Today is St. George’s Day, the patron saint of England. Each of the four elements of the British Isles have their own patron saint; Scotland (St. Andrew), Ireland (St. Patrick) and Wales (St. David). For some reason, and it’s possibly because England can be seen as the most dominant country of the four, St. George’s Day is not celebrated with any parades or anything grand, although there are a number of small celebrations in many towns and villages.

You generally know its St George’s Day by the red and white flags that adorn many pubs, and occasionally you may see a car or van flying the flag too. On my travels today, I saw just ONE man wearing a red rose on his lapel. However, such people may well have had these flags originally to show their loyalty to the England soccer, cricket or rugby teams. It’s a quirk that the UK as a whole is not represented as one team in many major sporting events, although a major exception to this is the Olympic Games.

Just one more little fact, it’s William Shakespeare’s birthday too, he would have been 440 today!

I caught this particular flag at the Three Legged Cross pub in Newell Green, just north of Bracknell.