Opie collection of children's games & songs
Recording of children demonstrating songs and discussing playground games with Iona Opie (part 2 of 2)
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Type
sound
Duration
00:14:11
Shelf mark
C898/01
Subjects
Children's games; Children's songs
Recording date
1972-07
Is part of (Collection)
Opie collection of children's games and songs
Recording locations
Alton, Hampshire, England
Interviewers
Opie, Iona (speaker, female)
Speakers
unidentified (children)
Abstract
Part 2 of 2. [00:00:00 - 00:14:11] This recording contains an interview with a group of schoolboys from Wootey Junior School, Alton, Hampshire. The children discuss the different games that they play both in and outside of school and the various TV programmes that they watch. The recording begins with the boys describing a game that they play on the wall in their playground. One of the boys explains that they practise jumping over the gaps in the wall and he will often jump over the larger gaps while his friends can only jump over the smaller spaces [00:00:00 - 00:00:35]. They also play football on the playground, although one of the boys explains: 'we're not allowed really though' and will often be told off for playing this game. Other games that they play include 'Wall He' and 'Stuck in the Mud' [00:01:1 - 00:02:02]. Iona Opie asks the boys if any of them have recently joined the school. One of the children explains that he moved to Hampshire 'about a year and a half ago' from Farnborough. Iona asks if he brought any games with him to Alton and he describes a game that he used to play in Farnborough called 'Motor Boats'. This game, he explains, is similar to 'follow my leader' and the children must make a line of three and try and bump the person at the front of the line, off. If they succeeded in doing this then the boat had been sunk. However, the boy explains that he did not teach this to his friends in Alton as 'I didn't want to; I'd forgotten nearly all about it'. Instead, when he joined the school he would often play 'fighting' with the other boys instead. The children then discuss the older 'cheeky' children in the school but explain that they can do nothing about them because 'if we call them names, they just chase us'. They then go on to tell Iona several nick-names that they have for other children in the school [00:02:02 - 00:06:00]. The children briefly discuss games that they play 'just in the evenings'. They explain that they climb trees, play cricket and often play on a large pile of logs at their local park [00:06:00 - 00:07:44]. One of the boys comments that they will also play 'Hide and Seek' in the corn fields, however, they often get told off for playing there [00:08:32 - 00:10:50]. They then discuss games that they play 'when it is nearly dark'. One of the boys describes a game that he plays called 'Spotlight'. This game can be played with any light, such as car headlights, and the player must simply hide from all light [00:11:18 - 00:12:17]. In the evenings the children also watch TV. The children remark that they watch 'Scooby Doo', 'Blue Peter', 'Secret Squirrel' and 'Adam Ant'. Iona tries to establish how much TV the children watch and one of the boys explains that he watches TV as soon as he comes home from school and then after dinner he will play outside for 'four hours and five minutes' [00:07:45 - 00:08:31].
Description
Item notes: Recording of children demonstrating songs and discussing playground games with Iona Opie. Speakers' notes: Group of Alton schoolchildren. Recording notes: Earth hum/buzz during first recording. Recording then muted from 00:30-01:45 (approx.) Otherwise good throughout.
Metadata record: