Embarrassing potential Olympic anthem cock ups

[Bledlow]

There is of course Marshall Wade's verse in the national anthem for when Chris Hoy wins, I'm sure that would go down well.

Bloody silly, since the Marshal Wade verse has never been part of the official version.

The historical evidence for it even being sung in 1745 is very scanty, & it certainly wasn't in either the first published version, or in use when God Save the King was accepted as the national anthem.

And in any case, the Jacobite rising had nothing to do with Scottish nationalism. Charles Stuart & his father would have ruled Scotland from London, & the Jacobite rising in Scotland was pretty much a civil war - and to some extent a sectarian one, with Catholic clans fighting Presbyterians.

I hate rewriting of history to suit current politics.

[Woofage]

On a related note, I was given a free newspaper yesterday that contained this ad:



 

[Arch]

On a related note, I was given a free newspaper yesterday that contained this ad:



 

 

I noticed last night that the North Korean athletes came into the stadium carrying a huge falg between them - the only nation to do so. Perhaps a memory jogger?

[Ian H]

Why can't they drop all the anthems and flags into a hat and draw a random pair for each team?

[Cudzoziemiec]

I like that idea - it would be amusing and at the same time could be construed as an embodiment of the Olympic spirit of international brotherhood and the bonds of sport.

[Arch]

I remember a programme on R4 (a Richard Herring comedy I think) where they were discussing the underlying meanings of flags, esp the St George's Cross.  As part of it they discussed, with a flag expert, what would happen if all the flags of the world were combined. His reply was:

"Basically, it would be brown...."

That's what we need, a really inspiring brown world flag!

[Kim]

"Basically, it would be brown...."

I believe that's the reasoning behind the Ubuntu logo.