Slight thread creep...in another Banbury nursery rhyme, Ride a Cock horse to Banbury Cross, the reference is to a horse hired from The Cock Hotel here in Stony Stratford. The Cock Hotel was a famous coaching house, and Stony the last stop before London (or the first stop out of London).The horses were changed or rested and the passengers would stay overnight at The Cock or the hotel next door, The Bull, where they would pass the time telling stories. Over the course of a drunken night the stories would become more and more embellished and pass backwards and forwards between the two establishments, creating a new genre in storytelling --- the Cock and Bull story! Both pubs are still here today, The Cock being home to the Songloft Folk Club on alternate Fridays and The Bull hosting an excellent Sunday lunchtime session in The Vaults Bar, where you will often find me and The One And Only Dai (or Dai Trying as we know him) continuing the fine traditions of the hostelries (i.e.getting drunk and talking bull).