If you’re still searching for that ideal last-minute present, we may have the answer.
‘Did You Know?’ is an ebook/paperback that’s packed with trivia, brainteasers and strange stories. For example, do you know who Humpty Dumpty really was? Or what London Bridge is Falling Down has to do with human sacrifices? Below is a short extract from the book that has the answers to both.
To get hold of ‘Did You Know?’ go here.
Humpty Dumpty
Firstly, he wasn’t an egg. Humpty was a cannon used by Royalists during the English civil war. Humpty sat atop a church tower in Colchester, pummeling the Roundheads, until the church tower was destroyed and Humpty had his infamous great fall. So why’s he an egg? For that we have to thank Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, which featured an egg-like character called Humpty Dumpty.
Oranges and Lemons
Numerous theories abound as to where this rhyme is from and what it means. First published in 1744, the lyrics have changed wildly over time – at one point folk sang cheerily about ‘pokers and tongs’, probably instruments of torture kept at the Tower of London.
The rhyme’s ending is pretty gruesome, as it tells of a ‘chopper to chop off your head’. There’s nothing metaphorical or subtle about this. The bells in this section probably refer to the bells of Old Bailey, which would ring out at 9am to signal the start of the day’s executions. A guard, holding a candle in one hand and a bell in the other, would visit the condemned the night before their deaths.
Ring Around a Rosie
When the Great Plague hit Britain in 1665, victims would break out in a rash that looked like a ring. A ‘pocket full of posies’ was used to try and remove the smell. Famously, the ending of the rhyme talks about sneezing and then all falling down, or dying.
London Bridge is Falling Down
Remember that game as a child, where you make an arch with your friend and others try to not end up getting trapped? Yeah, that’s all about burying someone alive. Superstiton used to demand that a human sacrifice was made to ensure a bridge survived, in a ritual known as immurement. They would drag some poor soul into the base of the bridge, then seal him up inside, where he would eventually starve to death. The theory was first mentioned in the late 19th century, though no human remains have ever been found near the bridge.
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Wool used to be a big deal. A really big deal. So much so that in 1271, Edward I introduced a tax to help raise funds for various wars. The rhyme bemoans where any wool money was going, with some going to the master (Edward I), some to the dame (otherwise known as monasteries) and one for the little boy (the poor). Originally though, it was more satirical as the last line went ‘and none for the little boy who cries down the lane’.
