…and going for a bargain!
Hans Christian Andersen’s tale ‘The emperor’s new clothes’ was first published in 1837 but this well known story was not original to the famous Danish author. It was based on a 1335 story from the ‘Tales of Count Lucanor’, a medieval Spanish collection of fifty-one cautionary tales. However, it’s fair to say that Andersen’s version was the one that has sustained ongoing popularity and has subsequently inspired other to adapt the idea into other works, including:
- Author and mathematical physicist Roger Penrose parodied artificial intelligence as having no substance in his book The Emperor’s New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds and The Laws of Physic
- Elton John uses the title of the story in the opening track of his 2001 album Songs from the West Coast.
- American pop band Panic! At the Disco released a song titled Emperor’s New Clothes, which includes the lyrics “I’m taking back the crown. I’m all dressed up and naked.”
- Award-winning Zimbabwean cartoonist Tony Nanmate, published a collection of political cartoons entitled The Emperor’s New Clods and highlight some landmark moments in a troubled period of the country’s history.
- Keld Moseholm created the sculpture (below), depicting the moment where the emperor sees his new clothes for the first time.
