Trafalgar Day

[CoVianna]

I know it is unlikely to be known on the other side of the pond but October 21st is Trafalgar Day and the unofficial toast (very non-PC!) is "Death to the French!".

[Tim Gardner]

Agreed, npc,
but appropriate

[Jon898]

As someone born exactly 150 years after the battle, I couldn't agree more!

The Trafalgar Night toast in the Navy is "The Immortal Memory of Lord Nelson and those who fell with him"...rather more pc since the French are our allies (for now).  There were rumours in the 90's that the government was thinking of replacing the May Day bank holiday with Trafalgar Day, but it came to nothing.

On a lighter note, when I was touring the Victory in Portsmouth as a teenager with my sister and her (then) husband, the CPO showing the group around paused at a spot on the quarterdeck and pointed at a raised wooden block with a polished brass plaque marking it. Reverently, he told the group that it was at this spot on October 21st 1805 that Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson fell.  An awed silence settled, to be broken by my brother-in-law saying "not bl**dy surprising with that thing sticking up from the deck!"

Jon