St Georges Day

[Peter Brook]

 

Happy St. Georges Day

 

"all who love this earth, whatever the land that gave you birth"

 

[stuart estell]

It was great to see, on Saturday, that Birmingham City Council had bothered to organise some St George's Day festivities. There were some Morris sides, including Jockey Morris, and some maypole dancers.

 

Oh, and some fairground rides.

 

And some folk singers singing with acoustic guitars on a big stage through unsuitable amounts of amplification. Playing Irish songs.

Edited April 23, 2007 by stuart estell

[fidjit]

Playing Irish songs.

 

Sacrilege !!

 

Chas

[Dirge]

Don't knock it, at least it's something. Perhaps Carling would like to promote St. Georges Day binges in the same way Guiness does St. Patricks?

[Stephen Chambers]

Perhaps Carling would like to promote St. Georges Day binges in the same way Guiness does St. Patricks?

Wot, an American company promoting St. George's Day???

 

(Coors bought up Bass a few years ago, in order to acquire Carling - you should see all the Coors signs that have replaced the Bass ones in my hometown of Burton-on-Trent. )

 

Anyway, I celebrated the Day this evening with a "traditional English dinner" of takeaway curry, washed down with a bottle of Shepherd Neame Spitfire, but we're a bit short of Morris Dancers around here!

[Dirge]

Well if it sold more grot lager who are they to resist it? No one else bothers!

[Stephen Chambers]

Well if it sold more grot lager who are they to resist it?

Well I suppose grot lager (rather than Grotneys) has been the "National Drink" for a long time now - must be to wash down all those chicken vindaloos!

 

But I saved the Spitfire until after I'd finished my lamb dansak, so I can really savour it.

[asdormire]

I really don't know a lot about St George, other than wasn't he the preeminate big game hunter of his day?

 

Alan

[Leo]

I really don't know a lot about St George, other than wasn't he the preeminate big game hunter of his day?

 

Alan

 

He's famous. Here's the story:

http://www.jerrypippin.com/audio/Take%20of...Jack%20Webb.wma

 

Thanks

Leo

[Chris Timson]

Out playing for the morris last night, good fun. Sympathetic pub landlord generous with food and booze.

 

John Kirkpatrick released a new CD yesterday. First track is a superb song about St George, inspiring and terrifying by turns.

 

Chris

[Woody]

Perhaps Carling would like to promote St. Georges Day binges in the same way Guiness does St. Patricks?

Wot, an American company promoting St. George's Day???

 

Well....

 

St. George is supposed to have been a Roman soldier from Turkey who killed a dragon in Libya to save a Princess (this after lots of non-Princesses had been fed to the Dragon without anybody turning up to save them!).

 

He's not exactly an exclusive Saint - being (from wiki) also patron Saint of Canada, Catalonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Montenegro, Portugal, Serbia, and the cities of Istanbul, Ljubljana and Moscow.

 

He was first linked to the English by King Richard I, a French vassal of Viking ancestry who had little interest in England, apparently didn't speak any English, and who only spent 6 months in the country - and that mainly to strip it of wealth for his adventures in the middle-East against the Muslims (sound familiar?). He later got himself captured and virtually bankrupted England raising the ransom.

 

- at least the Americans have substantial historical, linguistic and genetic links to England. So perhaps St. Coors day would be more appropriate? Or perhaps we could go back to St. Edmund?

 

Or perhaps we could chuck the pseudo-Religious overtones and acknowledge the strongly secular nature of our country and have a figurehead most English can identify with - say Winston's day? (But then again he was half American.

 

- W

[Dirge]

gerroff. Ol' George is alright. He's been leading the English against the rest of the world off and on for the best part of a millenium. Last appearance Mons, I think. And he's a good patron saint. He's got armour and weapons and does dragons in. Not known to play the concertina, but it's probably a bit much to hope for. That's what you want, a decent fierce saint, not some girls blouse.

 

there's Lara Croft I suppose.

[chris]

Hi

given various devolutions perhaps we should change our national flag to just show St Georges cross

chris

[PeterT]

But I saved the Spitfire until after I'd finished my lamb dansak, so I can really savour it.

Hi Stephen,

 

Well, just to make you envious, my "local" Shepherd Neame pub, the Two Brewers, can offer:

 

Master Brew

Spitfire

Bishop's Finger

 

and generally a seasonal ale.

 

Oh yes, and although it's an Irish pub, we play English music (etc.) there once a month, but not on St. George's Day!

 

Regards,

Peter.

[stuart estell]

Does the concertina have a patron saint? Most other things seem to.

 

If not, I nominate St Teresa of Avila, whom Nanci Griffith wrote a very nice song about. She's the patron saint of headache sufferers.

Edited April 24, 2007 by stuart estell

[Woody]

gerroff. Ol' George is alright. He's been leading the English against the rest of the world off and on for the best part of a millenium. Last appearance Mons, I think. And he's a good patron saint. He's got armour and weapons and does dragons in. Not known to play the concertina, but it's probably a bit much to hope for. That's what you want, a decent fierce saint, not some girls blouse.

 

there's Lara Croft I suppose.

Hmmm - dubious at least - see... http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A717581 ...and we lost Mons until the Canadians got it back at the end of the War. If he were that good we wouldn't have lost it

 

Call me old fashioned if you like, but I just think that if we have to have a Patron Saint it would be nice to have one that's actually got some link to England and actually set foot in the country, not just some Turkish bloke imposed on us by some Johnny foreigner ne'er do well like Richard I

 

So lets here it... "Cry God for England, Harry and St. Guthlac"

 

 

 

Edited to hide the fact that I'm an idiot

Edited April 24, 2007 by Woody

[PeterT]

Call me old fashioned if you like, but I just think that if we have to have a Patron Saint it would be nice to have one that's actually got some link to England and actually set foot in the country, not just some Turkish bloke imposed on us by some Johnny foreigner ne'er do well like Richard I

 

So lets here it... "Cry God for England, Harry and St. Guthlac"

There's some good ones here:

 

http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/patrons.asp

[JimLucas]

Edited to hide the fact that I'm an idiot

You've given yourself a good hiding for that, eh?