Tuesday 7 August 2012

A BIT OF HISTORY (AND WE GET RID OF IDS's UGLY COUPON)


The unlikeable face of the unpleasant Iain Duncan Smith has unfortunately been staring out of the blog for too long, so although I'm a bit pressed for time at the moment, I thought I should put something up in its place. Here's a little piece on our flag (with credit, below, to the author).

The Flag of Scotland or the Saltire or St Andrew’s Cross, is the oldest continuously used sovereign flag in the world, having been in use for nearly 1200 years.
Saltire
Legend has it that in 832 AD, a Pictish army under King Angus MacFergus, High King of Alba, along with a force of Scots under Eochaidh, King of Dalriada (and grandfather of Kenneth MacAlpin), came up against a Northumbrian force under King Aethelstan of East Anglia in Lothian. The Pictish army were surrounded by superior numbers and prayed for assistance. That night Saint Andrew who was martyred on a saltire shaped cross appeared to Angus and assured him of victory.
As both armies prepared for battle the following morning an image appeared in the sky of a white cross. The image encouraged the Picts and frightened the Northumbrian army who fled in panic. The site of the battle is known as Athelstanford after the Northumbrian leader who was killed in the battle. From then onwards the Saltire has been used as Scotland’s national flag. Traditionally the saltire is blue (some say to represent the sky in the vision) but some versions have existed which have the white cross on a black background (due to the shortage of vegetable dyes that could reproduce the colour) and even green or red.
From Pochoblog with thanks.

6 comments:

  1. Tris,

    Left three messages on the post about DWP and ATOS and they seem to have been moderated. Why so, young man?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, not by me mate... I'll go and investigate....

    ReplyDelete
  3. Posts were indeed waiting for moderation John. As I explained over there, I've no idea why.

    But I'd like to see your entry for the pure idiot competition. You're sure to be a winner...

    Where can I read it?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Erm,

    You could try my blog. Conan has already posted a quote from some English writer that I've never heard of. You've got to remember the MacGonnagal part lest Niko and Grahamski apply for the "pure idiot" bit and leave me no chance.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Actually, Tris, wish I had not started it. My wee foster daughter is going around chanting "Teeth of Lamont, shades of Gray" all day.

    ReplyDelete
  6. As you probably know by now, I stumbled upon your blog (which because of lack of use, I'd stashed under the bed or on top of the wardrobe or something) and I thoroughly enjoyed your rendering.

    Conan, of course, is one of these intellectual johnnies that understand all that high faluting poetry stuff. His response was all Greek to me! Maybe it was all Greek to him too.

    One of the tests of a good 'pop' song (I'm told by those who know about that sort of thing) is to let kids hear it twice and if they go around singing it for the rest of the day, it's a hit in the making. So maybe you're on to something???

    Actually it's very clever John. made me laugh.

    I've sorted the problem of the moderation. I'd set moderation of posts over 5 days old. I've lengthened it to 10 days. Once again, sorry.

    ReplyDelete