Cry God...

[spen666]

...for Harry, England and Saint George

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it
As fearfully as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
To his full height. On, on, you noblest English.
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!
Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,
Have in these parts from morn till even fought
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:
Dishonour not your mothers; now attest
That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you.
Be copy now to men of grosser blood,
And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman,
Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
The mettle of your pasture; let us swear
That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;
For there is none of you so mean and base,
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!

Happy St George's Day

[Regulator]

Nowt like celebrating a Turkish Saint, eh...?   


Happy St George's Day everyone! 


I hear even the miserable Scottish bugger in No. 10 has agreed to fly the Cross of St George over Downing Street today.   

[clarion]

Hmm.  The cross of st george still gets my adrenaline flowing, because it is so associated with the enemy.

However, here is Brian Patten's poem...

[Ian H]

Oh that's what the Google logo was about. I'll just ignore it as usual if you don't mind. Flags bring me out in a rash.

[blackpuddinonnabike]

Up here I don't think Burns Night would ever be usurped by St Andrew's Day (despite attempts by the SNP to create all sorts of Scottish celebrations).

[Flying_Monkey]

Come on, flags are great - this is my favourite:

[clarion]

This is one of my favourites

This appeals, though the colours are:

as on this t-shirt

[MSeries]

I live in Englands most patriotic town ?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7351194.stm

[HTFB]

Nowt like celebrating a Turkish Saint, eh...?   

He wasn't Turkish: Cappadocia wasn't yet colonised by the Turks back then. More dragons around than you'll find currently, too.

[Wowbagger]

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	PTS
1	Wales	5	5	0	0	148	66	10
2	England	5	3	0	2	108	83	6
3	France	5	3	0	2	103	93	6
4	Ireland	5	2	0	3	93	99	4
5	Scotland	5	1	0	4	69	123	2
6	Italy	5	1	0	4	74	131	2

An appropriate occasion to congratulate the English team on their excellent performance in this year's 6 Nations' Rugby competition.

[Regulator]

Nowt like celebrating a Turkish Saint, eh...?   

He wasn't Turkish: Cappadocia wasn't yet colonised by the Turks back then. More dragons around than you'll find currently, too.

If you want to be really pedantic, there's no real evidence he ever existed.

[Pingu]

Nowt like celebrating a Turkish Saint, eh...?   

He wasn't Turkish: Cappadocia wasn't yet colonised by the Turks back then. More dragons around than you'll find currently, too.

If you want to be really pednatic , there's no real evidence he ever existed.

Pednatic? Moi?

[Mr Larrington]

If They want us to celebrate St. George's Day, then They should at least make it a Bank Holibob, the tight-fisted arsecandles.

[pcolbeck]

I liked this alternative poem commissioned by Today

By George! by Elvis Mcgonagall

Once more unto the breach, dear Morris Dancers
    once more
Jingle your bells, thwack sticks, raise flagons
Cry “God for Harry and Saint George!”
Gallant knight and slayer of dragons
Patron saint of merry England –
And Georgia, and Catalonia, and Portugal, Beirut, Moscow
Istanbul, Germany, Greece
Archers, farmers, boy scouts, butchers and sufferers of
   syphilis
Multicultural icon with sword and codpiece
On, on you bullet-headed saxon sons
Fly flags from white van and cab
But remember stout yeomen, your champion was Turkish
So – get drunk and have a kebab

[rogerzilla]

Dragon Hill is next to Uffington White Horse.  The grass has never grown back on the top since the dragon's blood was spilled there by St George.  Apparently.

http://www.berkshirehistory.com/archaeology/dragon_hill.html

[border-rider]

Just up the road

I can run there and back

[steveB]

In a pub I used to frequent many moons ago, the landlord was an ex Royal Marines warrant officer.  On St George's day he put flags with the cross of St George all around the pub, then asked the local yobs young drinkers what they thought the flag represented - half didn't know and quite a few thought it might be a Danish bacon promotion.

[andygates]

remember stout yeomen, your champion was Turkish
So – get drunk and have a kebab

Brilliant!