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This was an 8" Children's record probably dating to the 1930s. The content was usually songs which would appeal to children, including the usual well-known nursery rhymes, usually 3 or 4 to a side, though the records only play for about 2¼ minutes. The labels have coloured artwork depicting each song and so are different for every side issued. The records were available in albums of 6 records costing 4/6 altogether and had catalogue numbers starting at C-1, with matrix numbers in a C-100 range. The records were recorded and manufactured by British Homophone, though the ones I have here were made by Decca as they have the BUCKINGHAM stamper codes in the run-out.  This may just mean they were re-pressings, or perhaps BH were unable to make enough, if they were popular. No performers names are given on the label, but I have tried to identify the few I have myself heard. It would seem they are all by John Thorne (baritone) and possibly Olive Groves (soprano) accompanied by trumpet, clarinet doubling saxophone, piano and percussion. The final label image shows another Kid Kord series. This is a 10" record and is from a later date than the 8" series. (Thanks to Chris MacDonald for the image.) These are pressed by EMI, and are actually dubs of the C-series records, meaning they only have just over 2 minutes of plaing time on each side. They also have British Homphone's patent strobe edges to the label, but EMI had purchased the right to use BH's recordings (and presumably this applied to the strobe effect) in 1937. The label design is the same for all issues in this series.

Original label & album Later pressing 10" series

Please e-mail me if you have any additions or corrections to this page.

Thanks to the following people for providing more information or images for this page: Paul Buck, Bill Dean-Myatt, Jolyton Hudson, Chris Macdonald, Albert Pattison, Richard Prout, Alexander Wendt

Page last updated on: December 19, 2025

First series - Zoological series. These have no catalogue numbers.

No	Matrix No.	Title	Artists	Label Image
1	C-102	Introduction
	C-103	The Lion
2	C-	The Tiger
	C-	The Leopard
3	C-	The Bear
	C-	The Elephant
4	C-	The Monkey
	C-	The Seal
5	C-	The Pengion
	C-	The Hipopotamus
6	C-	The Kangaroo
	C-	The Giraffe

Cat No	Matrix No.	Title	Artists	Label Image
C-1	C-114	Sing A Song Of Sixpence Ten Little Nigger Boys	John Thorne + unidentified female (on both)
	C-115	Boys And Girls Come Out To Play Little Bo-Peep Three Blind Mice	John Thorne unidentified female+ John Thorne John Thorne + unidentified female
C-2	C-116	Where Are You Going To My Pretty Maid? Jack And Jill Little Jack Horner	John Thorne + unidentified female John Thorne + unidentified female John Thorne
	C-118	Hey Diddle Diddle Humpty Dumpty There Was A Little Man Little Boy Blue	unidentified female John Thorne John Thorne unidentified female
C-3	C-117	Ding Dong Bell Ride A Cock Horse Hush-A-Bye Baby	John Thorne + unidentified female John Thorne unidentified female
	C-119	Hickory, Dickory, Dock Little Miss Muffett Goosey, Goosey, Gander	John Thorne unidentified female + John Thorne John Thorne
C-4	C-120	Baa Baa Black Sheep I Love Little Pussy Little Polly Flinders	John Thorne + unidentified female unidentified female John Thorne
	C-121	Oranges And Lemons London Bridge Is Fallling Down	unidentified female+ John Thorne John Thorne + unidentified female
C-5	C-122	Where Has My Little Dog Gone? Oh Dear, What Can The Matter Be? Old Mother Hubbard	John Thorne unidentified female + John Thorne John Thorne
	C-123	Pat-A-Cake Old King Cole See-Saw Marjorie Daw	John Thorne (on all three)
C-6	C-124	Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush Mary Had A Little Lamb	John Thorne (on both)
	C-125	Ring-A-Ring-A-Roses A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go Polly Put The Kettle On	John Thorne (on all three)
C-7	C-128	Simple Simon I Saw Three Ships Mary Mary Quite Contrary
	C-133	Georgie Porgie Dog Toby Jack Sprat Three Mice Went Into A Barn To Spin
C-8	C-126	Twinkle Twinkle Little Star I Love Sixpence Thirty Days Are In September
	C-131	Sleep, Baby Sleep Old Mother Goose This Little Piggie Went To Market
C-9	C-129	Who Killed Cock Robin Hot Cross Buns Baby Bunting	unknown female, John Thorne & chorus unknown female John Thorne
	C-134	Pussy Cat Where Have You Been? Mrs. Bond If I Had A Donkey	unknown female & John Thorne John Thorne John Thorne
C-10	C-135	Upon St Paul's Steeple Green Gravel Where Are You Going, Billy Boy?
	C-137	Hey Diddle Dumpling My Son John I Have A Little Nut Tree Lavender Blue Oh! Dear, What Can The Matter Be?
C-11	C-127	What Are Little Boys Made Of? Hark! Hark! The Dogs Do Bark The Spider And The Fly	John Thorne & unknown female John Thorne John Thorne & unknown female
	C-132	Rub-A-Dub-Dub Little Tom Tucker Tom,Tom, The Piper's Son	unknown female John Thorne John Thorne
C-12	C-130	Pop Goes The Weasle [sic] Curly Locks Wee Willy Winkle	John Thorne John Thorne unknown female
	C-136	Bingo Here Came Three Dukes A-Riding I Had A Little Pony Doctor Foster Went To Gloster [sic]	John Thorne, unknown female & chorus John Thorne unknown female John Thorne

The later 10" series: These were pressed by EMI, though I've no idea of the date. They are dubs of the above C- series, which means that, despite being 10" in diameter, they only play for just over 2 minutes each side!  This is also born out by the fact that the master numbers, as pressed into the records have 'T' suffixes, meaning a transferred master.
The label design is the same for all, though I've seen some examples stating "Made in India". Thanks to Richard Prout for much of this information & details.