23rd April is Shakespeare's official birthday, and bizarrely also the date he died. Very strange. He shares his birthday with other great luminaries such as Roy Orbison, Shirley Temple, Lee Major and Michael Moore.
It's also the accepted date for the death of Saint George who met his maker in 330 AD and became England's Patron Saint. Legend has it that he was born in Coventry, but it's more probable that he was not even English at all as there is doubt as to whether he ever set foot on English soil.
There is a campaign underway to get St George's Day recognised throughout the UK as 'Our Day' with the vain hope that it may become a bank holiday. A day of fish and chips and shepherds pie and other comfort food (no chicken tikka!) washed down with real ale, anyone?
Other kingdoms and countries that have St. George as a patron saint include Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia in Spain, Portugal, Georgia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Macedonia, and the cities of Moscow in Russia, Genova in Italy, Ljubljana in Slovenia, Beirut in Lebanon. And he is also the patron saint of the Scouting movement who organise St. George's Day parades every year on the nearest Sunday to the 23rd April.
Oh, and St George is supposed to have slayed a dragon, hence this collection of images.
Previous Urban Sightseeing posts: #1 Gasometers; #2 Fashion; #3 Cinemas; #4 Chemists; #5 Pawnbrokers; #6 Foreign travel. You can see more of Jane's London photo collections, covering everything from boot scrapers to weather vanes, over at Janeslondon and Jane's Flickrstream.
