Top 10 facts about nursery rhymes

In the 17th century Humpty Dumpty was a drink of brandy boiled with ale

World Nursery Rhyme Week begins today, sponsored by Music Bugs (musicbugs.co.uk).

1. Nursery rhymes as we know them date back to the Middle Ages, though the first collection in English was Tommy Thumb’s Song Book in 1774. 

2. That book included London Bridge Is Falling Down, with the word “broken” instead of “fallen”. 

3. They were not called “nursery rhymes” until 1806 when Ann and Jane Taylor published their Rhymes For The Nursery... 

4. ...that book included Jane Taylor’s five-verse poem The Star of which the first verse was the now common Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star rhyme. 

Mary Had A Little Lamb was written in 1830 by Sarah Josepha Hale  



Nursery rhymes as we know them date back to the Middle Ages





World Nursery Rhyme Week begins today



5. Mary Had A Little Lamb was written in 1830 by the influential US editor, novelist and campaigner Sarah Josepha Hale... 

6. ...it was based on a true story of a girl called Mary Sawyer taking a pet sheep to school. 

7. Mary Had A Little Lamb was Thomas Edison’s first recording on his phonograph in 1878.

8. In 1951 Baa, Baa, Black Sheep became the first song digitally saved and played on a computer.

 



In 1951 Baa, Baa, Black Sheep became the first song digitally saved and played on a computer

9. Shakespeare mentions Jack and Jill in Love’s Labour’s Lost and in Midsummer Night’s Dream.

10. In the 17th century Humpty Dumpty was a drink of brandy boiled with ale. In the 18th it was slang for a short and clumsy person.