Open Letter to Lewis Hamilton

Not long enough - the tune or the verses?

Many will have perhaps heard that after his F1 Victory in Germany, Lewis Hamilton said he wanted the UK's National Anthem to last longer so he could savour his Victory for longer. In comparison, timewise, with Brazil's anthem ... well there is no comparison!

Lewis went so far as to suggest a new composition altogether and the Master of the Queen's Musick, a lapsed Republican, pronounced it a durge, but fell short of volunteering to create anew.

And then Commentators [as we do here] fell to commentating, with some well enough informed to know the Anthem's origins!

It's an Anthem Born of Fear of the Highland Charge

As Scots know only too well, the Anthem was written and adopted post haste in October 1745. It was first sung, and encored, by the cast at Drury Lane Theatre in London.

After the 9 minute rout of Cope's army and consequent Victory for the Highlanders led by Prince Charles Edward at Prestonpans on September 21st, panic set in for the Hanoverians. By the time the Prince reached Derby in early December they were packing up in London ready to flee back to Hanover. This a King who's usurping father would not have been allowed into the country today under the Immigrant Language Rules but managed to slip past the vigilant Border Agency in 1714.

So the UK Anthem does not honour the nation we belong to as others do. On the contrary it expresses the panic striken fears of the Usurper and his supporters. It calls on us all to rally to them not to the ideals of the nation. They wish to be Victorious, spared from the attentions of Rebellious Scots; and even from Papists who come into scaremongering focus despite the Prince's robust Declaration of Religious Freedom at Holyrood.

So, Lewis, Good Idea perhaps, but not for the reason you came up with!

The National Anthem needs a good script editor! In places it's not at all PC. Phrases to look at will include:

.... send her victorious ... in verse 1 presumably today means Afghanistan and Libya? Or is it just over the Scots?

.....confound their politics, frustrate their knavish tricks ... in v.2 could readily relate to LibDems, Labour and Conservatives.

.....may he defend our laws ... in v.3 presumably includes those emanating from European Courts?

.....may [Marshal Wade] sedition hush, and like a torrent rush, rebellious Scots to crush ... in v.4 will surely mean the SNP's plans and maybe their actions

.....from France .. from foreign slavery, priests and their knavery, and Popish Reverie, God Save Us All ... in v.5, well now that might include a troublesome priest at Canterbury and Brussels' eurocrats ...

PS Didn't Gordon Brown as Prime Minister set up an Enquiry into the phrases used? He, personally, must have objected to being crushed, accused by the Murdoch press of sedition or dubbed a knave by them!