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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 second label image shows another Kid Kord series. This is a 10" record and looks to be from a later date than the 8" series. (Thanks to Chris MacDonald for the image.) It would appear that the label design is the same for all issues in this series. I notice that the record label still has the strobe around the edge, which was originally a patented process owned by British Homophone, so maybe they also made the later series, or they could have sold the patent by then, as I have seen other, later, pressings by other companies using this device.

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: February 17, 2024

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 Broken 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: I have seen other images of these issues (from where I have pulled the details below), all saying "Made in India" on the labels.
It has been noted that the songs on this series are the same as on the C- series above, which may bean they are just dubs of the original 8" series. However, I'm not going to assume this!

Cat No	Matrix No.	Title	Artists	Label images
KK-1	CEI-34022	Sing A Song Of Sixpence Ten Little Nigger Boys
KK-1	CEI-34023	Boys And Girls Come Out To Play Little Bo-Peep Three Blind Mice
KK-2	CEI-34024	Hey Diddle Diddle Humpty Dumpty There Was A Little Man Little Boy Blue
KK-2	CEI-34025	Where Are You Going To My Pretty Maid? Jack And Jill Little Jack Horner
KK-3
KK-3
KK-4
KK-4
KK-5	CEI-34030	Where Has My Little Dog Gone? Oh Dear, What Can The Matter Be? Old Mother Hubbard
KK-5	CEI-34031	Pat-A-Cake Old King Cole See-Saw, Marjorie Daw
KK-6	CEI-50541	Ring-A-Ring-A-Roses A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go Polly Put The Kettle On
KK-6	CEI-50542	Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush Mary Had A Little Lamb
KK-7	CEI-50543	Simple Simon I Saw Three Ships Mary Mary Quite Contrary
KK-7	CEI-50544	Georgie Porgie Dog Toby Jack Spratt Three Mice Went Into A Barn To Spin
KK-8	CEI-50545	Sleep Baby Sleep Old Mother Goose This Little Pig Went To Market
KK-8	CEI-50546	Twinkle Twinkle Little Star I Love Sixpence Thirty Days Are In September
KK-9	CEI-50547	Pussy Cat Where Have You Been? Mrs. Bond If I Had A Donkey
KK-9	CEI-50548	Who Killed Cock Robin Hot Cross Buns Baby Bunting
KK-10	CEI-50549	Upon Paul's Steeple Green Gravel Where Are You Going, Billy Boy?
KK-10	CEI-50550	Hey Diddle Dumpling, My Son John I Had A Little Nut Tree Lavender Blue Oh Dear, What Can The Matter Be?
KK-11
KK-11
KK-12	CEI-50553	Pop Goes The Weasle [sic] Curly Locks Wee Willy Winkle
KK-12	CEI-50554	Bingo Here Came Three Dukes A-Riding I Had A Little Pony Doctor Foster Went To Gloster