Little Jack Horner Sat in a corner Eating a Christmas pie; He put in his thumb And pulled out a plum And said, ‘What a good boy am I!’ Before the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536 there were more than eight hundred religious foundations in England with over 16,000 monks and nuns. During the …
Little Jack Horner? Nursery Rhyme History & Meanings Read More »
Ring-a-Roses Ring-a-ring o’ roses, A pocketful of posies; A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down. This rhyme usually accompanies a dancing game that ends with all the children falling to the ground, getting their clothes muddy and going home to a clout round the ear. Or at least that’s how I remember it. ‘Ring-a-Ring o’ Roses’ …
The Real Meaning of Ring-a-Roses, Nursery rhyme history Read More »
Little Miss Muffet Sat on a tuffet Eating her curds and whey. Along came a spider That sat down beside her And frightened Miss Muffet away. Arachnopohobia is clearly not a modern complaint. Although cobwebs have traditionally been used as a dressing for wounds (and, scientifically tested, have turned out to contain all kinds of …
Who Was Little Miss Muffet – Nursery rhyme history Read More »
Living in our high-tech world, it is difficult to imagine a time when it was impossible to link up to the planet at large, and everyone on it, at the touch of a button or a single click of a mouse. It is only seventy years since the cinema, followed by television, began to bring …
Remember, Remember the Fifth of November – The Real Meaning Read More »
Mary had a little lamb, Its fleece was white as snow; And everywhere that Mary went, The lamb was sure to go. It followed her to school one day, Which was against the rule; It made the children laugh and play To see a lamb at school. And so the teacher turned it out, But …
Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; All the king’s horses and all the king’s men Couldn’t put Humpty together again. The real Humpty Dumpty was a powerful cannon used by the Royalist forces during the English Civil War of 1642 to 1651. Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle …
Here we go round the mulberry bush, The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush; Here we go round the mulberry bush, On a cold and frosty morning. This is the way we wash our clothes, Wash our clothes, wash our clothes; This is the way we wash our clothes, On a cold and frosty morning. This …
Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush: Nursery Rhyme History Read More »
Three blind mice, three blind mice, See how they run, see how they run; They all ran after the farmer’s wife, Who cut off their tails with a carving knife; Did you ever see such a thing in your life, As three blind mice? Some historians believe the origin of the words to ‘Three Blind …
Three Blind Mice – The dark history of nursery rhymes Read More »
From the Author of the Internationally Bestselling Red Herrings & White Elephants, Pop Goes the Weasel, What Caesar did for My Salad, Shaggy Dogs, They Laughed at Galileo: The historical significance of children’s rhymes is often lost on most adults, let alone the children who learn them by heart almost as soon as they learn …
