Ralph and Nell's Ramble to Oxford is an English broadside ballad from the late 18th century. It is told from the perspective of Ralph, who narrates a trip to Oxford taken by himself and his sister, Nell. He tells of all their adventures that day, and all the things they saw. Also known as The Oxford Ramble [1] and Country Dick's Ramble to Oxford, it is sung to the tune of The Dragon of Wantley. [2] Copies of the broadside can be found in British Library and the National Library of Scotland. Facsimiles of the text are also available on-line. [3]
Ralph has heard a lot about Oxford, and wants to visit. His father agrees to let him go with his sister, Nell, and his mother makes him take a horse so they can ride to Oxford. On their way, they stop and ask everybody how far it is, and the people make fun of him, calling him a "Country Dick."
They go to the Two Dogs Alehouse to get a room, but Nell decides that this is the first step toward becoming beggars. They decide to move on toward town, where they see a man dressed in rags wearing a plate on his head. Ralph thinks he has found a knife on the ground, but when he goes to pick it up, it turns out that the townspeople were playing an April Fools joke and had covered the underside of the knife with feces. Ralph is ashamed, but he doesn't say anything, and they walk on.
In an alley, a wencher grabs Nell and tries to kiss her, but Ralph hits him over the head with his stick. They go to church, but Ralph doesn't like it because his prayers are interrupted by bagpipes and drunken noise. They then go to a garden where they see a sundial for the first time, and then a room filled with books and with big globes in the middle. There they hear about new scientific theories, which Ralph calls the "Black-Art."
When the sun starts to go down, they decide to go home. Before they leave, they run into two men with weapons who look like they are going to murder them. They get their horse and ride home, full of new stories to tell their parents and little sister.
Written in eighteen stanzas of common metre double, with an ABABCDCD rhyme scheme. Told from the standpoint of the "country dick," the language shows an accent in the substitution of v for f ("vather" for "father") and z for s ("zister" for "sister").
"Lavender's Blue" is an English folk song and nursery rhyme from the 17th century. Its Roud Folk Song Index number is 3483. It has been recorded in various forms and some pop versions have been hits in the U.S. and U.K. charts.
John Nevison, also known as William Nevison or Nevinson, was one of Britain's most notorious highwaymen, a gentleman rogue supposedly nicknamed Swift Nick by King Charles II after a renowned 200-mile (320 km) dash from Kent to York to establish an alibi for a robbery he had committed earlier that day. The story inspired William Harrison Ainsworth to include a modified version in his novel Rookwood, in which he attributed the feat to Dick Turpin. There are suggestions that the feat was actually undertaken by Samuel Nicks. The TV series Dick Turpin had an accomplice of the highwayman, Nick, who earned the nickname "Swiftnick".
Ride the Pink Horse is a 1947 film noir crime film produced by Universal Studios. It was directed by Robert Montgomery, who also stars in it, from a screenplay by Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer, which was based on the 1946 novel of the same title by Dorothy B. Hughes. Thomas Gomez was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance.
Let It Ride is a 1989 American comedy film. It was directed by Joe Pytka from a screenplay by Nancy Dowd based on the 1979 novel Good Vibes by Jay Cronley. It stars Richard Dreyfuss, David Johansen, Teri Garr, and Allen Garfield. The story is centered on a normally unsuccessful habitual gambler who experiences a day in which he wins every bet he places, and focuses on the personality contrasts and the perpetually upbeat, hopeful attitudes of losers.
A broadside is a single sheet of inexpensive paper printed on one side, often with a ballad, rhyme, news and sometimes with woodcut illustrations. They were one of the most common forms of printed material between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, particularly in Britain, Ireland and North America because they are easy to produce and are often associated with one of the most important forms of traditional music from these countries, the ballad.
Skewball was the name of an 18th-century British racehorse, most famous as the subject of a broadsheet ballad and folk-song.
Vengeance Valley is a 1951 American Technicolor Western film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Burt Lancaster, with a supporting cast featuring Robert Walker, Joanne Dru, Sally Forrest, John Ireland and Ray Collins. It is based on the novel by Luke Short. In 1979, the film entered the public domain in the United States because Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer did not renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication.
"Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" is the English common name representative of a very large class of European ballads.
