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. ...

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

Early life

Sellar was born at

Golspie Golspie ( , ) is a village and parish in Sutherland, Scottish Highlands, Highland, Scotland, which lies on the North Sea coast in the shadow of Ben Bhraggie. It has a population of around 1,350. History The name derives from the Old Norse, ...

Sutherland Sutherland () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. The name dates from the Scandinavian Scotland, Viking era when t ...

, the descendant of

Patrick Sellar Patrick Sellar (1780–1851) was a Scottish lawyer, factor and sheep farmer. He had a prominent and controversial role in the Highland clearances as factor on the Sutherland Estate, a particularly large landholding in the Scottish highlands. He ...

who had taken a leading role in the

Highland clearances The Highland Clearances ( , 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 resulted from Scottish Agricultural R ...

and a relative of

William Young Sellar William Young Sellar FRSE LLD (22 February 1825 – 12 October 1890) was a Scotland, Scottish classical scholar and Professor of Classics (Edinburgh), Professor of Humanity at the University of Edinburgh. Life Sellar was born at Morvich, High ...

, a Scottish classical scholar. He won a scholarship to

Fettes College Fettes College () is a co-educational private boarding and day school in Craigleith, Edinburgh, Scotland, with over two-thirds of its pupils in residence on campus. The school was originally a boarding school for boys only and became co-ed in ...

where he was Head Boy in 1917. He left school at the height of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, and joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. Having attended an Officer Cadet Unit, he was commissioned in the

King's Own Scottish Borderers The King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSBs) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Scottish Division. On 28 March 2006 the regiment was amalgamated with the Royal Scots, the Royal Highland Fusiliers, Royal Highland Fusiliers ...

as a second lieutenant on 31 October 1917. He took a degree in modern history at

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is Colleges of the University of Oxford, 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 for ...

(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 physical examination, medical examination of a patient. It can serve as a ...

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 (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

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 Great Marlow is a civil parishes in England, civil parish within Wycombe district in the England, English county of Buckinghamshire, lying north of the town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire, Marlow and south of High Wycombe. The parish includes the ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

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 fee-charging boarding and day 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 ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

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

Charterhouse School Charterhouse is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Godalming, Surrey, England. Founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charter ...

from 1932 until his death. At first he taught history, but later moved to teach English and he became Housemaster of Daviesites from 1939. 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".

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 an English poet, soldier, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were b ...

' 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 ha ...

''. 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 ...

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

Sources

Further reading