Nursery Rhymes: The Horrible Truth Quiz

Answer: A plum piece of real estate

Little Jack Horner tells the story of Thomas Horner, a steward to the Abbot of Glastonbury in the time of Henry VIII. As Henry undertook the policy of the dissolution of the monasteries, Horner was dispatched to court by his employer with deeds to several prestigious properties held by the church. The purpose was to offer the properties to the king in an attempt to dissuade him from destroying the abbey at Glastonbury.

The deeds were apparently concealed within a large pie crust to trick potential robbers from stealing the valuable contents. However, it didn't deter one thief: the carrier himself. Horner allegedly took one of the deeds for himself before arriving at court; that of Mells Manor in Somerset. Descendants of Horner, in whose possession the manor still remains, claim that the story is untrue.

Answer: False

Though it is often said that it is the case, there are several reasons why it is highly unlikely that "Ring-a-Ring o' Roses" is at all concerned with the plague. Firstly, the plague does not manifest itself in any of the ways mentioned in the rhyme (except perhaps the "fall down" part). Sneezing is not a known symptom and there are no "rosy" rings or marks on the flesh; the true visible sign of a plague sufferer was the swelling of the glands in the form of buboes.

Secondly, and more convincingly, the rhyme does not appear to be contemporaneous with any of outbreaks of the plague in the English speaking world. The first written record appears in 1881 in "Mother Goose", although references to it go back nearly 100 years prior to this. Versions of the rhyme exist in other cultures too, some pre-dating the English-speaking version, but the wording varies considerably, throwing considerable doubt on its meaning and origins.

Answer: Pop Goes the Weasel

"Half a pound of tuppenny rice
Half a pound of treacle
That's the way the money goes
Pop goes the weasel

Up and down the City Road
In and out the Eagle
That's the way the money goes
Pop goes the weasel"

In this version of events, the weasel is the worker's coat, coming from the cockney rhyming slang "weasel and stoat" (in another interpretation the "weasel" is a device for measuring yarn). To "pop" an item is to pawn it for money.

The Eagle is a public house that is still situated on the City Road in East London.

Answer: The Holy See

This version was originally put forward by Iona Opie, the co-author of "The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes". The tale goes that Wolsey as Old Mother Hubbard was charged with petitioning the pope in the case of King Henry VIII's "great matter"; "the bone" of the rhyme was the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon that Henry sought on the grounds that the marriage was illegal, as Catherine had consummated her previous marriage to Henry's older brother, Arthur.

However, Wolsey was unable to secure the pope's blessing for the annulment ("the cupboard was bare") and so "the poor dog" (Henry) didn't get his bone. The failure of Wolsey to get this blessing was to prove his undoing as the king's favour that had enabled him to wield great power across the kingdom, was swiftly withdrawn. Wolsey was arrested for treason but died in custody before he was able to stand trial.

Answer: A dead child

A really heart-warming story this one! It is suggested that it became customary to bury the body of a young child in the foundations of a bridge so that the child could act as the protecting spirit for the bridge. Some have even suggested that the child might be buried alive. The rhyme calls on this spirit to advise as to what the best course of action for the bridge would be.

The origins of the rhyme are possibly not to do with London Bridge at all; similar rhymes exist in several other European cultures.

Answer: Colchester

The legend has it that Humpty Dumpty was a cannon that was used by the royalist forces in the English Civil Wars of 1642 to 1651. It sat atop the tower of the church, St Mary-at-the-Walls in Colchester, defending the town as the Parliamentarians laid siege. The Parliamentarians, after eleven weeks of attacking, finally succeeded in destroying the tower where Humpty Dumpty sat and sent it crashing to the ground where it broke into several pieces. The cavalry and infantry ("all the king's horses and all the king's men") attempted to repair it without success and the town soon fell to the Parliamentary attackers.

Other towns also claim to have been home to the cannon; Bristol and Edinburgh to name but two, but all these claims may well be false - the nursery rhyme was most likely first written as a riddle, asking what was the Humpty Dumpty of the rhyme, with the answer being "an egg".

"Old King Cole" is supposedly about King Coel, an ancient king of Britain after whom some suggest the town of Colchester is named (meaning Coel's fort). However, Adrian Room's "The Dictionary of Place Names" claims this is groundless and that the town's name comes from the River Colne on which the town stands.

"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" is a shortened version of the poem "The Star", written by Colchester resident, Jane Taylor, in 1804.

Answer: Three maids

That naughty butcher, baker and candlestick maker eh? The rhyme as first printed in the fifteenth century was;

"Rub-a-dub-dub,
Three maids in a tub,
And who do you think were there?
The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker,
All of them gone to the fair."

It might be inferred from this that the rhyme is referring to a travelling peep show and the three gentlemen were paying customers. Very sordid indeed!

Answer: All of these

The popular choice for the role appears to be Prince Frederick, who led his troops in the French Revolutionary Wars after France declared war on Great Britain in 1793. Put in charge despite having little or no military experience, Frederick turned out to be a spectacularly ineffective leader, having failed to properly plan for the campaign he was attempting to undertake.

His forces laid siege to Calais, despite not having brought any siege guns with them and soon were forced to retreat. Their retreat continued all the way to Flanders where Frederick suffered defeat at the Battle of Tourcoing. It is in Flanders that the hill of the rhyme is reputed to be located; Mont Cassel, a hill that rises to nearly 600 feet above the flat lands of Flanders.

James II's claim to the title comes from the period of the Glorious Revolution when James marched his troops from London to Salisbury Plain to confront his challenger and would-be usurper, William of Orange. On arriving at Salisbury, James discovered that many of his supporters had switched allegiance. This discovery led James to make a hasty departure from the conflict and head straight back to London.

Richard Plantagenet's attempts to overcome his Lancastrian opponents at the Battle of Wakefield during the Wars of the Roses, may also be the source of the rhyme. Having reached his intended fortress, Sandal Castle, situated atop a hill on the banks of the River Calder and believing himself heavily outnumbered, Richard called for reinforcements. Before they arrived he charged from the castle to engage the opposition at the foot of the hill.

As the fighting began, more Lancastrian opponents cut off his route back up the hill and surrounded his troops. The Yorkists were heavily defeated, suffering losses of up to 2500 men. Richard himself was killed in the battle. It is believed that this battle gave rise to the mnemonic used to remember the colours of the rainbow, "Richard of York gave battle in vain".

Answer: King Edward I (Longshanks)

The story of Edward's trouble in Gloucester lacks substantial evidence but was reported by Iona and Peter Opie in "The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes" based on a theory propounded by Boyd Smith.

The tale goes that Edward travelled to Gloucester and attempted to ride his horse through what he thought was a small puddle. However as he progressed it soon became apparent that it was somewhat more than a puddle and Edward became deeply entrenched; so much so that help had to be sought amongst the local people to rescue him from his predicament.

The king was so embarrassed by his experience that he left the city and vowed never to return - and he never did.

Answer: A cat

It's true, not all nursery rhymes come from sinister beginnings; some are every bit as innocent as they seem. "Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat" apparently stems from an incident at Elizabeth I's court when a cat fell asleep underneath the queen's throne. Later that day, when the queen was sitting upon the throne and attending to court matters, the cat awoke and, spooked by all the noise, shot out from under the throne, startling Elizabeth in the process.

Though the cat was returned to the queen for punishment, Elizabeth took pity on the moggy and passed a decree giving the cat the right to roam the castle.