Darby and Joan

Darby and Joan

A happily married elderly couple. They are mentioned in Henry Woodfall's 1735 poem, "The Joys of Love Never Forgot: A Song." I hope to happily grow old with my husband, like a modern-day Darby and Joan.
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Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

Darby and Joan

A devoted elderly couple leading an uneventful life. These paradigms of lengthy connubial bliss first appeared in an 1735 poem by the otherwise-forgotten Henry Woodfall; the Darby in question was the master to whom Woodfall had been a printer's apprentice. More distinguished authors who referred to the couple included Lord Byron, William Makepeace Thackeray, Anthony Trollope, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Henry James. And they also appear in Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's wistful ballad, The Folks Who Live on the Hill ballad: “We'll sit and look at the same old view / Just we two / Darby and Joan who used to be Jack and Jill . . .”
See also: and
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price
See also:
  • ever
  • ever after
  • your wish is my command
  • be somebody's spiritual home
  • be (one's) spiritual home
  • spiritual
  • be in/go into raptures
  • go into raptures
  • rapture
  • the end
References in periodicals archive
To support High Spen Darby and Joan Club, send tokens to 4 Snowdon Terrace, High Spen, Rowlands Gill, NE39 2HB.
Weekly club wishing for your support
Money that the WRVS Colcot Darby and Joan Club receives will go towards paying for speakers, musicians and celebratory events for club members.
Club makes a wish
To send your tokens to the High Spen Darby and Joan Club, post them to 4 Snowdon Terrace, High Spen, Rowlands Gill, Tyne and Wear, NE39 2HB.
GAME FOR A LAUGH; Pensioners' club offers more than just aspot of bingo
After Olive sadly lost her beloved Albert in 1980, she played an active role in village life and enjoyed going to the Darby and Joan club where she was always keen to lend a hand in the kitchen..
100, still has twinkle in her eye; Family and friends gather for celebration
Many of our Darby and Joan Club, who believe the gathering is a celebration of victory over the Nazis, may never turn their hearing aids on again, I fear, after last year's outing.
Headbang OAPs lost false teeth
Secretary Joan Knowles said the hall had started life when a committee of volunteers formed in 1955 organising everything from a youth club to a fishing club, the local Co-Operative Society and the Darby and Joan club.
North City News: Call for hall memories; SHARD END
SURF'S UP: County councillor Izzi Seccombe (left) looks on as Margaret Farquhar, leader of Kineton Darby and Joan Club, finds some interesting information on the internet.
Internet comes to village library
One source close to the couple said last night: "They are less like Romeo and Juliet and more like Darby and Joan now."
PRINCE EDWARD TO DUMP SOPHIE
Margaret Robinson was one of the first women in Skelmanthorpe to get involved with the old folks' Darby and Joan lunch club.
Club thanks and farewell
Full council is also being asked to agree allocations of pounds 1,000 each for Ynysowen Rugby Club and Merthyr Vale Darby and Joan Club.
Grant aid would help transform vestry
GORDON Strachan last night praised Roy Keane and Neil Lennon, describing them as the "Darby and Joan" of the Celtic team.
Football: It won't always be this easy, Roy! Lenny and Keane cruise derby
But at least they'll have laid themselves up achieving an ambition, not slipping on an icy pavement tottering to the Darby and Joan Club!
YOUR LIFE: TOO MUCH ADVENTURE; ASK ANNA SHE'S THE ANSWER TOALL YOUR PROBLEMS
The Atherstone pensioner has been honoured for her unpaid devotion to the Dordon Darby and Joan Club, where she has been a stalwart volunteer for a remarkable 53 years.
Alice is volunteer of the year at 90; 50 YEARS OF DEVOTION TO OTHERS WINS PENSIONER PRIZED TITLE
The extravaganza will culminate in a concert at the Darby and Joan club with performances by the Kirklees Big Band, Eva Davis and international magician John Danbury.
Bid to bring back the spirit of village life
Every day WRVS volunteers help older people get more out of life and remain in their own homes with Darby and Joan clubs, delivering of meals on wheels, shopping service, home library service, community transport service, supporting communities during a crisis eg the 7/7 bombings.
Vital work of the volunteers