By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Everyone in England knows of the story of Dick Whittington and his cat. The tale of the poor boy who becomes Lord Mayor of London has been a staple of British pantomimes since at least the nineteenth century. But where did this classic home-grown English fairy tale come from? And what basis did the Dick Whittington story have in reality? In this post, we’ll offer a brief plot summary of the story and then discuss its origins and meaning, with some notes towards an analysis of the Dick Whittington ‘legend’.