Forget that most people probably didn’t spend summer holidays at Frinton,  ( v. exclusive Essex resort ) where my family would be huddled in a beach hut on wet August afternoons while the kettle boiled on the primus stove and the wasps hovered over the jam doughnuts. Waiting for the summer thunder storms to pass, we would play Happy Families.

This was first published before the Great Exhibition of 1851. Eleven families, Bun the Baker, Bones the Butcher, Block the Barber, Grits the Grocer, Pots the Painter, Bung the Brewer, Chip the Carpenter, Tape the Tailor, Soot the Sweep and Dip the Dye. Four members of each family Mr / Mrs / Miss and Master. Mr Bun the Baker, Mrs Bun the Baker’s Wife, Miss Bun the Baker’s Daughter and Master Bun the Baker’s Son.

The characters were illustrated by Sir John Tenniel, famous for Alice in Wonderland and Alice…