Kidson's notes for this song say: "Johnny Todd is a child's rhyme and game, heard and seen played by Liverpool children.
The air is somewhat pleasing, and the words appear old, though some blanks caused by the reciter's memory have had to be filled up.
[3] There is also what appears to be a version of the same song, mentioned in the first of the Para Handy stories, written in Scotland in 1905, which claims that the tune was popular around 30 years earlier.
[4] The Z-Cars theme tune was arranged for commercial release by Fritz Spiegl and Bridget Fry, and performed by John Keating and his Orchestra.
[citation needed] It was soon adopted by fans of the First Division football club Everton, who are based in Liverpool near where the events supposedly took place.