Tom Tiddler's ground, also known as Tom Tidler's ground or Tommy Tiddler's ground, is a longstanding children's game. One player, "Tom Tiddler", stands on a heap of stones, gravel, etc. Other players rush onto the heap, crying "Here I am on Tom Tiddler's ground, picking up gold and silver," while Tom tries to capture, or in other versions, expel the invaders. By extension the phrase has come to mean the ground or tenement of a sluggard, or of one easily outwitted. The essence of the game lives on in more modern versions such as
steal the bacon and variants of
tag.
In literature
"Tom Tiddler's Ground" is the title of an 1861 short story by
Charles Dickens,
[ The protagonist, "Mr. Mopes", is based on the hermit James Lucas.] and the phrase "Tom Tiddler's ground" appears in his novels ''
Nicholas Nickleby'', ''
David Copperfield'' and ''
Dombey and Son''. "Tom Tiddler's Ground" is the title of a 1931 poem and a 1931 anthology of children's poetry edited by
Walter de la Mare, and of a 1934 novel by
Edward Shanks
Edward Richard Buxton Shanks (11 June 1892 – 4 May 1953) was an English writer, known as a war poet of World War I, then as an academic and journalist, and literary critic and biographer. He also wrote some science fiction.E. F. Bleiler and Ri ...
.
E. F. Benson
Edward Frederic Benson (24 July 1867 – 29 February 1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist and short story writer.
Early life
E.F. Benson was born at Wellington College (Berkshire), Wellington College in Berkshir ...
mentions "Tom Tiddler's ground" in his 1935 novel ''The Worshipful Lucia''. Nancy Mitford in ''The Pursuit of Love'' (1949) writes, "Their life with Uncle Matthew was a sort of perpetual Tom Tiddler's ground." "Tom Tiddler's Ground" is the name for a piece of waste land in the 1962 children's novel ''
No One Must Know'' by
Barbara Sleigh. The gold and silver coins in chapter 16 of
C.S. Forester
Cecil Louis Troughton Smith (27 August 1899 – 2 April 1966), known by his pen name Cecil Scott "C. S." Forester, was an English novelist known for writing tales of naval warfare, such as the 12-book Horatio Hornblower series depicting a Roya ...
's ''
Hornblower and the Atropos'' are said to be on Tom Tiddler's Ground. In
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...
's novel, ''
The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side'' (1962), William Tiddler, a police sergeant who assists Chief Inspector Craddock, is referred to by locals as "Tom Tiddler".
Other uses
"Tom Tiddler's Ground" is a song on the 1970 album ''
Flat Baroque and Berserk'' by
Roy Harper Roy Harper may refer to:
* Roy Harper (character), DC Comics character
*Roy Harper (footballer) (born 1929), Australian footballer
*Roy Harper (referee) (died 1969), English football referee
* Roy Harper (singer) (born 1941), English musician
* Roy ...
.
Tom Tiddler's ground is also used in modern English as a euphemism for having an uncertain status, for example, "I asked her why her performance review was late and I could tell she was on Tom Tiddler's ground".
See also
*
King of the Hill (game)
References
{{Reflist
External links
"Tom Tiddler's Ground"by
Charles Dickens at
Project Gutenberg
*"
Tom Tiddler's Ground" at wikisource
Charles Dickens
Children's games