The Dragon Slaying Saint And A Cornish Pilot Gig Club

In an e-mail Tim Koch asks if I am related to Saint Göran. Good question! There is a famous wooden sculpture of St. Göran killing the dragon in Storkyrkan (The Great Church) in Stockholm. Of course, Göran is the Swedish for George; St George and the Dragon would be the English legend, I guess. Now, Tim is not asking me this because he suddenly became religious (he might be, but that is beside the point), no, instead he is interested in the 'rowing link' between me and the Cornish Pilot Gig Club called St. Goran Rowing Club. There is none, I'm afraid, but I would be very honoured if there was one!

Tim sends this very nice video of the club training (see below) and he writes:

"It is, I think, taken from one of the BBC's 'Coast' programmes. This is now in its fifth series and will appeal to anyone interested in boats and things maritime. It's premise is that, in Britain, you are never more than 72 miles form the sea. It is an example of the BBC at its intelligent best. DVDs are available from the BBC online shop

Back to St. Göran and me - nope, there is no connection between the good saint and me, although, there is actually a sword in the Buckhorn Family Coat of Arms.