Today is Saint George's Day and Saint George is the patron saint of England.
In countries like Ireland, where their patron saint is Saint Patrick, their day is a public holiday - in fact till the 1970s the pubs were closed on Saint Patrick's day.
Saint Patrick's Day is also a public holiday in Newfoundland, Labrador and Montserrat – bet you didn't know that did you?
Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and Saint Andrew's day is also a public holiday there.
Saint Andrew, by the way, is also the patron saint of Greece, Romania, Russia and Ukraine and in Germany they celebrate Saint Andrew's Night - Andreasnacht – in Poland they celebrate Saint Andrew's Prayer.
All that celebrating so you would think they would observe their day here in England, Saint George's Day, and we 'd see celebrations, with the singing of Land of Hope and Glory, the wearing of the red white and blue but do we see it? To use a phrase from Billy Connolly – not a jot!
The only celebrations will be those toasting the 'bard;' his birthday was always thought to be St George's Day but it now seems it has been changed to April 26th - well that was the day he was baptised - and he died on St George's Day - Shakespeare I'm talking about!!
I have heard that there is a Saint George's Day Parade in Birmingham today and that there was one in Manchester yesterday – but it isn't a public holiday; everybody has gone to work and I haven't heard anything on the radio.
A few years ago the Welsh Assembly voted to make Saint David's Day a public holiday there but they had to apply to the Prime Minister's Office of Tony Blair and they turned it down.
The only big event in London was The London Marathon yesterday; it was marred by the death of one of the competitors, a 30 year old woman, who collapsed near the end of the race. It didn't have the same affect as the 2 horses that died in The Grand National last week (yes it was only last week).
Prince Harry was at the marathon and he seems a friendly kind of fella – very kind of blokey – unlike his brother; he doesn't have that awful South Kensington accent like his dad and Uncle Andrew or the half estuary accent like his Uncle Edward so I say good luck to him in his cage.
The other big thing that started yesterday was The World Snooker Championship; this will dominate the television for the next few weeks.
It's held in The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield and it is a big big business. The thing about snooker, as opposed to pool, is that it is a pondering game of enormous skill.
It was invented by army officers in India in the late 19th century; it was adapted from billiards, as pool was, and has now overtaken billiards in popularity, as pool has and is very popular the world over – except America.
The Americans called in snucker rhyming the 'U' sound with how you would say butcher.
The word snooker is also a state of play in the game itself: it's when a ball cannot be seen clearly by the cue ball and the only way to hit it is to cannon onto it via the cushion or by swerving the cue ball.
The difference between pool and snooker is that the table for snooker is 12 feet by 6 feet and the pool table is 7 feet by 3 and a half feet.
That's the big difference – it's a huge table so when you try to break the balls at snooker and you have to break them gently and not 'leave' anything on for your opponent; in pool you hit the ball as hard as you can as you are bound to get one in a pocket and then you are away.
But let us go back to the marathon and that girl that died. She died in Birdcage Walk a few minutes from the finish. She had been sponsored by friends and relatives and the object of her charity this time was the Samaritans.
She had climbed mountains and worked wonders for charity in the past and this morning the amount sponsored stood at around £5,000 – at the moment it is up around £81,000 and growing. This is what she was doing for charity; it seems such a moment when the giving to charity is all in the news because of the limits that are being put on the tax relief rich people are getting for their donations; unless they get tax relief they won't contribute.
Claire Squires wasn't claiming any tax relief for her donation; there she is below; spare a thought.
Nice one, Chris. We English have a flag that has been hijacked by bigots, and know how to break balls gently. But you hit the nail firmly on the head with the response to Claire Squires' untimely death. I just hope that all who have contributed to her chosen cause remembered to add "gift aid" to their donation. With £80k plus going to the Samaritans the add-on that should make Mr Osborne choke on his cornflakes!!
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