"Geordie" is an English language folk song concerning the trial of the eponymous hero whose lover pleads for his life. It is listed as Child ballad 209 and Number 90 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The ballad was traditionally sung across the English speaking world, particularly in England, Scotland and North America, and was performed with many different melodies and lyrics. In recent times, popular versions have been performed and recorded by numerous artists and groups in different languages, mostly inspired by Joan Baez's 1962 recording based on a traditional version from Somerset, England.
King Edward the Fourth and a Tanner of Tamworth is an English-language folk song, first published in 1564. Versions of this ballad also exist outside the Child collection. Additional copies can be found at the British Library, the University of Glasgow Library, and the Pepys Library at Magdalene College. These ballads' dates, by estimation of the English Short Title Catalogue, range from the early seventeenth century to as late as 1775. The ballad is most recognized by its opening line: "In summer time, when leaves grow green." Child describes the appeal of this ballad to be centered on the chance meeting with a king, which is also a recurring theme in tales of Robin Hood.
From A to Z-Z-Z-Z is a 1954 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated cartoon short directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on October 16, 1954, and stars Ralph Phillips.
"King John and the Bishop" is an English folk-song dating back at least to the 16th century. It is catalogued in Child Ballads as number 45 and Roud Folk Song Index 302.
Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls is a log flume ride at Universal Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida, inspired by the Dudley Do-Right character created by cartoonists Jay Ward and Alex Anderson. Opened on May 28, 1999, it is one of the park's original attractions.
My Fake Fiancé is a 2009 American television film starring Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence. It premiered on the ABC Family channel on April 19, 2009.
Ransom My Heart is a romance novel by Meg Cabot. It was released in the United States on January 6, 2009, concurrently with the novel Forever Princess. The book is, according to The Princess Diaries series, written by Mia Thermopolis as her senior project, where she told her friends at first that it was a book about Genovian oil. It was accepted for publishing during Forever Princess, the tenth book in the Princess Diaries Series.
Sunset Carson Rides Again is a 1948 American Western film produced and directed by Oliver Drake and shot on his own ranch. Filmed in 1947 in Kodachrome on 16mm film, the film was the first of Drake's Yucca Pictures Corporation to star Sunset Carson. The film was released by Astor Pictures Corporation in 35mm Cinecolor. The film follows Bob Ward as he is rescued by a man named Sunset Carson, who Bob believes murdered his father.
The Thirteenth Chair is a 1937 American mystery film directed by George B. Seitz and starring Dame May Whitty, Lewis Stone, Madge Evans, and Elissa Landi. It is based on the 1916 stage play of the same title by Bayard Veiller. This was the third film adaptation of the play. There was an earlier version by director Tod Browning in 1929, with Bela Lugosi in a supporting role, and an even earlier 1919 silent film adaptation that starred Creighton Hale.
Lady Isabel's Tragedy, or "The Lady Isabella's Tragedy; or, The Step-Mother's Cruelty" is a broadside ballad, which dates from, by estimation of the English Short Title Catalogue, as early as 1672 and as late as 1779—suggesting its popularity and positive reception. The ballad begins, "There was a Lord of worthy Fame." Copies of the ballad can be found at the National Library of Scotland, the British Library, University of Glasgow Library, the Huntington Library, and the Pepys Library at Magdalene College. Alternatively, online facsimiles of the ballad are available for public consumption at sites like the English Broadside Ballad Archive. The ballad has notable connections to the stories of Snow White, the myth of Philomela, and Titus Andronicus.
The Despairing Lover is an English broadside ballad from the late-17th century, written by Edward Ford. It is about a man who loses his lover and vows to kill himself, until she saves him by returning at the end of the ballad. It is paired with A Constant and Kind Maid, in which the woman becomes the man's constant and loving wife. Sung to the tune of Fortune My Foe or Aim Not Too High, though according to William Chappell there is some controversy over the compatibility of these tunes. Copies of the broadside can be found at the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, and Magdalene College, Cambridge. On-line facsimile transcriptions are also available for public consumption.
The Low Country Soldier is an English broadside ballad dating back to the late 17th- or early 18th-centuries about a soldier who returns to England as a poor beggar. After pleading with various people to give him money, he decides to forgo the life of a beggar and becomes a highwayman. Not to be confused with The Low Country Soldier Turned Burgomaster. Copies of the broadside can be found at the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, the University of Glasgow Library and Magdalene College, Cambridge.