Not really a travel question but I haven't been able to find an answer doing an internet search and was hoping someone here might know. A friend asked me the origin of the Muffin Man nursery rhyme which has a reference to Drury Lane which I assume is the one in London. I could find references to Drury Lane in connection with the theatre but I also saw one that suggested a more colorful past. Was Drury Lane at one time part of a red light district? Is a muffin man just a man who sells muffins?

Kris, <BR>Drury Lane was once a residential area favored by aristocrats. Sir Thomas Drury gave it its name. In the late 1700s the area began to deteriorate and by the end of the 1800s it was one of London's worst slums. George Peabody, an American from Baltimore, built a series of estate houses on the lane in the late 1800s for the poor in an attempt to upgrade the neighborhood. The Peabody Estate still exists on Drury Lane. <BR> <BR>A theatre built in the mid 1600s on the Lane proved to be the meeting place of King Charles II and Nell Gwynne who became his mistress. The theatre burned down, was rebuilt by Wren and subsequently became the site of two failed assassinations, one against King George II, the other against George III. <BR>In the mid-1700s, Shakespeare's plays were revived by David Garrick after 150 years of neglect. <BR> <BR>The street, its theatres, and their players and audiences have an interesting place in the history of London but I can find no references to the Muffin Man.

Fresh muffins were sold by street sellers door-to-door in London in the 19th century. So the muffin man was just a street vendor. One could suppose thar Drury Lane was used in the rhyme because it is a well known street.

Thanks for the responses, perhaps its just an innocent nursery rhyme after all. I'll pass the info along to my friend.

Now that nursery rhyme will be in my head all day long.

I remember my first trip to London in 1970 -- we made sure to visit "Penny Lane" It was an area with arcades that had lots of mechanical games played with those gigantic English pennies, as well as more familiar pinball machines. Probably now just a few video arcades....

know what you mean, ilisa... <BR>me too, and what's worse, it's the infomercial version...AGHHH!!!!

Ron, <BR>Later than the 19th century, I can remember muffin sellers from when I was a kid in pre-war London. They would carry the muffins on a flat basket on their head, and ring a hand-bell. <BR>BTW, the muffins were not the same as you would know in North America, they are flat cakes made , I think, of potato flour, toasted on a long toasting-fork in front of the open fire, and smothered in butter, yummy !

hmmm... <BR>...and what about hot-cross buns???!

Thanks, Neville. Real life experience is always better than book learning. My impression was that the muffin man muffins were similar to what we in North America call "english muffins", which I think your description confirms. <BR> <BR>ron

Hot Cross Buns are a traditional Good Friday delicacy. They are cinnamon buns with a short pastry cross on the top, and should never be bought in supermarkets who manage to make them taste like rubber