This composition was originally titled Clog Dance. A close friend of Grainger’s, William Gair Rathbone (to whom the piece is dedicated) suggested the present title because the music seemed to reflect both Handel and English musical comedy - the Strand in London is a street which is the home of English musical comedy. According to Grainger his composition sounded “as if old Handel were rushing down the Strand to the strains of modern English popular music.”