TEHRAN – A Persian translation of “Deadly Days in History” from Terry Deary’s series “Horrible Histories” has come into Iranian bookstores.

Payman Esmaeilian is the translator of the book published by Ofoq with its original illustrations by Martin Brown.

“Deadly Days in History” is the most awful story of the “Horrible Histories” series yet. Deary and Brown take a whirlwind tour through the most dreadful, disastrous and deadly days in the whole of horrible history, from the grim Great Fire of Rome to the vile St Valentine’s Day Massacre, leaving the gory bits in and the boring bits out.

Terry’s father, Billy, was a butcher in Hendon, Sunderland, and his mother, Freda, was the manageress of a clothing shop. He worked many years in his father’s butcher shop as a boy.

A former actor, stage director and drama teacher, Deary began writing when he was 29.

His “Horrible Histories” series of books are popular among children for their disgusting details, gory information and humorous pictures and among adults for getting children interested in history. Books in the series have been widely translated into other languages and imitated.

A cartoon series has been made of the series of books and was shown on CiTV for a period in 2002.

The first series of a live-action comedy sketch show of the same name was shown on CBBC in 2009 and a second series is due.

Terry is also known widely throughout children and adult reading groups alike for his “True Stories” series.

He received an Honorary Doctorate of Education from the University of Sunderland in 2000. His numerous accolades also include the Blue Peter “Best Nonfiction Author of the Century” Award in the UK.

Photo: A combination photo shows writer Terry Deary and the Persian edition of his book “Deadly Days in History”.

MMS/YAW