Cross Patch, lift the latch, Sit by the fire and spin; Take a cup, and drink it up, Then call your neighbours in. If you were to hear this nursery rhyme being chanted around the 18th century ...

In 1733, the rhyme is mentioned in Poor Robin’s Almanack (Good Friday comes this month, the old woman runs /With one or two a penny hot cross buns) and another is written in Iona and Peter Opie ...

It’s now become a traditional nursery rhyme sang at Easter time, or used to teach children how to play the recorder. Shockingly, it’s about hot cross buns, and encouraging people to buy them ...