Eric James writes from Canada (?):

>From time to time we hear suggestions that the monarchy in Great Britain
>should be done away with.  I won't comment for or against such a notion,
>but I do wonder what the country would do for a national anthem should the
>Queen step down.  I should think "Rule Britannia" would be out but perhaps
>the Parry/Blake "Jerusalem" or better yet, "Land of hope and glory".  These
>seem obvious candidates to me but I wonder if there is anything else out
>there that would be better.

Why not just keep the same tune which has been around a long time.
Remember it was parodised by Weber in one of his operas.

Elgar detested the jingoism attached to "Land of hope and glory".  In fact,
I don't think he was to happy about the words either.  I hate it here in
the UK whenever they try to portray some sort of nationalism they always
dig out Elgar.  That's not what the man was about nor what he wanted.

Jerusalem is a neat hymn, but Britain is not a very Christian country and
has sizeable populations following other religions so that's out.  The same
argument could go for the hymn in The Planets "I vow to leave my country"
but that tune seems more appropriate.

"Come ye sons of art" by Purcell would possibly be a candidate.

Or we could follow the Germans and nick something from a foreign national
"The Master" of course.  After all, an image of Haydn appears on the Albert
Memorial outside the Albert Hall.  How about the adagio from the "Oxford"
symphony less the reggae section in the middle.

Bob Draper
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