Lunedi Lunacy

There was an Old Derry down Derry,
who love to see little folk merry;
So he made them a book,
and with laughter they shook
at the fun of that Derry down Derry.

I'm not at all sure if children still read Edward Lear (I'm sure some must) but I always found his word play enchanting.  He conjured up such pictures of Jumblies, floating Owls and Pussycats, and various old men and ladies of sundry places whose strange habits made for wonderful limericks.

I thought I'd start off my week by revisiting a few of my favourites.  However since I didn't have one of his many books at hand I thumbed clicked through the videos on YouTube and came up with these two very different but fun animations of classic Lear stories.

Well I guess that little tag end answered my question about children still reading Lear.

There is a wonderful website devoted to Lear and his various writings, drawings and creations.  As well they have some fun examples of early limerick books for slightly before Lear's time.

November 3 -  1793: French playwright, journalist and feminist Olympe de Gouges is guillotined.