After going viral with her crappy social media videos, TikTok sensation Katie Kennedy, aka The History Gossip, is bringing history to life in her new Sky TV program History Crush.
It’s unclear whether Anne of Cleeves was a “minger,” or whether Queen Elizabeth I was a “minger.” Henry VIII was a “clapped” queen. In her cheesy social media posts, which have received millions of likes on TikTok, Katie Kennedy, better known as The History Gossip, uses this vibrant language to bring famous historical figures to life. Most people take years to get noticed, but Katie became famous practically overnight.
She was finishing up her 12 000-word dissertation on Women in Pompeii at Durham University one minute, and then she had shared a few bizarre history videos on TikTok that had gone viral.
Like most students, Katie enjoyed slogging away hours of study time on social media, but it turned out to be more important. “I was on TikTok all the time anyway, so I posted some stuff about the Tudors and I got a couple of thousand followers Then I did a video with the caption – why were the Tudes clapped”? she asserts.
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Seeing my blank expression, she translates: “Why were they really ugly? That performed very well. It was able to gain access to a sizable meme called “Great British Memes,” which has a sizable following. People were screenshotting it and asking, ‘ Is that you”?
Earthy and funny, Katie’s history videos are the right side of sweary, with a sprinkling of Gen Z language. “Some of the slang that I’ve picked up through the years was originally just to get around TikTok guidelines,” she explains.
After a million followers, Katie accepted a book deal and published The History of the History of the Minger. And she’ll also be making an appearance on Sky History’s History Crush, where she’ll be sifting through the underwear drawers of famous people like Henry VIII, Charles Dickens, and Lord Byron, Charles Dickens, and Marie-Antoinette, and posing the big questions. “Yes he was”, she giggles. And did Lord Byron experience burns or crushes? “Definitely a crush,”
The speed at which Katie got a book deal will have many seasoned writers gnashing at the bit. She claims that “something went wrong” when she received a message from her current agent in February of last year. She asked, “Have you ever thought about writing a book? ” and she responded. And I thought, ‘ Yeah maybe in the future. ‘ However, as soon as I received my dissertation, I began writing it and finished it during Oxford’s Freshers Week while still feeling hungover!
Because it was more of a gifty book, we released it for Christmas in November. It’s still really weird seeing it in the book shops. “
I have to ask, “Was Anne of Cleeves a minger?” when we meet outside on a sunny afternoon in the charming Vaults and Gardens Café in Oxford, where Katie, 25, is currently a student for her master’s degree.
” Well I don’t think so, “she replies”. She received a castle from Henry VIII, and their relationship resembled a brother-sister bond. She emerged from it quite well out of all of his wives. She wasn’t really minging, like her portraits said, but she was ‘ mid’. “
How about Elizabeth 1? According to Katie, her teeth were fuggers because of how much sugar she consumed. And it’s so funny that even when she looks a bit minging in her portrait, that’s probably her best photoshopped version. “
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Katie just returned from a trip abroad, but her skin is still “porcelain-like.” I don’t like to sit in the sun because I get scared of getting sunburned, “she says in her sing-song Geordie accent.
My entire life has been spent in Durham. I attended a nearby comprehensive school, attended a local comprehensive school, and completed sixth form there. And then a journalism apprenticeship with BBC, “she says.
This explains why Katie has a journalism certificate to back up her ability to find a hook in a story. She explains that I must have a three-second intro before posting anything in order to keep people interested. I don’t really script them though, I just press record! “
An authentic voice on the platform, which is supported by years of diligent academic work, is undoubtedly the key to Katie’s success.
” I did journalism for two years, but I felt like I’d missed out on university, so I applied to Durham to do Ancient History and Archeology – and got in! She asserts.
While she appears surprised by her “luck,” it seems to me that Durham and Oxford are fortunate to have someone who can bring history to life.
Although she has a bit of imposter syndrome, the university social life has made up for it”. She acknowledges that I enjoyed going to Durham because of all the traditions and things that came with it. You don’t get that in every university, but it’s fun.
