Hi all, this is my first post. Happy St. George's Day! I just wondered if anyone knew of any activites planned today locally for St. George's day?

Are you serious.
Our london Mayor only allows non British celebrations.

Brian,
Your cheap shot is idiotic and wrong.
http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/culture/stgeorge.jsp

Yes Brian
You are five years too late with your remark.

"For the 5th year running London celebrates St George?s Day with a series of free events"

London has been slow in getting round to celebrate the day since George has been patron saint of England since the 14th Century.

It's a shame that the local pubs aren't doing anything at least

I'd imagine the parish of St George's, Perry Hill will be marking the day in one way or another.

In any case, I think the English indifference towards St George's Day is 100% correct, and is nothing to do with POLITICALCORRECTNESSGONEMAD!!!.

This is a figure who almost certainly did not exist, popularised via a religious tradition primarily based on a deity who almost certainly does not exist, whose greatest achievement in legend was to kill a creature that didn't exist, who is never claimed to have even set his non-existent foot in what is now England.

What other course of action, then, than to pretend it doesn't exist?

Give us a proper national day, and we'll celebrate it. Perhaps. As it is, I see no reason to get all dewy-eyed and 'proud' that I was born to someone who happened to live here rather than happening to live somewhere else.

I don't think you should take the fictional nature of the saint and his enemy too seriously. I find myself in the middle of a celebration of a possible slave rebellion against the Egyptian pharoh over 2 centuries ago, so I am not going to criticise other religious beliefs in dragons and Georges.

But every good myth and celebration should have an underlying message or lesson. In the case of Passover it is the importance of freedom - a message that is necessary to remember throughout history.

I am interested to know what George has to teach us or whether the message has been completely lost. I know we all have our own dragons to slay, but that is a bit of a wide interpretation. Perhaps we should revert to our previous patron saint, Edward the Confessor, and make it National Confession Day - a good chance for politicians to come clean about a few things.

While still yoking us with the religious aspect, this would be a much better idea. Not least because I'd get a day off near my birthday.

Our office (just south of Blackfriars) has lots of flags and t-shirts in eveidence and the local pub (The Prince Albert) has bunting and slogans up and is selling Bombadier bitter at ?2 a pint to celebrate the occasion

That we don't celebrate St George's day is a myth

The Chandos near HOP seems to be doing a St George's branded drink promotion.

Drinking cheap lager seems about as related to St George as Christmas sales are to Jesus. How about remembering it as Shakespeare Day and having street theatre in every town in the country - with plenty of mead of course.

Shakespeare, indeed! Hark at you with your hoity-toity London chatterati ways! Elitist, Michael, not in touch with the ordinary English man and woman. Who, it hardly needs to be said, empathise massively with fictional Turks slaying fictional creatures, and, er, whatever else he did (n't do).

david.lathwell, Forest Hill's The Hob has also come to your rescue.

I walked past earlier today and they have a poster for a big St George's Day event in the window. This evening The Hob is tempting us with real ales, a band called The Nites (the band start at 9pm) and some other festive delights.

Just to get my facts right I tried to find a website for The Hob but the best I could do was to discover that Harry Hill is there for three nights next week! (See EDcomedy listings. EDComedy run the comedy upstairs at The Hob.) That's another big name for our local venue. Bill Bailey and Omid Djalili have kept the locals laughing in the past I understand.

But for tonight, david.lathwell, I hope that you will be able to enjoy all the St George's Day delights in London's Glittering Forest Hill.

Can anyone explain what Billy Bragg is on about?

Can anyone explain what Baggy Dave is on about?

He's just looking for another girl.