I like to claim Viking blood, as well as a little Jewish, but as far as I know I have no claim to Welshness, except when their team is playing Rugby. On such a day I am Welsh in spirit because they have the best national anthem.
I've never known why Flower of Scotland or The Soldier's Song are considered so moving - maybe it's something to do with drink. And as for those dirges invented for the colonies and those jaunty but interminable tunes that represent the Italians and Argentinians, what can I say, except that I believe them to be some sort of patriotic test.
Poor old England, as usual, is in two minds. Is it politically correct to use God Save the Queen for just one part of the United Kingdom? If not, then what? There'll always be an England is a bit music-hallish, Rule Britannia is British, not English, and so terribly imperialistic. As for the best potential anthem of the lot, Land of Hope and Glory, it is a martial, swaggering, triumphal tune, so at odds with our actual sporting achievement.
The Great Escape would probably not be taken seriously. So we end up with Jerusalem, an incomprehensible poem, associated with Christian Socialism and the Women's Institute.
But the Welsh have Land of My Fathers, a tune of such emotional charge and such majesty that I defy anyone, of any nationality not to be moved by it. And what's more, A Welsh crowd can actually sing it in tune, follow the tempo and reach the high notes. Just compare that with a Liverpool crowd singing You'll Never Walk Alone.
It's interesting that my three favourite national anthems all follow an odd pattern, not the standard 4-line structure plus chorus or bridge. La Marsellaise, The Star-spangled Banner and Land of My Fathers all sound as if they are made up as they go along.
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