Pop Goes The Weasel: The secret meanings of nursery rhymes by Albert Jack, as seen on The One Show
Books, The One Show Add commentsYesterday’s The One Show presented by Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley (currently strutting her stuff on Strictly Come Dancing) featured a new book called Pop Goes The Weasel: The secret meanings of nursery rhymes. Giles Brandreth reported on the book’s premise – that many of Britain’s best loved nursery rhymes, such as Three Blind Mice, Ring-a-ring o’ Roses and Baa Baa Black Sheep originally had serious and sometimes rather sinister meanings.
Giles reported back to Adrian and Christine in The One Show studio that the nursery rhyme Baa Baa Black Sheep developed as a mnemonic for tax collectors back in 1272. The tax was a wool tax on farmers to fund Edward I’s crusades. Of ‘three bags full’, one had to go to the Master (the King), one to the Dame (the Church and the Monasteries) and one for the little boy who lives down the lane (the farmer was allowed to keep the third bag for themselves). That was effectively a 66% tax rate!
Other nursery rhymes featured on The One Show included Ring-a-Ring o’ Roses, which originated from the Black Death plague which spread through England from the 14th to the 18th century killing approximately one third of the population. Ring a ring o roses, a pocket full of poses and ‘atishoo’ represented the symptoms of the plague and ‘we all fall down’ represents the number of fatalities from the deadly disease.
Three Blind Mice purportedly originated from a true story about Mary I, ‘Bloody Mary’ having three Protestant Bishops tied up to stakes, blinded and then executed. Queen Mary was also known as the ‘farmer’s wife’.
Pop Goes The Weasel: The secret meanings of nursery rhymes is an absolutely fascinating book and one throroughly endorsed by The One Show’s Giles Brandreth.
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