This book tells the stories of all the children whose work fed the nation, kept trains running, and put clothes on everyone’s backs, over the last few hundred years of Britain’s history. No longer will you have to listen to your parents, grandparents, uncles, neighbors, and random old people telling you how much harder they had it in their day. Next time you find yourself in that situation, ask them if they were a jigger-turner or a turnip-picker in their young day. No? An orderly boy, perhaps? A stepper? Maybe they spent their weekends making matchboxes? Still no? Then they have no idea about the real meaning of hard work. With profiles and testimonies of real kids in rotten jobs, this book will tell you things you probably didn’t want to know about the back-breaking, puke-inducing reality of being a child in the past. Tony Robinson is the author of The Worst Jobs in History and Bad Kids . He has written several television series for children including Maid Marion and Her Merry Me n for which he received a BAFTA and a Royal Television Award. He hosts Time Team , and played Baldrick in Blackadder.