Flag of St George declared English icon

Tearful citizens break into Jerusalem

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 27th April 2006 13:32 GMT

The flag of St George has been declared officially iconic by a Department for Culture, Media and Sport funded website, set up to identify those things which truly define Englishness and guaranteed to bring a tear to the eye of any oak-hearted Englishman as he sups a pint of warm ale in a timber-framed boozer while Jerusalem issues forth from the jukebox and Spitfires purge the skies above of Luftwaffe aircraft.

As the icons.co.uk blurb explains:

The St George's Flag - the emblem of St George and St George's Day - has made it into our official Icons of England collection. The flag is among 21 new icons which will be revealed to the nation on 28 April and its new iconic status will provide a boost to St George's Day celebrations on the 23rd.

The site has already identified 12 icons by a process of public nomination and voting - Stonehenge, Punch and Judy, the S.S. Empire Windrush, Holbein's portrait of Henry VIII, a cup of tea, the FA Cup, Alice in Wonderland, the Routemaster double-decker bus, the King James Bible, the Angel of the North, the Spitfire, and Jerusalem.

The list will close when the total reaches 100 and current nominations for your consideration include the bowler hat, the Cornish pasty and, naturally, Turner's The Fighting Temeraire - recently declared Britain's fave canvas.

All good, clean fun. We're sure readers have a few suggestions of their own, but here's our shortlist for potential elevation to the Top 100: football hooligans, the Isle of Sheppey, secretary-shagging politicos, Sellafield, and pneumatic model Katie Price (link moderately NSFW). ®

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