The Children's World - Then and Now

The Lore of the Playground

A fascinating survey of 100 years of children's games and rhymes

[A] delightful compendium ... Roud's indefatigable research proves that a great variety is still being played ... An appealing picture of our children emerges from this book ... As [it] richly demonstrates, there is much that is new to celebrate

Based on interviews with hundreds of people aged from eight to 80, Roud has created a fascinating portrait of childhood in Britain

Fascinating study ... Roud's book celebrates a creativity that is as amazing as it is anonymous ... a terrific book - full of detail, nostalgia and surprises and relentlessly upbeat

Roud traces enduring traditions, debunks cherished myths and proves beyond all doubt that commentators who insist that children no longer know how to play are simply not looking, or listening, carefully enough

Mr Roud has collected skipping rhymes, nonsense rhymes, "rude and horrible rhymes", clapping games, and much more, and compared them to the lore of old

Steve Roud's magisterial The Lore of the Playground takes us deeper in to a collective experience

Carefully researched, elegantly written and well presented ... an absolute treasure chest of children's folklore ...Whether your interest is folklore, nostalgia or trivia, or you simply want a resource book of games and rhymes, this magnum opus will not disappoint

Charming ... This is a book to bring pure, childlike joy, as you remember games and rhymes forgotten for a lifetime

Childhood memories will keep flooding back as you flick through this well researched and readable book

There is much that is reassuring in this book, which shows the resilience of childhood traditions ... Childhood is a realm we have all inhabited, and it is extraordinary how a jingle, or [a] phrase ... can transport us back to a world of rituals, games and traditions as unbending as those of the Medes and Persians. If you want to make that journey, The Lore of the Playground will certainly point the way

A highly detailed collection ... In short, this magnum opus is a treasure of a book to be frequently consulted

A superb piece of scholarship but also a quite splendidly satisfying dip-and-read book

A meticulously researched project which took me back to my own childhood

Steve Roud's magisterial The Lore of the Playground takes us deeper in to a collective experience

Steve Roud has been researching British folklore for over thirty years and is the joint author of the Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore, plus other books on traditional drama and folk song. He also compiles the Folk Song Index and the Broadside Index, two internationally known computer databases of traditional folk and popular song. He served as Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society for over fifteen years. He lives in Sussex.

From conkers to marbles, from British Bulldog to tag, not forgetting 'one potato, two potato' and 'eeny, meeny, miny, mo', The Lore of the Playground looks at the games children have enjoyed, the rhymes they have chanted and the rituals and traditions they have observed over the past hundred years and more. 
 
Each generation, it emerges, has had its own favourites - hoops and tops in the 1930s, clapping games more recently. Some pastimes, such as skipping, have proved remarkably resilient, their complicated rules carefully handed down from one class to the next. Many are now the stuff of distant memory. And some traditions have proved to be strongly regional, loved by children in one part of the country, unknown to those elsewhere. All are brilliantly and meticulously recorded by Steve Roud, who has drawn on interviews with hundreds of people aged from 8 to 80 to create a fascinating picture of all our childhoods.

One hundred years of children's games, rhymes and traditions

The legends and traditions of the world's most vibrant city

London Lore

Discover the colourful traditions and bizarre superstitions of the world's most vibrant city

a wonderful collection of stories and legends, to be recommended to anyone who is at least half in love with the dark side of London's past.

[An] absorbing compendium by folklore expert Steve Roud. He excavates the history of the capital, from obscure suburban streets to famous sites like the Tower of London

I've been enthralled ... The book's real strength lies [in] its exposure of deeper levels of custom, tradition and magical thinking that lie beneath the smooth Tarmac of contemporary realism

A spellbinding study of our city's folklore ... digs through layers of hearsay and speculation to investigate how and why the stories and traditions arose in the first place

An absorbing and fascinatingly thorough book

Steve Roud recently retired from his position as Local Studies Librarian for the London Borough of Croydon and has served as Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society for over fifteen years. He has been researching British folklore for over thirty years and is the joint author of the Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore. His other books include the Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland, which won the Katherine Briggs Folklore Award in 2004, Monday's Child is Fair of Face ... and other traditional beliefs about babies and motherhood and The English Year, a month-by-month guide to festivals. He also compiles the Folk Song Index and the Broadside Index, two internationally acclaimed computer databases of traditional folk and popular song.

In which part of North London were wild beasts once thought to roam the sewers? 
Why did 1920s working-class Londoners wear necklaces of blue beads? 
Who was the original inspiration for the 'pearly king' costume? 
And did Spring-heeled Jack, scourge of Victorian London, ever really exist? 
 
