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Richard Digance
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Richard Digance
Oct 20, 20231 min read
Chapter 21 - Ascot Races - Braces
Going to Ascot every year is a ‘must do’ for the upper-classes and has been since 1711 when it was set up by Queen Anne, but it wasn’t...
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Richard Digance
Oct 19, 20231 min read
Chapter 20 - Trouble & Strife - Wife
Trouble and strife is not the only cockney rhyming slang reference to the other half. In days past wives were also known as the Old...
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Richard Digance
Oct 18, 20231 min read
Chapter 19 - Love Potion - Ocean
Reaching the sea from The East End is one hell of an assault course as it means negotiating the mirky, brown, River Thames that boasts...
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Richard Digance
Oct 17, 20231 min read
Chapter 18 - Huskie Ruskie - Russian
Russians have no interest in cockney rhyming slang, which comes as no surprise as they may well have their own. Put the boot in rhymes...
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Richard Digance
Oct 16, 20231 min read
Chapter 17 - Brussels Sprouts - Scouts
Was I prepared to join the scouts? Was I hell. I wasn’t prepared at all. I was up for it at one point and then I heard they’d discovered...
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Richard Digance
Oct 15, 20231 min read
Chapter 16 - Farmer Giles - Piles
I remember my dad suffering from the wicked things and because the tube stated the cream was for external use only he went out into the...
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Richard Digance
Oct 14, 20231 min read
Chapter 15 - Toby Ale - Rail
As for Charringtons, the brewery behind the cockney rhyming slang, John Charrington started the business in 1766 and they sold out to...
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Richard Digance
Oct 13, 20231 min read
Chapter 14 - Fishhook - Book
I remember my friend telling his mum he didn’t want to go to the library anymore because all the books had been coloured in. She...
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Richard Digance
Oct 12, 20231 min read
Chapter 13 - Icky Dick - Sick
It's a wonderful thing that sick people can go swimming with dolphins as a kind of goodwill therapy, but I can’t help wondering, in which...
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Richard Digance
Oct 11, 20231 min read
Chapter 12 - Round The Houses - Trousers
Despite the confusion there was always a sense of pride when it came to those living in the old terraced houses of East London, with...
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Richard Digance
Oct 10, 20231 min read
Chapter 11 - Mince Pies - Eyes
You probably guessed right, eagles are top of the charts by a country mile with most of them having eight times better eyesight than...
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Richard Digance
Oct 9, 20231 min read
Chapter 10 - Mutt & Jeff - Deaf
Thankfully, people don’t consume goat’s meat anymore and that’s what they used to call mutton many years ago, so although a play on...
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Richard Digance
Oct 8, 20231 min read
Chapter 9 - Mum's The Word
Long ago, when The Dead Sea didn’t even have a headache, our mums used to use giant yellow sponges the sizes of house bricks in the...
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Richard Digance
Oct 7, 20231 min read
Chapter 8 - Bristol Cities - Female Curves
Cities can only become cities if such places are blessed with a cathedral, always the biggest and grandest building in the area, or so we...
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Richard Digance
Oct 6, 20231 min read
Chapter 7 - Butchers' Hook - Look
Butchers all looked the same in appearance, all wearing straw hats with black bands, pin-striped blue and white aprons, white attire and...
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Richard Digance
Oct 5, 20231 min read
Chapter 6 - Plates Of Meat - Feet
On the subject of feet, why is it that people can suffer from athlete’s foot in the singular, but never athlete’s feet in the plural?...
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Richard Digance
Oct 4, 20231 min read
Chapter 5 - Apples & Pears - Stairs
I thought about setting up an apple juice business but I worked out it wouldn’t produce a big enough turnover. All I know is that one is...
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Richard Digance
Oct 3, 20231 min read
Chapter 4 - Brown Bread - Dead
As soon as I think of brown bread, Queen Victoria’s favourite morsel from the bakery by all accounts which makes you wonder why they...
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Richard Digance
Oct 2, 20231 min read
Chapter 3 - Gypsy's Kiss - Piss
Despite what purists may think, piss isn’t a swear-word at all. It comes from French derivation, just like cockney, and can even be found...
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Richard Digance
Oct 1, 20231 min read
Chapter 2 - Walnut Whip - Trip
Walnut Whips first appeared as a luxury in sweet shops back in 1910, when not too many kids could afford to buy sweets so their longevity...
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