>I have a feeling that here in Warwickshire in the centre of England if >I was to fly the Union Jack (none of this Union Flag Politicaly >Correct nonsence) from the halyard on my radio mast, I could look >forward to a snotty letter from the local council telling me to take it >down.
I was going to comment on the use of "Union Flag", thinking Laurie must be too much of a landlubber to know that the Union Jack is only flown at the bow of a warship of the British Royal Navy... but I went off and found some extra stuff. And changed some wetware memory settings. Enjoy (?), Jake. =========================== The Union Flag was originally a royal flag. When the present design was made official in 1801, it was ordered to be flown on all the King's forts and castles, but not elsewhere. As an emblem of 'Her Majesty's Service', the Union Flag is the flag of the Army, which unlike the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force, does not have its own ensign. The Union Flag as the King's/Queen's Colour was therefore carried into battle, along with their own Regimental Colours, by a number of Army regiments (artillery did not need them, as their rallying point was the right-hand gun; rifle regiments do not carry colours as their original role was as scouts, which required stealth and concealment). Orientating the Union Jack correctly requires consideration of the red saltire on white, the emblem of the Fitzgerald family used as the flag's symbol for Ireland since the 1801 Act of Union. The independence in 1921 of the southern part of Ireland as the Irish Free State did not result in any change to the Union Flag. The Welsh dragon does not appear on the Union Flag. This is because when the first Union Flag was created in 1606, the Principality of Wales by that time was already united with England and was no longer a separate principality. "It is often stated that the Union Flag should only be described as the Union Jack when flown in the bows of a warship, but this is a relatively recent idea. From early in its life the Admiralty itself frequently referred to the flag as the Union Jack, whatever its use, and in 1902 an Admiralty Circular announced that Their Lordships had decided that either name could be used officially. Such use was given Parliamentary approval in 1908 when it was stated that 'the Union Jack should be regarded as the National flag'." Cdr. Bruce Nicolls, O.B.E., R.N. (Retd.) The British Royal Navy doesn't always get flag-hoisting matters correct, e.g. recently greeting a Chinese admiral with the flag of Taiwan. See: http://news6.thdo.bbc.co.uk/low/english/uk/england/newsid_1576000/1576526.stm
