And today is the 10th July 2026 and I was surprised and very delighted to find that when I looked up information to get a start on this week’s theme of Picnic I found that it is actually ‘National Teddy Bear Picnic Day’. Apparently it is celebrated all round the world and especially in the woods near you and me.
 |
| The Teddy Bears' Picnic |
I’m going off on a bit of a tangent here but if I asked you what sound would the BBC Radio Engineers have used in 1932 to test equipment? Well, they used a sound produced by a Henry Hall recording of especially good quality with a large tonal range. It was used for more than 30 years by BBC audio engineers (up until the early 1960s) to aurally assess the frequency response of audio equipment.
Well done to anyone who answers ‘The Teddy Bear’s Picnic’. I didn’t know.
But why are they Teddy Bears? It turns out that when U.S. President, Theodore Roosevelt, was on a hunting trip in 1902 he refused to shoot a bear cub that had been tied up for him, deeming it unsportsmanlike. This act of compassion was widely publicized and inspired toy makers to create our first toy bears, naming them 'Teddy's bears' in his honour.
 |
| 'Teddy' Roosevelt spares the bear |
Anyway, back to the picnic bit. Not long after the above, in 1907, ‘The Teddy Bears' Picnic’ was composed as a melody by composer John Walter Bratton, and then lyrics were added in 1932 by songwriter Jimmy Kennedy. Kennedy lived at Staplegrove Elm and is buried in Staplegrove Church, in Taunton, Somerset. Local folklore has it that the small wooded area between the church and Staplegrove Scout Hut was the inspiration for his lyrics.
You would not believe the number of artists who have recorded both the melodic version and the vocal version. That first vocal version had Val Rosing singing Kennedy's lyrics. The song has been subsequently recorded by Bing Crosby, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Rosemary Clooney, Jerry Garcia, John Inman, Anne Murray, Bad Manners and Drastic Measures.
And that’s without references to it in popular culture. It appears briefly in the musical score by Robert Israel to accompany Buster Keaton's 1926 silent film The General, used as background music in the Looney Tunes cartoons, the song appears in the movie adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
The song can be briefly heard in the 1968 Doctor Who episode The Invasion, Dad's Army uses the song in an episode from 1970 called The Big Parade. The Henry Hall version was featured in the Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective from 1986. It features in Peter Greenaway's 1986 film A Zed & Two Noughts and it is mentioned in Peaky Blinders.
Enough of lists.
I’ve had my bear since I don’t know when, his name is Stephen. He has just given me a bit of a rocket for suggesting earlier that he is a toy.
Not much of a choice for the poem of the week.
 |
| Jimmy Kennedy |
The Teddy Bears’ Picnic
If you go down to the woods today
You're sure of a big surprise.
If you go down to the woods today
You'd better go in disguise.
For every bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain,
Because today's the day
The teddy bears have their picnic.
Picnic time for teddy bears,
The little teddy bears
Are having a lovely time today.
Watch them, catch them unawares
And see them picnic on their holiday.
See them gaily gad about,
They love to play and shout,
They never have any cares.
At six o'clock their mummies and daddies
Will take them home to bed,
Because they're tired little teddy bears.
If you go down to the woods today
You'd better not go alone.
It's lovely down in the woods today
But safer to stay at home.
For every bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain,
Because today's the day
The teddy bears have their picnic.
Thanks for reading, Terry Q (and Stephen).
0 comments:
Post a Comment