I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles was adopted by West Ham's supporters in the late 1920s and is now one of the most recognisable club anthems in English football along with the similarly adopted "You'll Never Walk Alone", "Blue Moon", "Blue is the Colour" and "Blaydon Races". "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" was introduced to the club by former manager Charlie Paynter in the late twenties. A player, Billy J. "Bubbles" Murray who played for the local Park School had a resemblance to the boy in the "Bubbles" painting by Millais used in a Pears soap commercial of the time. Headmaster Cornelius Beal began singing the tune
Mariana (Millais) a clue as to how long Mariana has been working on it. In the painting "Mariana", Millais included many details that relate directly to Tennyson's poetry. One example is the curtain. In the poem, Tennyson wrote, "When thickest dark did trance the sky, She drew her casement-curtain by, and glanced athwart the glooming flats". Although there is not a curtain in Millais' painting, this line is similar to the scene that is presented outside of the window. The viewer perceives an ominous feeling, just like the dark storm that Tennyson alludes to in the line above. The little mouse that