April 23rd is St. Georges Day.

The Union Jack incorporates all the flags of England, Wales and Scotland. England's flag is the Red Cross that forms the horizontal and vertical feature. I tried to order the flag but strangely Amazon, the UK supplier, said that they were unable to ship UK flags to the USA?

I believe that many people associate St. George with slaying the dragon and there are many versions of story of St George slaying the dragon, but most agree on the following legend:

St. George travelled for many months by land and sea until he came to Libya. Here he met a poor hermit who told him that everyone in that land was in great distress, for a dragon had long ravaged the country.
'Every day,' said the old man, 'he demands the sacrifice of a beautiful maiden and now all the young girls have been killed. The king's daughter alone remains, and unless we can find a knight who can slay the dragon she will be sacrificed tomorrow. The king of Egypt will give his daughter in marriage to the champion who overcomes this terrible monster.' When St. George heard this story, he was determined to try and save the princess, so he rested that night in the hermit's hut, and at daybreak set out to the valley where the dragon lived. When he drew near he saw a little procession of women, headed by a beautiful girl dressed in pure Arabian silk. The princess Sabra was being led by her attendants to the place of death. The knight spurred his horse and overtook the ladies. He comforted them with brave words and persuaded the princess to return to the palace. Then he entered the valley. As soon as the dragon saw him it rushed from its cave, roaring with a sound louder than thunder. Its head was immense and its tail fifty feet long. But St. George was not afraid. He struck the monster with his spear, hoping he would wound it. The dragon's scales were so hard that the spear broke into a thousand pieces. and St. George fell from his horse. Fortunately he rolled under an enchanted orange tree against which poison could not prevail, so that the venomous dragon was unable to hurt him. Within a few minutes he had recovered his strength and was able to fight again. He smote the beast with his sword, but the dragon poured poison on him and his armor split in two. Once more he refreshed himself from the orange tree and then, with his sword in his hand, he rushed at the dragon and pierced it under the wing where there were no scales, so that it fell dead at his feet.

Enough of dragons!

Saint George is popularly identified with England and English ideals of honor, bravery and gallantry, but actually he wasn't English at all. St. George is believed to have been born in Cappadocia (now Eastern Turkey) in the year A.D. 270. He was a Christian. At the age of seventeen he joined the Roman army and soon became renowned for his bravery. He served under a pagan Emperor but never forgot his Christian faith.

When the pagan Emperor Diocletian started persecuting Christians, St. George pleaded with the Emperor to spare their lives. However, St. George's pleas fell on deaf ears and it is thought that the Emperor Diocletian tried to make St. George deny his faith in Christ, by torturing him. St George showed incredible courage and faith and was finally beheaded near Lydda in Palestine on 23 April, 303.

In 1222, the Council of Oxford declared April 23 to be St George's Day and he replaced St Edmund the Martyr as England's patron saint. In 1415, April 23 was made a national feast day. Patron Saint
St George is patron saint not only of England but also of Aragon, Catalonia, England, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, and Russia, as well as the cities of Amersfoort, Beirut, Bteghrine, Cáceres, Ferrara, Freiburg, Genoa, Ljubljana, Gozo, Pomorie, Qormi, Lod and Moscow. St George is also patron saint of scouts, soldiers, archers, cavalry and chivalry, farmers and field workers, riders and saddlers, and he helps those suffering from leprosy and the plague.

The United Kingdom celebrates eight official holidays each year, with Scotland and Northern Ireland having additional patriotic holidays.
They are:
1 January Wednesday New Year's Day
18 April Friday Good Friday
21 April Monday Easter Monday
5 May Monday Early May bank holiday
26 May Monday Spring bank holiday
25 August Monday Summer bank holiday
25 December Thursday Christmas Day
26 December Friday Boxing Day

There is a campaign currently talking place throughout England to designate April 23rd as a national holiday with currently over 900,000 signatures.

But England is not only about St. George.

I frequently listen to the BBC radio over the web and several months ago I was struck by a presenter who asked his listeners to call in and complete the sentence "I know when I am in England when…" After giving it some thought, I came up with "I know when I am in England when I see people standing in orderly queues talking about the weather" but I will return to the subject of the queue later. It is a futile exercise attempting to sum up England and the English in a few words and it seems as true today as it was 250 years ago when Dr. Johnson's observation that 'When two Englishmen meet their first talk is of the weather'.

I am sure that those of you who have been in England walking in the countryside or down a rural street, a complete stranger walking the other way will often greet you with 'Good Morning' or 'Good Afternoon' often adding "It's cold again today", "More rain on the way", "Some sunshine at last", or a similar observation about conditions. And, when someone says something like "It'll be nice to have a bit of sun" they are not asking for a comment or a discussion, they are merely being friendly, inviting agreement and, to use an appropriate phrase, "Breaking the ice". I myself am guilty of this and exactly how this decidedly English habit came about no one really knows, but it was brought home to me a few years ago when we were in San Francisco waiting in line for a table, when I cheerfully said to the people in front of us "It's certainly hot out there today". "I'm sorry?", one of them replied slowly turning to look at me as if I was mad.
AS well as being fascinated by what the future might hold in terms of rain, wind, sunshine and snow, the English also have long memories about previous weather events; the bitter winter of 1962-63, the sweltering summer of '76 as examples, when the river Thames stopped flowing as it was peculating into the ground faster than water was coming downstream.

