Nigel,

I take it your family didn't listen to teh Light Programme on Sunday afternoons. Otherwise you'd have been sure to hear this:

FORTY FAHSUND FEVVERS ON A FRUSH (Forty Thousand Feathers On A Thrush)
(Paul Boyle / Eddie Carroll)

Billy Cotton & His Band


BILLY COTTON:
Now Johnny Brown from London Town was born in Lambeth Walk
And now that Johnny's growin' up, they're teachin' 'im to talk
Maybe in society, they think 'is accent's bad
But down our street, they think that 'e's a credit to 'is Dad

Johnny Brown was two today, what d'you think they heard 'im say
Forty fahsund fevvers on a frush
No one but a Cockney kid could say it the way that Johnny did
Forty fahsund fevvers on a frush

Mum was so excited, Dad was so delighted
Bells in ev'ry steeple rang out to tell the people
London's mighty proud today, another Cockney's learned to say
Forty fahsund fevvers on a frush

Now then fellows, after me, lets sing it like the BBC
Forty thousand feathers on a thrush
ALAN BREEZE: Nark it, cads, that's not the way
BILLY COTTON: Now, what would Stuart Hibbert say
ALAN BREEZE: Forty thousand feathers on a thrush
BILLY COTTON: Purse the mouth politely
ALAN BREEZE: Whet the whistle slightly
BOTH: All together brightly, a-one, a-two (THE BAND: And the same to
you)
BILLY COTTON: Now turn it up you saucy clots, I'm comin' down there
to do the lot
(THE BAND: Forty fahsund fevvers on a frush)

ALAN BREEZE:
Professor William Cotton will now address the Gang
And tell you all about the thrush in good old rhyming slang

BILLY COTTON:
Ev'ry little frush 'as got a weasel and a stoat
When you say 'is weasel, you're talkin' to 'is throat
Forty fahsund fevvers on a frush
'Is weasel is the lining of 'is bushel and peck
A bump on the bushel is a pimple on the neck
Forty fahsund fevvers on a frush
First you've got 'is weasel, then you've got 'is bushel
Next you've got 'is bubble, 'is bubble and squeak, 'is bloomin' beak
Taken all together 'e's Richard the Third
So when you get the Richard, they're a-givin' you the bird
Forty fahsund fevvers on a frush (THE BAND: You wanna count 'em)
Forty fahsund fevvers (THE BAND: Yus!)
Forty fahsund fevvers (THE BAND: Yus!)
Forty fahsund fevvers on a frush