Saint George
The Ancients
History Hit
4.7 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 24 April 2022
⏱️ 74 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The 23rd of April marks Saint George's Day - but who are we actually celebrating? Is there any truth behind the myth of the man who slew the dragon and rescued the princess - and where does the Patron Saint of England actually come from? Spoiler alert - it's not where you think.
In this episode Tristan travelled to the Lancashire Archives to talk to Dr Sam Riches, from Lancaster University, about all things Saint George. Religious origins, centuries old cults, and farm animals going on a day out to the local church - there's more to Saint George than the well known myth.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's the entrance on History Hit. |
| 0:12.7 | I'm Tristan Hughes your host and in today's podcast, well yesterday, Saturday the 23rd |
| 0:17.9 | of April, it was St. George's day in England but who was St. George? |
| 0:22.7 | Well this is a huge topic and I went up, especially last week to interview a leading expert |
| 0:30.2 | on the life and legacy, particularly the legacy of St. George, this international |
| 0:34.1 | saint up in Preston. She is Dr Sam Riches from Lancaster University. She is absolutely |
| 0:42.6 | wonderful. It was great to meet in person to do this interview in person and it's absolutely |
| 0:47.8 | riveting. I can guarantee you're going to absolutely love this one because it's such |
| 0:51.4 | an amazing topic to see how St. George is viewed across the world as mentioned he's |
| 0:56.8 | an international saint. We might think of him with the dragon, with saving the princess |
| 1:01.2 | in England today but elsewhere he's primarily associated with other things such as farming, |
| 1:06.9 | such as healing, such as water. You see St. George in places such as Ethiopia, in Lebanon, |
| 1:12.6 | in Georgia, in Malta, there's even a festival in Belgium. You're going to be learning all |
| 1:17.6 | about this in today's podcast episode with Sam. So without further ado to explain all |
| 1:23.6 | about the legacy of St. George and why he is actually such an amazing force for positivity, |
| 1:31.3 | for inclusivity, for integrity in this modern world to explain all his sound. |
| 1:39.7 | Sam, thank you so much for taking the time to come on the podcast today. Absolutely delighted |
| 1:46.8 | to be here. Thanks, Tristan. I mean, and we're doing it in person which is even better |
| 1:50.5 | up at Preston at the archives and to talk about St. George because Sam, St. George, |
| 1:56.1 | one of the world's most recognised saint shall we say but also perhaps one of the most |
| 2:00.2 | times misunderstood and misappropriated too. I certainly agree with you in the first |
| 2:05.8 | part there. He is a universal saint. However, I think that as English people we perhaps |
... |
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