Hard to swallow: March 2005

According to research by the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, nursery rhymes expose children to far more violent incidents than an average evening watching TV. The study, which examined 25 popular rhymes, found the frequency of nursery rhyme violence to be more than ten times greater than in pre-9pm programmes, with five violent scenes per hour of viewing compared with 52 per hour of nursery rhymes.

Examples of violent incidents included Humpty Dumpty's head injuries; Jack and Jill's 'double hillside fall tragedy'; Ten in a Bed's repeated bedtime tumbles and a cradle crashing to the ground in Rock-A-Bye Baby.

The researchers read the nursery rhymes to a toddler, but said it was difficult to gauge any reaction.

Furthermore, Canadian researchers are concerned that featured characters also suffer major injuries without receiving proper treatment, with TV twice as likely to show or mention the result of the violence. They have reacted by composing a 'medically accurate' rhyme, which features the lines:

Little Johnny rode his bike,

No helmet on his head.

He took a fall and split his skull,

His mother feared him dead.

Chris Roberts, an amateur historian, also claims that the verses sound more suited to the local pub than the playroom, featuring bawdy sexual, religious and political themes.

According to his book, 'Heavy Words Lightly Thrown': Oranges and Lemons is a rude wedding song, with the 'candle to light you to bed' representing a bride tempting her new husband; Jack and Jill is a cautionary tale of pre-marital hillside sex, with a metaphorical breaking crown; Baa Baa Black Sheep is an attack on taxation and See Saw Marjorie Daw, is 'essentially a slur on country folk'.