I just saw this asked as the £2000 question on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"

Not only did the couple in the hot seat not know, but they asked the audience and got a near 50:50 split!!

WTF?

Is it just a badly worded question or do 50% of folk in the UK seriously not know what their own fricking flag looks like?

I neither know nor care to be fair

It may not be their flag, and dont forget, unlike the Americans, we dont have flags in all our offices, public buildings, hanging from windows etc.

But some people are stupid, your right. Ive seen some of those episodes where they dont get the first £100 question.

is it on a boat?

Anyway, the answer is surely "white"

It is the sort of question that could be construed as being trick and confuses people I would suggest.

i'd say that it's not that clear cut.

Is it the blue from the st andrews cross – st georges and st patricks red parts are cleary on top of the blue. but so is some white from the st georges cross, the horizontal/ vertical white. so it could be argued the blue is on this white.

rubbish question.

i think blue though.

Maybe it is just the wording then.

If I take out the word "field" (which is actually the correct term) then does it make it more obvious?

"What colour is the background of the Union Jack?"

And yeah, it's blue.

I suppose I'm just harking back to the initial designs when they were coming up with the finished version, which were mainly based on the St George's cross with white as the background colour.

I thought that the Union flag's background was white, but I'm usually sitting on it, so it's kind of hard to tell. 😀

BTW, can you still get those old Planet X Uranus saddles? I think they are the comfiest saddles I've ever tried.

B. 8)

It should be azure blue. That saltire shown above is far too dark

So if the hive mind of STW can't agree on an answer, what hope for a bunch of people in a quiz show audience?

There is no background colour as it's a umber of flags on top of each other.
Therefore whichever flag is laid down first is the background colour 😈

Got to agree – trickily worded, blue or white could be considered to be correct.

But to go to heraldry, the st georges cross is defined as a red cross on a white ground, saltire a white diagonal cross on a blue ground – so the ground will be blue

Surely the whole point of the flag is that it shows the English St George's Cross ruling over the Scottish Saltire (which actually contributes the most), while Ireland, with the St Patrick's Cross, is basically just an afterthought and Wales is entirely absent.

😉

yeah and the white cross of the glorious flag of Kernow is there too….

But to go to heraldry, the st georges cross is defined as a red cross on a white ground, saltire a white diagonal cross on a blue ground – so the ground will be blue

If you go to heraldry then the blazon is Azure, the Crosses Saltire of St Andrew and St Patrick, quarterly per saltire, counterchanged Argent and Gules, the latter fimbriated of the second, surmounted by the Cross of St George of the third, fimbriated as the saltire.

Which makes it all quite clear 🙂

It's blue – they are probably going for the white isn't a colour its a tone nonsense.

Azure, the Crosses Saltire of St. Andrew and St. Patrick, quarterly per saltire, counterchanged Argent and Gules, the latter fimbriated of the second, surmounted by the Cross of St. George of the third, fimbriated as the saltire.

is the heraldic description, or 'blazon'.

So blue it is.

Wales was regarded as part of England at the time!

and Wales is entirely absent.

Thank f*ck for that!

they are probably going for the white isn't a colour its a tone nonsense.

Is it a tone? Surely tone is when grey is added to a colour? A tint is when white is added and shade is when black is added.

If being pedantic, white is a complete absence of colour because it has reflected back all the light so there is no colour left to see??????

Hi all

That was me!

I accidentally stumbled across this thread whilst trying to see if that episode or clip was on youtube.

I'm surprised it's still being shown on tv. My Dad and I appeared on WWTBAM 7 years ago. I did feel quite stupid having to use all 3 lifelines on that one question, but as the discussion here shows, it's not as clear cut as you think it is. And in my defence, I thought it was blue (which was the right answer). It was my Dad, and subsequently the audience who made me doubt my answers.

Anyway, interesting thread, and an interesting forum. 🙂

GrahamS – Member
Surely the whole point of the flag is that it shows the English St George's Cross ruling over the Scottish Saltire (which actually contributes the most), while Ireland, with the St Patrick's Cross, is basically just an afterthought and Wales is entirely absent.

Actually I thought it was a Scottish king who took over the English throne rather than the other way round, so shouldn't it be a Scottish Saltire ruling over the English St George's Cross 🙂

epicyclo – Membe

Actually I thought it was a Scottish king who took over the English throne rather than the other way round, so shouldn't it be a Scottish Saltire ruling over the English St George's Cross

Shoosh – you'll give the game away.

Would say Blue
To be honest im not a Royalist so dont care

Chels – Member
I thought it was blue (which was the right answer). It was my Dad, and subsequently the audience who made me doubt my answers.

Course it was! That's your story and you're sticking with it 😉

Absolutely Retro! 😀

What are youse English gonnae do when, in a few years, us savages want our blue bits back? Will it be like the Stone of Destiny malarkey? 🙂

You can buy them back with the money we lent you when you sent yourself bankrupt shipping combs to South America if you like… 😛

Loads of us have already moved in kipper, we're undermining your "taking it back" from within 😉

Coffeeking, thats fine. I think you'll find youself in agreement after the full assimilation process has taken place! 🙂

I forgot to add earlier. The correct answer WAS blue. We got it right eventually.

Thanks for posting Chels.

I remain slightly dumbstruck that so many folk didn't know this, but judging by the answers here I guess maybe it's not quite as obvious as it seems.

🙄