Number 10 to fly the flag today - St George's Day

Gordon Brown will mark St George's Day tomorrow by flying the flag of St George over Downing Street.

It will be the first time in recent years that the flag has been raised at Number 10 to mark the annual occasion.

Downing Street has two flagpoles, and the red-and-white banner will fly alongside the union flag.

Other UK government buildings in England that have two flagpoles will also be encouraged to fly the St George's flag. Where just one flagpole is available, the union flag – which takes precedence over national flags – should be flown.

Brown will also fly the Scottish saltire on St Andrew's Day and the Welsh dragon on St David's Day. Northern Ireland does not have an official national flag to fly on St Patrick's Day.

The move follows a review of flag-flying practices ordered by Brown when he became prime minister.

Downing Street said that, in accordance with protocol, the union flag would fly on the "superior" pole, deemed to be the one closest to Buckingham Palace.

Brown's spokesman said: "The prime minister's view is that of course we should celebrate our Britishness, but celebrating our Britishness does not mean we cannot also celebrate our Englishness, Scottishness, Welshness or Northern Irishness."

The last time Downing Street raised the flag of St George was during the 2006 football World Cup.

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St George's Day - April 23rd

The results of an English Heritage survey found that almost half the respondents believed St George was one of the mythical knights of King Arthur’s Round Table. In fact, he was a Roman army officer – which fewer than 20% of people knew! To follow are few other facts that maybe you didn’t know about St George!
.Although he’s the patron saint of England, St. George was actually born in Israel and probably never visited here.
.St George is also the patron saint on Canada, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, .Montenegro, Serbia and Catalonia as well as many charities and cities including Moscow.
.St. George was a worthy solider in the Roman army and earned himself a position of nobility.
.St. George was born in 270 AD, that’s over 1700 years ago. He died aged just 33.
.St George was given his sainthood because he refused to carry out the persecution of the Christians which was demanded of him by his leader in the Roman army, and was then tortured and killed himself.
.St George’s Day is celebrated in England on the 23rd April. This is said to be the date he died (or the date of his martyrdom).
.The banner of St George is a white flag with a red cross, and is used as the Flag of England. This call was used to encourage bravery before soldiers went into battle.
.Shakespeare was born and died on April 23rd, St George's Day.