Chapter 61 - Toad In The Hole - Dole
I remember when the Youth Employment Officer came to our East End school and asked us what we wanted to be when we left school. Half the...
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Richard Digance
Nov 28, 20231 min read
Chapter 60 - China Plate - Mate
Our finest Sunday-best crockery that our mums only used on special occasions was made of porcelain and porcelain was invented in China,...
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Richard Digance
Nov 27, 20231 min read
Chapter 59 - Rabbit and Pork - Talk
To rabbit on was a well-used cockney rhyming slang although very few people used it with as much success as cockney duo, Chas Hodges and...
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Richard Digance
Nov 26, 20231 min read
Chapter 58 - Gold Watch - Scotch
Gold watch was a term used in pubs when a cockney fancied a nip of whisky. Let’s begin by getting the correct spelling as it seems to be...
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Richard Digance
Nov 25, 20231 min read
Chapter 57 - Skin and Blister - Sister
During the wild 60s skins were cigarette papers, not annoying members of the family who had boyfriend problems. And then of course there...
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Richard Digance
Nov 24, 20231 min read
Chapter 56 - Pot and Pan - Father (Old Man)
It's an interesting cockney rhyming slang because from it came the term of going potty. Losing one’s temper in a way that could be...
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Richard Digance
Nov 23, 20231 min read
Chapter 55 - Peckham Rye - Tie
So is the tie the most unnecessary item of clothing a man can wear? It may well be these days but it wasn’t in the 17th Century during...
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Richard Digance
Nov 22, 20231 min read
Chapter 54 - Camber Sands - Hands
For Eastenders travelling south it usually meant taking the Woolwich Ferry over to Kent for hop-picking, a time to get away from the...
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Richard Digance
Nov 21, 20231 min read
Chapter 53 - Cauliflower Cheese - Knees
Cauliflower yes and cheese yes, but I don’t think they ever thought about mixing the two together in the late 19th Century. I doubt if...
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Richard Digance
Nov 20, 20231 min read
Chapter 52 - Ha'penny - Halfpenny
It’s interesting that small change through the years have been referred to as a copper, or a couple of coppers, but in 1860 and beyond,...
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Richard Digance
Nov 19, 20231 min read
Chapter 51 - Porky Pie - Lie
Back in 1184 BC The Greeks and The Trojans were fighting nineteen to the dozen until The Greeks presented The Trojans with a giant wooden...
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Richard Digance
Nov 18, 20231 min read
Chapter 50 - The Old Grey Whistle Test
To tell the story of the derivation of The Old Grey Whistle Test term we must travel west from The East End of London, into what is known...
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Richard Digance
Nov 17, 20231 min read
Chapter 49 - Sweeney Todd - Flying Squad
Americans in particular were convinced he was a real character and they flocked to London’s Fleet Street in their droves to visit the...
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Richard Digance
Nov 16, 20231 min read
Chapter 48 - Lah Di Dah - Cigar
So we come to Lah Di Dah, the cockney rhyming slang for cigar. A little outdated in this modern world where people are more concerned...
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Richard Digance
Nov 15, 20231 min read
Chapter 47 - Wet & Wild - Child
Having a child is a painful experience, physically so for the mum and mentally for the dad who patrols up and down outside the hospital...
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Richard Digance
Nov 14, 20231 min read
Chapter 46 - Rosie Lee - Tea
The cockney rhyme is attributed to not anyone British but an American stripper and burlesque dancer by the name of Gypsy Rose Lee, born...
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Richard Digance
Nov 13, 20231 min read
Chapter 45 - Currant Bun - Sun
It’s strange because hot cross buns were around when they started working out those earlier cockney rhymes, as they date back to the 14th...
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Richard Digance
Nov 12, 20231 min read
Chapter 44 - Loop The Loop - Soup
I remember how my mum slung chicken bones into a saucepan of boiling water and stunk the kitchen out for hours. It was a sure sign soup...
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Richard Digance
Nov 11, 20231 min read
Chapter 43 - Helter Skelter - Air Raid Shelter
Helter Skelter may also seem familiar as a Beatles track on their White Album, but the first kids’ attraction was built, not in Liverpool...
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Richard Digance
Nov 10, 20231 min read
Chapter 42 - North & South - Mouth
Its composer, Bob Weston, certainly knew how to come up with ridiculous song titles and What a Mouth was nowhere near the worst. There...
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