Celebrations in the UK yesterday to mark the two hundredth anniversary of the victory of the Norfolk hero over Boney the EU pioneer.

I’m glad to be able to report that the occasion was not neglected yesterday in NYC, where there was a lunch in a French restaurant (naturally) attended by about seventy members of the British financial community. The ensign flew, admirals hats were worn, plenty, plenty, was drunk, Beef Wellington was eaten (well, of course), anthems (including Jerusalem, our real national song, and sporting attempts at the French, Spanish and American anthems) were sung, postcards of the divine Emma and the great Horatio decked the tables, a visitor from the Royal Navy made a fine speech, and the small (and intrepid) French delegation was kindly treated. The event was a lot of fun, patriotic, proud of British history, deeply nostalgic and punctuated by the self-mockery and sense of the ridiculous that made it a very English occasion.

I hope Nelson would have approved.

UPDATE

Tim Worstall has an excellent round-up of the Blogosphere’s Trafalgar commemorations. Don’t miss Laban Tall on the state of the statuary in Trafalgar Square or Silent Running’s opening summary of the events of October 21, 1805.