Indeed, Andrew, there was some Welsh blood in Cromwell (or, as my English relatives would say, “a touch of the tar brush”), and some French, too. We republicans (small “r”) forgive him that, though.

He remains a bit of a polarizer, to be sure. You won’t find too many Catholic Irishmen named “Oliver.” On the other hand, he was a great philosemite: I believe Sigmund Freud named his own son “Oliver” on just that account.