A stones throw from Ilfracombe’s harbour nestles the George & Dragon. Dating from 1360, it is all wooden beams and blackened fireplaces. There are tales here of smuggling and ghosts, of mysterious letters carved into the wood – a place of myth and legend – fittingly named. A special place to me and I’m sure to many others beside.
The poet U. A. Fanthorpe takes the legend of George and the Dragon and fashions from it a satirical poem as astute as it is funny. In ‘Not My Best Side’ she is referencing a painting – Paolo Uccello, St. George and the Dragon, in the National Gallery in London:
Over three stanzas she takes on the voices of the three characters in turn – the dragon, the girl and the knight. What are they really thinking?…
