Those Happy Highways: an autobiography

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text excerpt

Most of our games were perforce played in the street, but there wasn’t much traffic about in those days, an occasional horse and cart and bicycles […] Skipping was also a great favourite with girls mostly, and we used to sing various rhymes to accompany this activity such as—

Old Billy Bance did a dance

Out of England into France,

Out of France and into Spain

Over the hill and back again,

There a man gave him a poke

Sent him back to Basingstoke.

Ball bouncing was also nearly always done to singing for instance--

One, two three a’lairy, my ball’s in the diary,

Don’t forget to give it to Mary

And not to Mabel Mitchell

or some other name, possibly of a girl or boy with whom you were friendly.

There were literally dozens of these singing rhymes, some topical, some vulgar but none that I can recall really obscene. 

excerpt from 'Those Happy Highways: an autobiography' (160 words)

excerpt from 'Those Happy Highways: an autobiography' pp. 3 (160 words)

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