So here it is: another opportunity for red-blooded English people, and a handful of tabloids, to complain that St George’s Day isn’t a national holiday. That said, they might have a point a mere 600+ years ago, it was a holiday on par with Christmas in the UK. Known to have defeated a dragon which almost certainly didn’t exist, St George was most famously killed for refusing to recant his Christian faith, effectively opening the door to sainthood. In England, the occasion is still quite the lacklustre affair indeed, St Patrick’s Day probably gets more people in the pubs.

But for those looking to *really* celebrate St George, he isn’t just the preserve of England; he’s particularly popular in Portugal, Spain, Bulgaria and even Russia, for all manner of reasons and they all host events in his honour. In Georgia, the St George Cross features prominently in the country’s flag though contrary to popular belief, the nation wasn’t named after the man himself.