h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Devonian,

I suggest that you contact the BBC yourself.

The best contact is (I think)

[email protected]

or you could try

[email protected]

Cheers

A couple of bits of information...

The Devon Rugby Union has received their Devon flag - and intend to fly it at this weekend's game against Middlesex. I think this is away from home, so anyone based in London and wanting to spend a pleasant afternoon (?) cheering on the team..... If you do, take your camera!

Whilst we have been progressing the flag design and vote, I always wondered what emblem Devonians used in the past. previous searches had turned up nothing, but I decided to try another approach.

I found out the following from Exeter Local Studies Library

"In the book The Western Rebellion of 1549 by Frances Rose-Troup 1913 it states : A banner was devised by pinning a painting of the Trinity to a towel fastened to a pole, but later a more suitable banner was made of linen painted with a plough, a chalice and host, the Five Wound of Christ, and a horn : the plough to encourage husbandmen ; the chalice in memory of the church jewels they were to lose ; the Five Wounds as they were fighting in Christ's cause ; and a horn for Horncastle. (it does not say this was an emblem used by Devon, but just the common people).

Banners appeared to be either personal or the Five Wounds e.g. .. two banners having pre-eminence - one St. Cuthbert's the other the Five Wounds of Christ."

For your information a St Cuthbert's cross flag is now used in Nortumbria and the Scottish lowlands - I do not know if it is the same Cuthbert.

I don't believe that an overtly religious symbol is appropriate for Devon today (the Western Rebellion was caused by the proposal to legislate that church services be in english - which the Devonians and Cornish strongly objected to). St Cuthbert's cross is more interesting but is already 'spoken for' by another area.

However, I thought you might find it to be of interest...

Hi everyone

been away for a couple of weeks but back on the case this week hopefully, Had no reply about selling bumper stickers, but will call round again soon and try to talk to actual people in charge of buying goods to sell in petrol stations instead of machines and secretaries.

Keep up the good work everyone,Is there anyone else we could donate flags to, so it will be flown throughout Devon? I am willing to contribute.

London Devonish.

For those interested Devon is through to the quarter finals of the Rugby Union County Championship after thrashing Middlesex 21-17 away from home. (Middlesex were seeded at #7 and Devon at #9 so it is a good win)

I understand that the Devon Flag was to fly at this match - an auspicious start!

The next match is away against Gloucestershire next Saturday.

I have received some more quotes for car stickers from a local firm.

The '2 colour' prices below are for the sticker with the word DEVON in black on a white background.

The other quotes are for DEVON in blue on a grey background. The 3 colour line will be relevant if they can get the right grey tone by using black dots on a white background, and the 4 colour line is relvant if they have to use a grey tone.

_________________________________Quantity
_______________________250__________500___________1000

2 colour_______________£170________£237___________£325
3 colour_______________£220________£303___________£416
4 colour_______________£271________£380___________£526

There may be some scope for bringing down prices a little on these figures.

I don't know how London Devonish is going with his quotes but this may be a relevant yardstick.

Cheers

Guess what I saw in the WMN last week while I was at home? There was a Boat competition in the Scilly Isles and one of the many flags fluttering in the wind was our Devon flag! (it was alongside the St Piran one) Nice to see it!

Devon has arrived on the scene at last. I wonder what the Cornish thought about seeing a Devon Flag flying beside their St. Piran Flag.

Plymouth Exile

Davyth, good news.

You don't have a copy of that picture do you?

I was thinking that if you scan it and send it to us (if that is legal...)

As to what the Cornish might think, I doubt I will lose much sleep over that.

No I don't I'm afraid. It was Saturday's WMN though if that helps. I was going to keep it but it just completely went out of my head until I was back in Ireland.

If you haven't already noticed.....

BBC Devon is featuring the Devon Flag on its home web page (www.bbc.co.uk/devon) and on the 'Sense of Place' main index.

Great publicity - and good work BBC Devon.

I have now sent the media release out to the newspapers etc.. so we will see if anyone else gives the issue some coverage.

Things seem to be moving quickly, as I have had a telephone interview by a reporter from an Exeter newspaper. He was keen to know as much as he could about the flag. He said that he would be E-Mailing Ryan (Devonian). Looks like a good start.

Plymouth Exile

He emailed this afternoon and ive written loads of stuff about how we came to our conclusions and that so we'll see if he puts it in. I wonder if theres anyway i can get a copy of it up here in aberdeen.
Thats really cool that the flag was flown on a ship, i bet the cornish love the idea of a devon flag eh, id love to hear what the mebyon kernowek make of it. I expect they'd say we have no right to have our own flag in devon, despite the fact that ours is very nearly official.
speaking of official has anyone heard anymore from the council regarding registering the flag?

Might it be worth contacting the Lord Lieutenant's office?

To add to the story, I have just participated in a phone interview with Radio Devon.

They hope to put this to air tomorrow (Saturday) morning at sometime between 7.30 am and 9am [no guarantees, but it almost certainly will go out 'sometime'].

They didn't speak to me for long, so I am sure my interview was not the 'centre piece', and perhaps I won't be there at all. Not that I care as all I want is that a good story goes to air.

As my radio is unlikely to pick up the tranmission (my batteries are running a bit low) if any of you in Devon happen to catch it please let us know how it goes.

Can you not listen to the radio over the net?
I think they're phoning me around 5 today, bit nervous actually.
its all good though eh.

The story has now made it to the England pages of BBC online!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/default.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/3012285.stm
I wonder how many flags have been ordered so far?

Davyth

Devonian,

I suspect (and hope) that BBC Devon may have a link to the broadcast on their website (perhaps under news) so you can listen to it later.

Don't worry about the interview - they will no doubt edit out any semblance of sense or intelligence. Actually (having been through a few of these), just relax and take a few seconds before you respond to any questions.

It may seem like an age to you at the time, but it will allow yourself to consider your response (and get rid of the umm, errs) and will appear as a natural pause over the airwaves. Even if you go over the 'few seconds', they can always edit the 'gap' out later.

And at the end of the day, whenever I have done this I have always noticed the 'umms' and 'errs' in the broadcast,... but no-one else did.

Go for it

Thanks for the links Davyth!

Hi All

It's great to see the momentum has really picked up. One of the Radio Devon journalists took the flag onto the streets of Plymouth to guage reaction. I'll try and get hold of the finished report and put it on the web for all to hear. That will probably not be until Monday though.

I take it everyone knows that we'll also be flying it on our stand at the Devon County Show next week.

Keep up the good work

JG

Concerning the car bumper stickers, my inclination would be to go with the blue DEVON on a grey background. The cost difference per sticker would only be a few pence, so why accept something that doesn't look as good. After all, second best isn't good enough for Devon.

Has London Devonish managed to come up with any prices yet?

Plymouth Exile

Hi everyone,

I've just been reading about your fascinating campaign for a Devonian flag. It's great to hear that you've been successful - well done! I've posted a story about the flag here: F94020?thread=275636 - to let other people know of your achievement and to promote your story! Please post in that conversation if there are any mistakes in the story...

Congratulations,
Frankie
(Part Cornish but still proud of your success!)