Exploring everything from local superstitions and ghost stories to annual customs, this is an enchanting guide to the ancient legends and deep-rooted beliefs that can be found the length and breadth of the city.

and Other Traditional Beliefs about Babies and Motherhood

Monday's Child is Fair of Face

A fascinating guide to the superstitions and traditional customs surrounding babies, from the old belief that you should not wash babies' hands to the view still widely held today that the day on which a baby is born determines its personality and fortune in life

Steve Roud recently retired from his position as Local Studies Librarian for the London Borough of Croydon and served as Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society for over fifteen years. He has been researching British folklore for over thirty years and is the joint author of the Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore, plus other books on traditional drama and folk song, and the Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland, which won the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award in 2004. He also compiles the Folk Song Index and the Broadside Index, two internationally acclaimed computer databases of traditional folk and popular song. He lives in Sussex.

Pregnancy and childbirth remains a mystical and magical time, characterised by feelings of hope, uncertainty and worry. No matter how many scientific innovations come along, there's still room for home-grown beliefs and traditions handed down through the family. Couples buying a pram may still ask for it to be delivered after the birth, and some grandparents will shrink from tickling the baby's feet in case it grows up to have a stammer. Monday's Child is Fair of Face gathers together these beliefs and customs, explaining how and why they arose, in which parts of the country they have been particularly popular, and to what extent they survive today. Arranged thematically, it's the perfect book to dip into, and its mixture of familiar, unfamiliar and frankly bizarre beliefs makes for compelling reading.

The English Year

A magnificent guide to England's fascinating local customs and national festivities in the style of The Lore of the Land

Steve Roud has been researching British folklore for over thirty years. He is the author of The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland, and winner of the 2004 Katharine Briggs Folklore Award.

This enthralling book will take you, month-by-month, day-by-day, through all the festivities of English life. From national celebrations such as New Year&rsquo;s Eve to regional customs such as the Padstow Hobby Horse procession, cheese rolling in Gloucestershire and Easter Monday bottle kicking in Leeds, it explains how they originated, what they mean and when they occur. 
 
A fascinating guide to the richness of our heritage and the sometimes eccentric nature of life in England, The English Year offers a unique chronological view of our social customs and attitudes

The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland

Inside the world of superstitions, from walking under ladders to Friday 13th

Steve Roud has been researching British folklore for over thirty years and is the joint author of the Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore. He lives in Sussex.

Are black cats lucky or unlucky? What should you do when you hear the first cuckoo? Since when have people believed that it's unlucky to shoot an albatross? Why does breaking a mirror lead to misfortune? This fascinating collection answers these and many other questions about the world of superstitions and forms an endlessly browsable guide to a subject that continues to obsess and intrigue.

Steve Roud

Julia Bishop

Refreshing ... beautiful ... academic but lively ... the book offers the experience of immersion into the strange, romantic and occasionally frightening world these songs were, and are, a part of ... A triumphant addition to the English folk canon, both as a source of reference and as an endlessly enjoyable collection to dip into

The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs couldn't be better timed ... an utterly indispensable collection of music for murder, wooing and wanton abandon

Compelling ... fascinating and refreshingly objective ... Free of any cloying romanticism ... An impressive and nourishing book, with an appeal far beyond the folk aficionado. Roud and Bishop have created something vital

Steve Roud

Praise for The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs

Refreshing ... beautiful ... academic but lively ... the book offers the experience of immersion into the strange, romantic and occasionally frightening world these songs were, and are, a part of ... A triumphant ad ...

The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs couldn't be better timed ... an utterly indispensable collection of music for murder, wooing and wanton abandon

Compelling ... fascinating and refreshingly objective ... Free of any cloying romanticism ... An impressive and nourishing book, with an appeal far beyond the folk aficionado. Roud and Bishop have created something ...

Refreshing ... beautiful ... academic but lively ... the book offers the experience of immersion into the strange, romantic and occasionally frightening world these songs were, and are, a part of ... A triumphant ad ...

The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs couldn't be better timed ... an utterly indispensable collection of music for murder, wooing and wanton abandon

Compelling ... fascinating and refreshingly objective ... Free of any cloying romanticism ... An impressive and nourishing book, with an appeal far beyond the folk aficionado. Roud and Bishop have created something ...

Refreshing ... beautiful ... academic but lively ... the book offers the experience of immersion into the strange, romantic and occasionally frightening world these songs were, and are, a part of ... A triumphant ad ...

The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs couldn't be better timed ... an utterly indispensable collection of music for murder, wooing and wanton abandon

Compelling ... fascinating and refreshingly objective ... Free of any cloying romanticism ... An impressive and nourishing book, with an appeal far beyond the folk aficionado. Roud and Bishop have created something ...

Books by Steve Roud

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