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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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St Ives
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(10,000 in 1991)
Resort on the north coast of Cornwall which has had strong artistic links since Bernard *Leach established his pottery here in 1920. Ben *Nicholson and Barbara *Hepworth arrived in 1939. Alfred Wallis (1855–1942), a retired rag-and-bone merchant of the town, was discovered to be painting naive images of ships, almost abstract in their simplicity; if this somewhat accidental group had any common artistic concern it was probably in this borderland between nature and abstraction. Barbara Hepworth's studio and garden are kept as a museum, and in 1993 a new gallery was opened in St Ives as an extension of the *Tate.
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The choice of St Ives for the famous trick rhyme, known from at least the 18C, reflects nothing more than the need for a place to rhyme with 'wives': As I was going to St Ives,
I met a man with seven wives,
Each wife had seven sacks,
Each sack had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kits:
Kits, cats, sacks and wives,
How many were going to St Ives?
The answer is one, since 'met' is taken to mean that the man and his multitude of sevens were going in the opposite direction. 'None' has also been a traditional answer, limiting the question to the group being met.
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