Yeah, they were a bunch of facepainters to be fair. Genuine question - is facepaint permissible in the case of nationalistic celebrations, but not when supporting the local football club? Seems a paradox. I say no in any circumstance. I hope the rest of the board are just as consistent.
I don't really like the concept of patron saints, especially when ours was a Palestinian who served in the Roman army and had no connection to England. I'd prefer a secular national hero like Aethelstan, first 'King of the English' or Shakespeare or Charles Darwin.
Emmeline Pankhurst, Elizabeth Fry, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Jane Austen, Agatha Christie and Rosalind Franklin.
I have heard of them.just wondering why you listed them. "For England, Harry and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson!" doesn't sound an inspiring rally cry, does it?
As the thread was about great English people I thought I'd chip in with a few. I thought it was quite easy to work that out, guess I was wrong! As for inspiring rallying cries I guess it depends what inspires you to respond to a rallying cry.
The thread was about it being our patron saint's day originally. Of course it degenerated into a list of alternatives as only other countries should celebrate these things and then onto listing people's opinions of great English people. Needless to say some of those who sneer at us celebrating our patron saint are out celebrating St Patrick's Day and not mentioning he wasn't Irish. Still think the Shakespearean rallying cry was more inspiring than it would have been substituting one of those ladies for St George.
To the credit of the young Landlord and landlady of Ebeneezer's, they did our Patron Saint credit. It was the only pub in the City Centre that celebrated it today. Swapped an afternoon off for a Saturday morning at work to be in there today.
Except there wasn't a Wales then, though she came from the area referred to as Wales. Welsh referred to a language used by Britons including people in the Notth of England. Wales as a country wasn't until after the Romans left. Like St George there isn't much known about her, there are no descriptions are writings about her by contemporaries only by Roman writings. So they may not be totally accurate. She definitely can't be considered English as she lived a long time before the first reference to England. A good role model though.
Good for them. Round my way no acknowledgement of it from pubs which are decked out in green for St Patrick's Day, serve haggis and heaps on Burns night and have daffodils all over the place on St David's Day. Not the fault of the landlords, who are actually managers, but the breweries. Though one did put on an effort using his own money. Glad to say in one local most people stopped away on St Patrick's Day to make a point.
Just a point but well done on the spelling. The amount of times I've had arguments with people pronouncing it ****ing Bodeaccea (sp?). Shudder.
Well, I proudly wore my Union Jack cap for St George and I will be 'standing to order' at the Traralgon cenotaph at 6.00am in the morning to respect those ANZAC's who fell at Gallipoli in 1915. This year is the 100th 'Dawn Service'.
A pub near me has a St Georges Day celebration, it's all men, you have to wear a suit, there's a large meal and everyone sings Jerusalem and Land Of Hope And Glory etc. It's by invitation only and is the same people every year, a place only usually comes available if someone dies. I went once when a space became available, but I didn't wear a suit and I may have drunk a little too much and didn't get invited back.
I live in Morley which claims to have the largest annual St George's day festival in the country. The whole town centre is rammed with St George crosses for a week. http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co....elebrate-st-george-at-morley-parade-1-6582744
