POOR St George. He may be the patron saint of England but he remains quietly in the nation’s sub-conscious. 

Very English behaviour, except that George was not English, or even British, which is why so many countries claim him as their own. 

Ukraine, for instance, and as the Orthodox calendar differs from ours, 23 April – his day in England – is 6 May in Ukraine: Coronation Day in the UK this year. I like that. 

George was probably born in Cappadocia, which is now in Turkey, but he is not the patron saint of Turkey. They have Saint John.

I was brought up on that ultra-patriotic and exciting book for children, Where the Rainbow Ends, which is about the journey of four children, along with a pet lion cub, who go in search of their parents. Facing various dangers on the way, they are guarded and helped by the noble hero Saint George. 

It was originally written as a children’s play for Christmas 1911. If you think there are any connections to Over the Rainbow, you are wrong. 

L Frank Baum’s story, of which I also had a copy, was published in 1900 but under the title of The Wizard of Oz, with no mention of going over the rainbow.  Coincidentally, Baum’s book also became a play, which made its debut in 1902.

Where the Rainbow Ends had quite a cast, with names remembered even today – by some of us! The children in the cast included a 12-year-old Noel Coward, as well as Hermione Gingold. 

Other future stars who performed included Gertrude Lawrence, Nora Swinburne and Jack Hawkins. The play was originally produced by Charles Hawtrey, with the children acquired, and managed, by Italia Conti who, in later years, produced the show.

This year it may be harder to avoid our patron saint. Other saints of these islands, David, Patrick and Andrew, all get mentioned in the media, with people wearing their emblems.

April is a bit early for the rose, except for some climbers, and isn’t patriotism a bit old fashioned these days? No!

This 23 April, however, the entire country will have its mobile phones emitting banshee shrieks at 3pm. Not for St George, but practising in case of national emergency.

But surely we have our saint in shining armour to deal with such eventualities?