AN APPROACH could be made to one of the authors behind a set of internationally successful books to create a child-friendly version of Haddington’s history.

The hugely successful Horrible Histories books, published by Scholastic, were translated into more than 30 different languages and sold more than 25 million copies across the world.

The series of books are specially written and illustrated for children.

Therese Laing, a former headteacher at Humbie Primary School, raised the idea of a Haddington version during a meeting of the town’s community council earlier this month.

She had previously contacted Terry Deary, primary author of the Horrible Histories books, about the idea.

She told the Courier: “I had written to Terry Deary because I thought it would have been a good project to do with the pupils in Haddington.”

Mr Deary had been happy to help but stressed that any published book could not come under the Horrible Histories banner.

Councillor John McMillan, ward councillor and East Lothian Council’s spokesman for tourism and economic development, highlighted that a similar book had been produced in 2018 to mark 700 years of Haddington’s Royal Charter.

The book was launched in November that year, with illustrator Glen McBeth visiting the town and offering youngsters the chance to learn how to draw the characters lurking in Haddington’s past.

Mrs Laing felt that any potential book could feature a range of events from the town’s history, including witches being hanged from the Nungate Bridge and people such as John Knox with a connection to the town.

The community councillor suggested that a Zoom lesson with pupils at schools in Haddington and Mr Deary could be arranged.

A spokeswoman for East Lothian Council said: “As part of the Haddington 700 celebrations in 2018, the council’s archives team produced their own version of ‘Horrible Haddington’, describing some of the rich historical events of the town.

“We would be delighted to welcome Terry Deary to visit our archives, when we are able to reopen, to explore some of the historic artefacts and documents we have in storage including, of course, the Robert the Bruce Charter of 1318.”

The Horrible Histories series, which looked at a variety of tales from the past, including The Terrible Tudors and The Awful Egyptians, went on to become a television series.

The series’ success saw the release of Horrible Geography and Horrible Science, among other books.