5 things you may not know about the British flag
1. There is some debate about whether the British flag should be called the Union Jack or the Union Flag. The BBC prefers “Jack”, the Guardian prefers “flag” and the Royal Navy says “Jack” when the flag is flying at sea and “flag” before and after. We think all this probably means that both terms are OK.
2. It’s a mashup of three other flags: the St Andrew’s Cross (of Scotland), the St George’s Cross (of England), and the St Patrick’s Cross (of Ireland)*. Strangely, Wales is not represented in the Union Jack, but it does have its own (very exciting) flag, the Red Dragon.**
3. The Union Jack features in the corners of many other flags, mostly due to Britain’s old habit of rampaging round the world and forcing them to do that. One bizarre exception is the flag of Hawaii, which features the Union Jack in its top left corner despite never having been invaded by Britain; according to Wikipedia, a king of Hawaii once saw the flag on a British ship and copied it as a symbol of regal authority. But we think he probably just thought it looked really cool and groovy.
4. Unusually for a flag, the Union Jack is very dramatic and goodlooking (the United States flag also rates highly for style and pizzazz, but most flags are really quite dull), which may be why it is such a fashion accessory these days. As well as Vivienne Westwood’s famous adaptations for the Sex Pistols and The Rug Company, you can find Union Jacks all over many British products and various jeans, jackets, bags etc. We even found it on a ladies’ wallet in Target the other day. Something about the combo of three crosses meeting in the middle reminds us of breaking glass or an explosion or something else violent and related to the country’s history and ongoing identity crisis. Or maybe it’s just pretty. Either way, we love it.
5. The British flag is celebrated in Geri “Ginger Spice” Halliwell’s famous “dress” of 1997, which was actually just a t-shirt worn with a pair of black underpants, but in those days nearly all t-shirts were extremely truncated, revealing the entire navel, hence the widespread misunderstanding.
* because Northern Ireland is still part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
** The Red Dragon may be the oldest national flag still in use- it is so old, nobody knows for sure exactly why it is the flag of Wales.
I think the British flag suffers the same fate as the American flag, what with people using it to express a political point. The difference is (maybe) that most Americans grow up saying the pledge every day. I’m not sure if this happens in the UK. I know that the BNP is a thing in Britain and that there are some people who use the British flag for racist purposes.
I guess I don’t have a point. I’m random.