Thetownend.com

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

As Henry V says in Act III.

'For Harry, England and St George'


If the Welsh, French, Scots, Americans and Candians can do it so can we!

Happy 'England Day' one and all!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73eB-aAo8Eg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,--
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

Should be a bank holiday today! Let everyone toast our national day properly.

Keep St. George in my heart keep me English! Keep St. George in my heart I pray, keep St. George in my heart keep me English, keep me English 'till my dying day! NO SURRENDERRRRRRRRRRRR NO SURRENDERRRRRRRRRR!

Haggis for Joycie tonight.

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Born British, English by the grace of God.

Happy St Georges day.

And yes I am aware that St George was Roman soldier from Syria Palestine but he is still OUR patron Saint.

The Irish and Sots are encouraged to celebrate their national day.....we should too.

This is where i miss the old gaurd who legged it away from here when we embraced the free thinkingDiCanio.
We need PaulD and his mates to tell us not to be so happy being English and there's no such thing as the English anyway.

The Irish only do it with the backing of Diageo plc ;)

Happy St Georges Day to those that care

And Bollox to those that don't

I actually didn't know it was St George's day today.

Thanks for the information TEF.

The England flags are flying proudly in Twickenham High Street. It's nice to see a town displaying their patriotism, something that's not seen very often nowadays for fear of offending people!

Don't be so happy being English and there's no such thing as the English anyway.

Really couldn't give a flying fuck.  I am in no way religious so the idea of celebrating seems odd to me. 

Each to their own though.

Happy patron saint of syphilis sufferers day!

He should be the Patron Saint of irony for Crispy and his far right chums.

How is it a religious event? You could surely treat it as a bit of patriotism.

The word 'Saint' should be a bit of a clue.

Happy Shakespeare's Birth and Death day, too.  He must've been bloody busy that day.

Good one, but the fact he was Cannonised doesn't mean you can't celebrate the day as a patriotic event or do you not celebrate Christmas either? (that's got 'Christ' it btw)

Edit. just seen that "you" is for thedarkprince and not you (si).  :)

What does being English entail?Really,I would like to know what people are actually proud of?Genuine question

 Growing up in 50's austerity England...we never bothered with SG's D....the focus was much more on GB and the Empire and Dominions which we still just about had a few bits of. History taught how great we English were, firstly on our own, then with the Welsh, who got a lot of credit for Agincourt and then in union with the Sweaties, and Ulstermen...no need to celebrate it really...you knew that being born English was to be blessed.

 Not sure whether that message still gets through to today's kids....I know Michael Gove doesn't think so.

I celebrate the time off, not that some fictional character from a fairytale was born at around the same time as the Winter Solstice (merely a conincidence that). Would be happy to have an extra day off for this too. Trouble is there are too many around this time of the year which I guess is why the mooted new bank holiday will more likely be in October/November. Incidentally I believe it should be on 11th November or the nearest Monday or Friday.

Erm. He wasnt a fiction character and his story isnt from a fairy tale. Yes, there are a lot of myths surrounding him, as with a lot of historical figures. But he was definitely a real person.

Other countries all over the world speaking English makes me fairly proud. I find it amusing when on holiday in different countries like Greece when the Greeks and Germans communicate in English.

Sure, but there's so much bullshit in the bible that you have to take it with a large dollop of NaCl.

And a little bit ashamed that the majority of us English can't utter more than a few words in a foreign language?

When do you have the need to speak a foreign language?

I think that considering how widespread the English language is, we don't do too badly in that respect.

Indeed. We are quite fortunate there. Being fortunate is nothing to be ashamed about.

I did two years of Spanish language classes at night school, i couldn't of been much good as when in Spain the Spanish still tried to talk to me in English  ???

It's got bugger all to do with the bible.

I was about to write that, then I re-read the post to which it referred and realised somehow it had become about Jesus not St George...easily confused!!!

By the way, going back to the beginning, I wish people would actually read what William Blake wrote and understand what he was saying about England when he wrote 'Jerusalem' before constantly quoting it and singing it for nationalistic occasions.  Blake must be laughing in his grave!! or not....

Hadnt noticed it was about Jesus, but the point still stands. Jesus wasnt mythical either. he was a historical figure. True, the stories about him are all nonsense, but there was a carpenter in Judea called Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem etc etc who ended up being a bit of a preacher.

As for all the stuff about being the son of God or the miracles are true, I will leave that up to you to decide!