All This'', a parody of general knowledge, including subjects as diverse as geography, knitting and topology. The 1933 book ''Horse Nonsense'' was credited to the two but is largely the work of Yeatman, while ''Garden Rubbish and other Country Bumps'' is also credited to the two but largely Sellar's work.

Publications

* ''

'' (1930) * ''And Now All This'' (1932) * ''Horse Nonsense'' (1933) * ''Garden Rubbish and other Country Bumps'' (1936)

Early life

Teaching career

Writing

Publications

References

Further reading