European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 17, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Hie  of life disappears As London changes Tommy Johnson shows off the lavishly decorated suit he wears As a Quot Pearly  by sue Leeman the associated press the chirp of the Cockney is still heard in the heart of London but it is Gering fainter and fainter and fainter. Quot As London changes so the Cockney is vanishing Quot says octogenarian Cockney Bill Springle born in the Quot Square mile Quot of the City of London the traditional Cockney heartland. Quot favorite haunts and places of interest Are disappearing bulldozed in the name of  fellow Cockney Dennis Lincoln puts it More bluntly Quot the Cockney Community does t exist no  the Cockney was the archetypal londoner bawling and brawling in the Street markets immortalized in the stories of Charles Dickens and As Eliza Doolittle in George Bernard Shaw s pygmalion. Some Cockney were driven out by German bombs in world War ii others were shoved aside by a building Boom in the financial District dispersed throughout London to the suburbs and beyond. Former residents of inner London including prime minister John major and George Carey the archbishop of Canterbury shed their Cockney accent on the Way up the ladder. Cockney traditionally were born within the sound of the famous Quot Bow Bells Quot at St. Mary be Bow Church. The Only local maternity unit at St. Bartholomew s Hospital moved away to Hackney in the fast end in 1986, and few children Are born in the few Homes within earshot of the Bells. James Surplis Verger at St. Mary be Bow confirms there Are Quot very Tew Cockney in the congregation now. We Cater primarily to businessmen and commuters and we close at  definitions of Cockney identity have loosened. Tommy Johnson who was born close to St. Mary be Bow 69 years ago considers himself a Cockney though he has moved across the thames to Southwark where he says he can still hear the Bells. Quot i met someone the other Clay who said his Mother was a Cockney from Wimbledon Quot a Good seven Miles away he says. Quot but that s  Johnson is something of a professional Cockney one of the Quot Pearly people Quot who dress up in dark suits lavishly covered by Mother of Pearl buttons. The tradition dates from the 1860s and is rooted in the Street traders Community whose leaders favored shining attire Johnson Quot the original Pearly King of backside and Bow Bells Quot is one of a dwindling number of Quot Pearly Kings and Queens Quot who raise Money for charities and enliven the lord mayor s annual Parade. The Cockney heartland was roughly a Square mile Between the thames and the barbican bounded on the West by the Law courts and on the East by the Tower of London. Here generations of Cockney toiled on London s docks or in furniture factories. Swaggering Cockney Barrow traders always ready to Haggle were the main event at Street markets. The clocks Are closed and the smaller industries have moved away in search of cheaper rents. Many Street markets deprived of local clientele have become Little More than tourist attractions. In his Book Cockney past and Parent Coc Kney linguist William Matthews Cata logs the social dislocation Quot the music Hall which both voiced and fostered the Cockney spirit. Has been replaced by television and the Moie the pub is not the sign Cial Center that it one e was Street markets Are Lewer slums have largely Given Way to isolating towers family gatherings Are less frequent As members move into the outer suburbs and the motor car contributes its  Johnson still turns out Tor Cockney nights fund raising events where Quot we sing All the old Cockney music Hall  but he concedes the tradition is dying. So is Coc Kney rhyming Slang a convoluted code developed in the 1 700s to frustrate eavesdropping outsiders particularly the Quot peelers Quot the nickname for police derived from sir Robert Pool the first London police commissioner. A rhyming Coc Kney might say Quot ullo Fred. Come in awl of do Frog an Load Road an ave a cuppa Rosie Tea. It s on do lain in Abel table. But wipe yer plate s o Mout loot c of do trouble an strife s Wile s just scrubbed do Rory o More floor a past hardships have faded in a nostalgic glow. Springle has documented some of the old delights in his Book the vanishing cot Kney. Quot i still remember the itinerant russian with a Bear chained to a Large pole that danced to a Penny tin whistle played by its master Quot says Springle who recalls streets alive with buskers and childrens horse drawn i lurid bouts. Quot i he old House s had no bathrooms and for thru Penee three pennies we would have .1 soak it the nearest Bath House on a  tront doors were always open Springle says and c immunity spirit was Strong. When someone was seriously ill Quot Straw was put on the Road outside to Stop the sound of vedic in wheels Whit h were All solid made it it ire in or steel. A i a Smith raised in Shor Edih h near the Square mile. Remembers Quot sleeping six in a bed because we was  Quot we also made our own entertainment. I he magic lantern and a Candle on a whitewashed Wall was a favorite. And there was saturday morning picture s movie s Quot Smith laments the in rss of old of Kney pubs where Raue Ous music Hall songs were Sung around a slightly out of tune piano. Some shops still do a Coc Kney meal of me at pies and Quot Mushy Quot mashed peas and c of Kies Jellie d eels and whelks can be found at some Street markets Smith says. I he word Cockney is generally taken to have c onic1 irom the Middle English word Quot Keney Quot or Quot cock s  originally it my ant a Small or misshapen egg and was probably a synonym Lor anything Odd. I he Cockney Hall c >1 lame inc Lueles c Saucer John Keats John Milton Francis bar on i it it re Byre a and Samuel Pepys and the a tors Mic Hael Caine and Bob i Hoskins. Vet society s judgment is about what it was in 1821 when the historian Peire e i Gan desc ebed of Kim As Quot pc it and c one oiled yet truly Ign nun Quot Prole Susor John i Loney a student of spun h. Sus Coc Kney is at the Bottom of a Quot Hie ran in of a it c Nils Quot dominated by Kee need i Mirin Olimi Ikiz i. The Ali Imam Queen s English  in the by Quot up speakers arc seen a. Mil iblc1 lie it in -.1 and Edu it a led of Kne s an a  i Inin a Sci like i 11/�?T. I i c in lil 111 i k i. No n a i a n i i i 1 i lie 11 a c c Tai to gel ahead i Poliey believes 1st�?Till c i ii11, ill. 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