Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Queenie Eye, Queenie Eye...

Listening to Paul McCartney's recent song Queenie Eye got me thinking about the games we played as kids. So my question to the good people of wiki-land is this:

What street games or school yard games do you remember playing as a kid? Did you have a favourite game? And can you still remember the rules of how it was played?

In other words: do you know your Queenie Eye from your elbow? (...no, this isn't a pop quiz!)

And Mr Wolf, if you're out there, for the hundredth time of asking, please tell me "what time is it REALLY?!!" And don't bite my head off for asking!

Kick the can 123, alleyo

Is that the same "alleyo" the Good Ship used to sail on, I wonder...?!

Remember British Bulldog? Anyone else still got the scars?!

Catch a girl kiss a girl, and no, dont remember any rules !!

Whats British bulldog? Queenie Eye? I see Ive had a deprived childhood !!!!!

Nope it was a game were you kicked the "can or ball" as hard as you can ,then run and hide, before the ball was retrieved so he could attempt to find you, I think?

British Bulldog was a game born of hell, but which masqueraded as fun...

There are different versions of the rules but usually you played it in a yard. The kids would all stand at one end of the yard in an imaginary safe zone and one person (the Bulldog) would stand facing them in the middle. Upon a signal, the "mob" would charge in unison to try and get to the other side of the yard, without being caught by the Bulldog. Once caught, you had to help the Bulldog catch the mob members next time they charged back again. This was repeated and the last man standing was deemed to be the winner. This winner usually then became the first Bulldog in the next game, provided his ribs weren't too broken...

Can't imagine why but many schools banned it.

So I guess that the better you were at kicking the can, the more time you had to hide.

I was only joking about the "alleyo" by the way.
As I remember it, The Good Ship Sailed On The Alleyo was part of a skipping song.

Two balls and elastics wrapped around your feet with someone eels then someone in the middle trying to get out

Sounds a bit like marriage, only with chains instead of elastic!!!

Ha Ha! That game just reminded me of hours playing cats cradle -making patterns with string or wool wrapped round your fingers. Ah and that game where you fold a sheet of paper into basically quarters , with inner and outer sections that you manipulated in and out to rhymes , and read messages on the exposed leaf you stopped at. Cant think of the name. Anyone?

Hide and seek,
Ball tick,
Whip and top,keep going the longest
Can i cross the river..
Rounders,
Various skipping games ,
Hula hoop,keep going the longest
Are some that i remember...

I was the Kerby king back in the day..lol

My God you must be old, missy! Even I had forgotten that one...

Sly Fox, anyone? (Not to be confused with "What's the time, Mr Wolf"?). And, yes, there was a new wave band called Sly Fox but THIS ISN'T A POP QUIZ!!!!!

Kerbsie, I think we called it. Was that the game throwing a football at the kerb and scoring points by making it bounce back? My dad used to send me to play Kerbsie on the duel carriage way. Think he might have been trying to tell me something...

Yin Yang your dad was right ,you were probably a 'cheeky' lad then ....lol