A quick peek at her socials and you can see Katie has settled in well since arriving last September. She says, “Yes, the balls are wonderful. The gowns are my favorite to wear. I went to a Balioll College ball last week. The balls here are superior to those in Durham, I’ll tell you!
Katie’s first taste of history came when her parents dragged her around National Trust properties every Sunday. “I remember when I was seven being like, I don’t want to go to Wellington and Cragside, I just want to sit on my little Nintendo,’” she admits.
She became a participant in a Beamish Living Museum of the North exhibit, which made the experience memorable.
” It’s just down the road from where I live. therefore, I twice had work experience there, “she recalls.” I once had my little cardboard gas mask box as a Second World War evacuee and later dressed as a Victorian school child.
“Did you know during rationing, instead of ice lollies little kids would have frozen carrots”?
Inspired by TV historians such as Lucy Worsley and Ruth Goodman, Katie admits that Horrible Histories – which has probably done more to make history popular than all the dusty old academic institutions put together – inspired her.
You don’t feel like you’re learning in Horrible Histories, says the author. The author of the books, Terry Deary, is from Sunderland, which is not far from where I’m from”, she adds proudly.
When she would appear in Victorian Farm on television, Ruth would say, “I’m going to make bread from scratch.” She doesn’t give the impression that you are being lectured; rather, she is talking about common people, who I believe occasionally get overlooked.
” It definitely sparked the way I like to present history in a fun, doesn’t-feel-like-you’re-learning type of way. “
I’m curious what Katie’s more traditional tutors think of her approach to teaching history to the masses. When I first started on TikTok, I blocked everyone at Durham and friends and family, because I was embarrassed about posting a video that might get three views, “she reveals”. I stopped caring what people thought until I did a series about the Victorians.
“I really like my Oxford supervisor,” she says. I told him it’s like Horrible History but for adults, and he thinks it’s great that I’m making history more accessible”.
Influencers are likely to burn out on social media. With so much going on, I have a question about how she is spending her time. “My masters is on British and European 18th-century history, and I’m doing my dissertation on the fan-making industry and how women used fans. But since I’ve only been working part-time, I still need to spend a year to get my arse back in gear and sort it,” she says.
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“I used to post every single day on TikTok, but I’ve learned to take a step back from it and know that if I don’t post today, it’s not like the end of everything”.
And history is undoubtedly appealing to social media users. I just get that Americans don’t understand my accent, or they ask, “What’s a minger?” she laughs.
She and her brother, who has just begun studying politics at university, live in Durham with their parents. She claims that despite her claims that she was debating politics or history, she enjoys arguments.
She sidesteps when asked if she is single, even though she is interested in if historical figures are worthwhile to date. “Depends on who’s asking”? she exclaims a smile.
But she gushes when describing one of her long-standing passions in Durham. “We’ve just got a King Charles Spaniel puppy called Millie – I love to sit and cuddle her in the garden”, she says. When I’m not there, I miss her dearly.
Katie, who devotes a lot of her time to studying historical women, continues, “I especially like the Brontes and Mary Antoinette, because I believe she was very misunderstood.”
The arts have been losing out in the push for more maths and engineering, but Katie is making history cool again and reminds us the importance of knowing about our past.
She claims that history keeps repeating itself. “People don’t really differ from who we are today. The Tudors put belladonna in their eyes to make them sparkle. Victorian women wore dresses made of arsenic and ate arsenic wafers to give their skin a pale complexion. Women were killed while wearing them.
So, forget Brazilian butt lifts, or excessive tanning – when it comes to dying for beauty, the Tudors and Victorians got there first.
• HISTORY CRUSH, presented by Katie Kennedy (aka History Gossip), will be available on Sky HISTORY on demand via Sky and Virgin Media from May 29. More at www.history.co.uk/shows/history-crush #HISTORYCRUSH @HISTORYUK
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