St George’s Day

These vibrant tulips are blooming in the right colours for St George’s Day, 23 April. The red and white of the St George’s Cross, England’s national flag, will be flying across the country today to mark the date its patron saint is said to have died in 303 CE. The history of the St George’s Cross goes way back to medieval times. Representations of St George himself bearing a red-on-white cross date to the late 1200s, when he was often depicted as a crusader knight. It is believed to have been used by English soldiers in the 1270s during the reign of Edward I, who is thought by some to be responsible for introducing it as the national emblem.
© Annie Eagle/Alamy Stock Photo