HAPPY 8th MARCH

[Bob]

So what did the English ever do to the Welsh, other than generally trying to conquer them (not to mention everyone else), and add some esthetic stony ruins to the already rocky terrain?
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Since I am both fussy and a Welsh imperialist, I, er, mean, Welsh nationalist

1) Tried to conquer, failed, 'annexed' in the end (read conquered). Note that most of the later victories against France were thanks to the Welsh archers.

2) They built castles, not ruins. The Welsh turned them into ruins ;-) before the English finished them. So the English restarted construction and built a bigger and better castle at vast expense. The Welsh left it alone and sat down & smirked in the hills.

Castles like this one:



3) They also imposed the Welsh knot on us.
Remember what kept the Scottish clans spirit alive, their clan traditions like their tartan. The English bannd tartan.
Do you know what kept the Welsh together? the Welsh language. The English banned the Welsh language. To do this they went to the heart of the problem, kids. They banned the speaking of Welsh in schools. If you were caught speaking Welsh you got the cane and the 'Welsh Knot' (a lump of wood) around your neck. The next person to speak Welsh got the cane and the knot transferred to them. At the end of the day whoever had the knot got a good old fashioned thrashing. (There are variations with the caning only at the end of the day, presumably it varied with the school.)

Oh, and they beat us a rugby occasionally, which got us hopping mad and (nicking huge amounts from Max Boyce) we went over to Twickenham and flattened them:

Wales defeated england
In a fast and open game
We sung Cwm Rhondda and Delilah
Damn, they sounded both the same
And we sympathise with an englishman
Who's team was doomed to fail
So we gave him that old bottle
That once held bitter ale

And we were singing
Hymns and arias
Land of my fathers
A hyd yr nos (odds are I spelt that line wrong)

(ok, I lifed that entirely from Max boyce, 1 verse & the corus of Hymns and arias)

Ok, I should go to bed now. Remember, if you ever want a negative attitude towards the Enlgish, I'm your man! :P

-Bob