MADAM,
A postscript to the Great England or Wales Debate:
One Saturday morning in 1937 my father and I - then a child of 12 - were in Agincourt Square. The Mayor, the late Howard Bowen, in full civic finery was standing before the Shire Hall bedecked with flags for the coronation of George VIth. There were all the flags of the United Kingdom and many of our far-flung Imperial possessions with one notable exception.
My father suggested to me that I should ask the Mayor why the Red Dragon was not among the emblems fluttering so proudly at the centre of our town. I did so with some trepidation. Howard Bowen smiled benevolently - he was a very courteous man - "We are not in Wales here, my boy!"
I duly reported this response to my father who said "Go and ask him if he thinks we are in South Africa". Sadly the intensity of my patriotic feelings was not matched by my courage so I never did get his reaction to that question.
Dr Alun H Jones
Dixton Road,
Monmouth