The following games were recalled by my sister-in-law Elaine Bundell (n\u00e9e Vacher). She was born in 1952 and lived as a child in Royton, near Oldham, in the general vicinity of Manchester, in what was then part of the county of Lancashire, in the North of England.<\/p>\n
1.<\/p>\n
Ping pong pee and the P C lantern<\/em> \u201cThis was a “choosing” rhyme for a running race game. The children wanting to be chosen stood in a line with both hands held out, palm up. The “chooser” went along the line tapping each hand in turn. The child whose hand was tapped at the end of the rhyme on the word “wall” was the challenger and could choose either the kerb or the wall. (I played this game in the playground at Byron Street Junior School in Royton. I seem to remember there was an undercover area with a kerb to step up into it and a brick wall at the back.) If the challenger chose the kerb then she (again, it was usually a girl) ran to the kerb from a chosen line some distance away, back to the line then to the wall and back to the line again. Meanwhile the chooser ran to the wall first then to the kerb. The winner was the person back to the line the second time. I don’t remember whether the winner became the chooser or if the challenger became the chooser. Even if there were only two people playing, the formality of the rhyming and hand tapping took place.\u201d<\/p>\n This is the game which the Opies[1]<\/a><\/sup> call kerb or wall<\/em>, preceded by a counting out or choosing method commonly used to begin this game. They give the following example of the game\u2019s rhyme:<\/p>\n Bim<\/em>, bam, boo, and a wheezy <\/em>anna<\/em> This was reported from Stockport, which is not far from Manchester and Royton. Both rhymes are noticeably nonsensical, especially their first lines, which leads the Opies to add the following disparaging note to their example : `Versions in various stages of decomposition throughout the north country\u2019. It is not clear, however, what the more composed original might have been.<\/p>\n 2.<\/p>\n Nebuc<\/em>h<\/em>adnezzar, King of the Jews<\/em> \u201cA rhyme for doing “two-ball”. Bouncing two balls alternately against a wall underhand. On each rhyming word, doing a different action, eg throwing one ball overhand, bouncing one ball on the ground before hitting the wall (I seem to remember this was called for some reason “tobogganing”), throwing under the leg against the wall and, the hardest of all, behind the back. Each action lasted for the complete rhyme, saying the rhyme again and doing the next action until the ball was dropped then it was the turn of the next girl (I don’t remember boys ever playing two-ball). I also think that when reciting the “doh ray me” the action was done on every word.\u201d<\/p>\n Steve Roud[2]<\/a><\/sup> reproduces the same rhyme, word for word, reported from Kent in the 1940s, also used for games involving the bouncing of balls.<\/p>\n Elaine remembers another rhyme used for playing two-ball:<\/p>\n Lady, baby, gypsy, queen,<\/em> \u201cI think it was simply a case of throwing the balls against the wall and doing a different action on the rhyming words.\u201d<\/p>\n Such ball- bouncing games, says Roud, were exclusively girl\u2019s games. They were also `immensely popular\u2019 – which makes it all the more striking that they `seem nowadays to have disappeared\u2019.<\/p>\n 3.<\/p>\n Ala<\/em>–<\/em>bala<\/em>–<\/em>busha<\/em> \u201cThis was a ball game where someone threw a small ball over their shoulder to a group of waiting children. Whoever grabbed or caught the ball put it behind their back. Everyone then stood in line with their hands behind their backs saying the rhyme and showing each hand in turn. At the start of the rhyme the thrower turned round and watched the action then at the end of the rhyme had to pick out the child who had the ball. If they guessed right then they had another go and if not then the person with the ball became the thrower. (I remember playing this at the Mission Infants School in Royton and the first thrower was often one of the dinner ladies.)\u201d<\/p>\n This is a version of the game Queenie<\/em>. <\/em> \u2018Queenie is the perpetual delight of little girls aged eight and nine\u2019 write the Opies. The commonest version of the rhyme begins \u2018Queenie, queenie\u2019 but the Opies note that` in Scotland and North-east England\u2019 the rhyme begins instead with` Alabala\u2019. They do not specifically give any example from the Manchester area .<\/p>\n `Alabala\u2019 (also, \u2018Ali baba\u2019 and \u2018Ala wala\u2019) also occurs in examples of what the Opies call Chinese Counting<\/em>, <\/em>so-called not only because a Chinaman often appears, but also – perhaps more so – because the rhymes are made up of nonsense. Elaine remembered this one :<\/p>\n Ah-<\/em>ra<\/em> chickara<\/em> \u201cThis may have been a choosing rhyme but I remember girls just walking around arm-in-arm chanting the rhyme.\u201d<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n The following games were recalled by my sister-in-law Elaine Bundell (n\u00e9e Vacher). She was born in 1952 and lived as a child in Royton, near Oldham, in the general vicinity of Manchester, in what was then part of the county of Lancashire, in the North of England. 1. Ping pong pee and the P C […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-childrens-games-eeny-meeny-macka-racka-flick-cards-royton-lancs-1950s"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bundellbros.co.uk\/kevansmiscellany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bundellbros.co.uk\/kevansmiscellany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bundellbros.co.uk\/kevansmiscellany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bundellbros.co.uk\/kevansmiscellany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bundellbros.co.uk\/kevansmiscellany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bundellbros.co.uk\/kevansmiscellany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bundellbros.co.uk\/kevansmiscellany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bundellbros.co.uk\/kevansmiscellany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bundellbros.co.uk\/kevansmiscellany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMy black cat can play the <\/em>pian<\/em>er<\/em>
\nHe <\/em>can play for two and a tanner<\/em>
\nKe<\/em>rb or the red brick wall ?<\/em><\/p>\n
\n My black cat can play the piano<\/em>
\n One, two, three, kick him up a tree<\/em>
\n Kerb or wall ?<\/em><\/p>\n
\nBought his wife a pair of shoes<\/em>
\nWhen the shoes began to wear<\/em>
\nNebuc<\/em>h<\/em>adnezzar began to swear<\/em>
\nWhen the swear began to stop<\/em>
\nNebuc<\/em>h<\/em>adnezzar bought a shop<\/em>
\nWhen the shop began to sell<\/em>
\nNebuc<\/em>h<\/em>adnezzar bought a bell<\/em>
\nWhen the bell began to ring<\/em>
\nNebuc<\/em>h<\/em>adnezzar began to sing<\/em>
\nDo<\/em>h<\/em> ray m<\/em>e<\/em> far so la<\/em> ti<\/em> do<\/em>h<\/em> !<\/em><\/p>\n
\nElephant, monkey, tangerine.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nWho\u2019s got the ball ?<\/em>
\nSee I haven\u2019t got it<\/em>
\nIt isn\u2019t in my pocket<\/em>
\nAla-<\/em>bala<\/em>–<\/em>busha<\/em>
\nWho\u2019s got the ball ?<\/em><\/p>\n
\nChickara<\/em> rooney<\/em>
\nRooney <\/em>poony<\/em>
\nPing pong <\/em>piney<\/em>
\nAla- <\/em>bala-basta<\/em>
\nChinese Sam<\/em><\/p>\n\n