My Nursery Rhymes

As a child I was sung Nursery Rhymes as I was rocked to sleep on a wicker rocking chair which I am to inherrit oneday. I had the books. I had the records and tapes. Hearing them now reminds me of both the physical objects and of the events of my childhood.
It was probably as I was growing up that their own origins became apparent to me. As people began making films either based on the stories themselves, or in which they are told by one character to another, a new type of nostalgia seems to become attached. These stories were told to my parents as children, and their parents, and their parents, and so if illustrated or depicted, they might be stylised accordingly to the times.

From the long list of nursery rhymes I grew up with, I have chosen three to pursue and explore in greater detail.

• What are little boys made of?

• Mary had a little lamb &

• Mary, Mary, quite contrary

While all of the nursery rhymes I know are special to me, some feel especially personal. I feel a sense of ownership over them.