The British weather forecasters have had their memorable TV moments as well, when Michael Fish started his evening weather forecast by saying "Earlier today, I had a phone call from a women who had heard that a hurricane was on the way…. Well, if you are watching, don't worry, there isn't". By the following morning, Southern England had gone through the Great Storm of '87 with winds overnight in excess of 100 mph!

The weather is a constant presence in English Literature. "Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May", as an example, and also in English folk law when they say that if it is raining on St. Swithin's Day it will rain everyday for 40 days. To foreigners, one of the most bizarre manifestations of the English obsession with the weather must be the curious affection many have with the shipping forecast on BBC Radio 4. The gentle, comforting repetition of the strange but familiar names, Viking, Fisher, Dogger Bank, North=east three to four. Occasional rain, moderate or poor visibility; have become like magic incarnations which, while alerting those at sea as intended, will somehow keep the rest of us safe from harm.

I think that this national infatuation with the shipping forecast has as much to do with another characteristic of the English - a love of language and the sounds of words. And there is certainly a lot of words for us to love. The England language was probably England's greatest export as it is now the official language in 54 countries spoken as the mother tongue by around 400 million people and is the dominant language in business, diplomacy and computing.

English is also a particularly rich, diverse and constantly changing language; the largest dictionary's list around 400,000 words while the French and German languages have less than half that size. No where were the richness of the words used more so than in the Music Hall. Just a week ago the BBC Concert Orchestra and several performers devoted their Friday night weekly live concert as they recreated the unique atmosphere of the Music Hall, including the artists' introductions such as…

"So, ladies and gentlemen, your undivided attention, please, for the colloquial performance of exceptional eloquence and effusive effervesance as we present for your collective conviviality a little number entitled…"

Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment popular between 1850 and 1960. It involved a mixture of popular song, comedy, specialty acts and variety entertainment. The term is derived from a type of theatre or venue in which such entertainment took place. British music hall was similar to American vaudeville, featuring rousing songs and comic acts, while in the United Kingdom the term "vaudeville"' referred to more working-class types of entertainment that would have been termed burlesque in America. Originating in saloon bars within public houses during the 1830s, music hall entertainment became increasingly popular with audiences, so much so, that during the 1850s, the public houses were demolished and music hall theatres developed in their place. These theatres were designed chiefly so people could consume food and alcohol and smoke tobacco in the auditorium while the entertainment took place. This differed somewhat from the conventional type of theatre, which until then seated the audience in stalls with a separate bar-room.

By the mid-nineteenth century, the halls created a demand for new and catchy popular songs. As a result, professional songwriters were enlisted to provide the music for a plethora of star performers including, more notably Marie Lloyd, Dan Leno, Little Titch and George Leybourne.

Music hall did not adopt its own unique style. Instead all forms of entertainment were performed: male and female impersonators, mime artists and impressionists, trampoline acts, and comic pianists such as John Orlando Parry and George Grossmith were just a few of the many types of entertainments the audiences could expect to find.

Music hall was in decline by the turn of the twentieth century, made worse in 1907 by a dispute between artists, stage hands and managers, which inevitably ended in a strike. The halls had recovered by the start of the First World War and were used to stage charity events in aid of the war effort. Music hall entertainment continued after the war, but became less popular due to upcoming Jazz, Swing, and Big Band dance music acts. Licensing restrictions had also changed, and drinking was banned from the auditorium.

A new type of music hall entertainment had arrived, in the form of variety, and many music hall performers failed to make the transition. Deemed old fashioned and with the closure of many halls, music hall entertainment ceased and the modern day variety began.

In 1924, Max Miller made his debut at the Hogan Empire. While the old style music hall was bawdy, he brought a patter of humor that was never rude but often left the audience to finish the punch line.
Two of his most famous ditties were:
I like the girls who do
I like the girls who don't
I hate the girl who said she would
And then said she won't
But the girl I like best of all
And I think you'll say I'm right
Is the girl who says she never does
But looks as if she …. Well, you get the idea!

Another was..
Adam and Eve in the garden dwelt
They looked so happy and jolly
I wonder how they would have felt
if the leaves had been made of holly…..

Today, the Music Hall is back and alive in places like 'Wilton's" in East London, the Hackney Empire in North London, and the Leeds City Varieties.

Finally, going back to the subject of that typically English queue.

While they may not be talking about the weather, complaining is another English trait, although usually done gently, and encompasses work, traffic, the busses, the trains, shops, those in authority and of course, how slow the queue is moving forward.

When I was in England a year ago January, I well remember being in a supermarket and approaching a newly opened check out without realizing that there was a line, abeit small, of people waiting with their baskets full of groceries, that had formed up some distance away. Quietly, they lost no time of letting me know when one of them came over and explained that I had jumped the line and made it quite clear that I had to go to the back and take my turn. But they also finished putting me in my place by apologizing as well. Hold on a moment, there's yet another example of Englishness!.

So that leaves me with a closing thought, let's go around the room and let us hear how each of you would finish the sentence:

"I know when I am in America when….."