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Katie Kennedy aka The History Gossip
The History Gossip
Was Anne of Cleves a Minger?
Katie Kennedy aka The History Gossip provides the answers to these types of tongue-in-cheek questions and has created a platform on TikTok off the back of it.
Her engaging content looks at moments in history – everything from the absolutely absurd, to the totally taboo – through a witty comedic lens, with a Gen-Z audience in mind.
The 25-year-old combines her knowledge as a Durham history graduate and a master’s student studying British and European History at Oxford University. Her unconventional history lessons have been a huge hit, as Kennedy has built an online community of 568,000 followers and 45M total views on the platform.
And there's more where that came from, as Kennedy finally released her debut book, The History Gossip: Was Anne of Cleves a Minger? And 365 Other Historical Curiosities in November last year.
But Kennedy’s love for history goes back to her childhood as she recalled to indy100 fond memories that cultivated her interest in the topic.
Kennedy at her book launchBrett D Cove
“My parents would take us to National Trust every weekend, on a Sunday specifically, and would go around all of the Northeast ones – Gibside, Cragside, Wellington,” she said despite initially “going in such a mood” and wanting to play on her Nintendo she “ended up enjoying it”, as it opened up her imagination.
“I felt very immersed in the house and stuff and pretended to be Lady of the Manor, even though I definitely would have been, the scullery maid back in those times,” Kennedy joked.
School trips to the Beamish Museum and the popular children’s TV show Horrible Histories (which has seen clips go viral on TikTok in recent years) are also credited with “definitely sparking a love of history.”
But what particular historical period was Kennedy’s favourite growing up?
“I went through different phases. So when I was little, I read a lot of Jacqueline Wilson books, I read “Hetty Feather” [set in the 1890s]. I remember being like ‘I really want to be a Victorian orphan’ for some reason,” and so the Victorian times was her favourite period.
She continued: “We had that day at school. I don't know if everyone else had that in primary, where you'd come in dressed up as a Victorian or dressed up as a World War Two evacuee? I remember making my own little gas mask box, being like ‘I'd also love to be an evacuee’,” but noted how she had a “very romanticised version” of the past.
“I definitely still love those two periods, but I'm very grateful to live in the present. I don't think I could have survived those days at all”.
Kennedy went on to study history at university, and it was in her third year that she had a desire to do “something creative” with what she knew. That’s when she decided to post on TikTok—but there were some initial challenges before she found her niche.
“I think especially when I started, I was very self-conscious of myself and like, the way I sound, my accent and stuff,” the TikToker admitted. “Probably because I've seen prior how history is presented so I thought maybe I have to be very serious, I have to sound a certain way, I have to present a certain way”.
However, this assumption soon changed when Kennedy posted her “Was Anne of Cleves a Minger?” video in December 2023 that had her witty presenting style which went viral with over 3M views, and this moment “sparked something” for the content creator.
“I started not taking myself super, super seriously, and just started having fun with it, which definitely has made a difference. I feel so grateful that people have responded so well to that especially. It's just nice being able to make fun videos and inject my Northern humour into it,” she explained.
Another aspect Kennedy was initially concerned about posting on TikTok was knowing that people she knew may come across her videos.
“When I started Tiktok, I was absolutely mortified, and I blocked every single person I knew at uni, my friends, and family members. I was like, ‘This is so embarrassing, just talking at the camera to like no one like them, getting no views,’” she recalled.
“But I feel like you have to start somewhere. I feel, in a sense, like blocking people. It sort of made me a bit more confident to do it, because I felt like I had nothing to lose. No one's going to see them.”
Soon her initial viral video was posted on the Great British memes page, which led people to ask if it was her video. It was at that point she began to unblock people and found it less intimidating as her confidence had grown because her platform had also grown alongside it.
“My friends and family are so supportive. They've all bought my book, which is really nice.”
Brett D Cove
Plus, viral TikToks have a global reach - as Kennedy quickly found out when her "Was Anne of Cleves a Minger?” video reached the For You pages across the pond, and there was one word that left Americans completely baffled…
“My favourite part is Americans that don't understand what I'm saying, and they go, ‘Can you have subtitles? What’s a minger? What does this mean? So I love that as well. I find it really funny.”
Kennedy described how going viral and building an online platform has been a “really bizarre” experience overall. The fact that she has half a million followers “doesn’t feel real” and is something she “can't really comprehend”. “The first time I got recognized - I'm not famous - but someone said, ‘Do you make history TikToks?’ was when I was in the library at uni, and it kind of took me by surprise a little bit, because I was like, ‘Oh s***, people actually watch them.”
The history student also expressed how she loves to see what her followers say about her videos and chat with them. “I love reading the comments, and I try to reply to as many as I can because the comments are so lovely. She continued: “I find it really heartwarming that people are taking the time out of the day to comment something so nice”.
Out of all her interesting and entertaining videos, Kennedy said “there’s so many” to choose to pick a particular favourite from but shared one she enjoyed making in recent months.
“It was about how people woke up before alarm clocks. Before I was focusing a lot, I was doing a lot on the Royals, and I did bits on Queen Victoria. And I was like ‘No, I want to do one on the normal people, on the povvos and stuff.’”
The author and creator then explained how learned at the Beamish Museum how people were hired to wake up super early, and they would then tap the windows with a long pole to wake up the people who couldn’t afford an alarm clock.
“I think it's important to talk about just the normal people in history, rather than the Royals all the time, and what all the rich people were doing. I find it a lot more relatable -what would I have done in Edwardian times? Because I wouldn't have been the princess or any of the Royals or anything.”
When the opportunity arose to write her debut book, aptly titled after her first viral video The History Gossip: Was Anne of Cleves a Minger? And 365 Other Historical Curiosities, Kennedy had a clear vision in mind.
“I wanted to do especially was to make something similar to my content. I wanted to make it accessible, short form, easy to digest, and not necessarily for people who had studied history, prior, who have done a degree in it. I wanted it to be someone who could pick it up who's maybe took it at GCSE 10 years ago, and then they just want to casually read it.”
She described the writing process as “very intense” but “fun” as the history scholar went from completing her dissertation straight into writing her book over the summer.
Since the book’s release in November last year, Kennedy shared her delight at the positive reaction she’s received from her followers.
“It’s been really nice because I was really nervous. I remember the night before, I was so nervous for it coming out, but people have been messaging [me] saying that it's funny and they like the audiobook as well, or they're reading it in my voice. So it's really nice to see. And people are like, ‘I'm using this to help you revise for GCSE,’ and I'm just like, ‘Please don't quote it word for word!”
After writing her first book, and as her TikTok account continues to grow, what are Kennedy’s plans for the future?
“I think I'm gonna take every day as it comes, because this time last year, I had no idea that my platform would grow as big as it has, and I didn't expect to have written a book or anything. I just expected maybe if I have a few videos that do well, that's really great.”
She added: “You can't predict anything, I'm very grateful to be doing what I'm doing now.”
The History Gossip: Was Anne of Cleves a Minger? and 365 other historical curiosities by Katie Kennedy (£14.24, Michael O’Mara Books, 2024) is available to buy now.
Follow Katie Kennedy aka The History Gossip on Instagram: @TheHistoryGossip and TikTok @TheHistoryGossip.
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