L. Frank Baum created the Land of Oz in 1900, writing what many have called the first American fairy tale. He got the name, by the way, from a quick glance at the front of a filing cabinet marked "O-Z."
But there was another magical country, whose history goes back to the European Middle Ages: a country where it was always Spring, no-one ever had to work and the houses were edible. This was the Land of Cockaigne, where all you had to do was open your mouth and roast geese would fly into it, and it captured imaginations for hundreds of years.
Sir Edward Elgar was also captivated, writing a bright, bouncy concert overture called Cockaigne, subtitled "In London Town."
That last bit was just Eddie being cheeky; he did not consider London to be a wonderland, and certainly did not consider it an Emerald City.
MUSIC: Elgar: Cockaigne Overture, Chandos 8808
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