Last week we were invited to attend Birmingham Stage Companies’ Terrible Thames river tour. The kids are big fans of Horrible Histories and we’ve seen several performances including Horrible Histories: More Best of the Barmy Army and Horrible Histories: Terrible Tudors so knew what to expect.
Birmingham Stage Companies’ Terrible Thames river tour
Horrible Histories proudly presents its wicked river tour of the Terrible Thames. Climb aboard and hear the horrible history of the most famous river in the world! Terry Deary is the creator of Horrible Histories and one of Britain’s best-selling authors of the 21st Century. He’s also the tenth most-borrowed author in British libraries. There are around 50 Horrible Histories titles with total sales of 25 million in 40 countries.
Tremble in terror at the Tower! Sizzle at the Savoy! Give Cleopatra the needle! Be washed away at Westminster! Lose yourself in Lambeth! Get gobsmacked by the Globe! Hold onto your head at London Bridge and escape from Execution Dock!
Dive with Horrible Histories into the stories of King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Julius Caesar, Queen Boudicca, Jack the Ripper and Captain Kidd, in this history of the Thames with the nasty bits left in.
Similar to the performances on land, just two actors act out all the gory bits of history you want to know. There were no costume changes or props but the actors performed as student and teacher, whizzing past the history of London as we sped past them on our river tour. The tour started at Tower Bridge Quay and went all the way to the Houses of Parliament and back to Tower Bridge Quay in 45 minutes.
The kids enjoyed the river tour. We have lots of days out in London but you get a totally different experience seeing London from the river. The boat was comfortable and the performers use the aisle to perform which means you will be able to see and hear them wherever you sit. If the weather turns then the performance moves to the covered part of the boat so performances can take place whatever the weather!
Essential information:
Horrible Histories: Terrible Thames river tour
Tower Bridge Quay
St Katharine’s Way
London E1W 1LD
Saturday 1 April – Friday 29 October
Tickets from £15
How cool is this. We watch Horrible Histories, they make history a lot more fun (especially for those who aren’t super history fans).
I found your post very interesting and informative. The photos you included were great and really brought the experience to life. It sounds like it was a bit of a challenging trip with the weather and other issues, but your positive attitude throughout was inspiring. I’m glad you had a good time overall, and I appreciate you sharing your thoughts and recommendations.
The river tour seems an awesome one to watch with the kids. We haven’t watched Horrible Histories yet, will check it out.
This sounds like loads of fun getting to hear the horrible histories stories but also getting a boat tour at the same time. My brother was a big fan of Horrible Histories when we were kids, so if this was on when we were younger we’d have probably gone x
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post about the Thames River tour! Your writing style is engaging and your descriptions of the sights and sounds along the river were vivid and informative. The photos were a great addition, bringing the experience to life. Keep up the great work!