April 9, 2002

King Arthur?
Razors

It's drifting from the point of the debate a bit, but I'm not sure the legend of King Arthur can be called 'inherently English'. The legends of Arthur and the Round Table were (apparently) based either on a Romano-British chieftain who defended the West Country against German invaders, or on a British general called Riothamus who invaded Gaul on behalf of the Romans (and got his butt kicked). Or possibly both. And half the legends surrounding King Arthur are mixed in with Welsh mythology as far as I know, so while it's certainly British I don't think it really applies specifically to England as a country. Pedantic little point, but there it is.

Robin Hood, on the other hand - that could be a different story...