The English Roses Hemingway, and Flannery O'Connor, was galvanized to write something new by herself. She wrote five stories and sent the manuscripts at the same time to Callaway, suggesting they be published together, but he wanted each story to be developed and released separately. In March 2003, it was announced that Madonna and Callaway Arts & Entertainment had signed a deal with Penguin Group to publish an original series of five illustrated storybooks for children. The first release under this deal was "The English Roses". The book and its characters were named after Madonna's daughter Lourdes' school friends at Lycée Franco-Libanais Tripoli.
The Stone Roses rehearsing for some time without a band name, Squire came up with "The Stone Roses". Several stories later emerged suggesting that the band had initially been called "English Rose" or that the name was somehow linked to The Rolling Stones, but these were untrue, Brown explaining "No, I don't know where that English Rose story came from. John thought up the name "Stone Roses" - something with a contrast, two words that went against each other". The band rehearsed for six months, during which time Wolstencroft had been auditioning for other bands, and he left to join Terry Hall's band