Should the flag of Great Britain be called the Union Jack or the Union Flag

A. Both are correct. Originally it was called the Union Flag or the Great Union, but most of us today know it as the Union Jack.

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Q. Why is it so complicated Why don't we have a simple tricolour like everyone else

A. The Union Jack is made up of the flags of three of the four countries of the Union, and is thus comprised of the crosses of St George of England (a red cross on a white background), St Andrew of Scotland (a diagonal white cross on a blue background) and St Patrick of Ireland (a diagonal red cross on a white background). Wales is not represented on the flag.

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The earliest form of the flag appeared in 1606 and was used during the reigns of James I and Charles I. It featured the cross of St George superimposed on the cross of St Andrew with blue background. Because in heraldry a red on blue is not considered permissible, the red cross had to be bordered with white, its own correct field. During the Commonwealth period of 1649-60 Oliver Cromwell added an Irish harp at the centre, but the flag reverted to its original form on the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660.

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When, on the 1 January 1801, the legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland came into being, the cross of St Patrick was added. To combine the three without any of them losing their individual identities, the designers made the background white broader on one side of the Irish red than on the other, hence its slightly off-centre appearance.

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Q. Why 'Jack'

A. A jack is a flag smaller than the ensign displayed on British ships, and it came to refer to the Union Flag which appears in the corner of the various British ensigns: Red (the Merchant Navy), White (the Royal Navy) and Blue (government departments and formerly the Naval Reserve).

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Q. What other flags have the Union Jack as part of the design

A. Formerly all British colonial flags included the Union Jack as part of the design. Some Commonwealth nations - such as the national flag of Australia as well as the Australian state flags and the flags of Fiji, New Zealand, Tuvalu and three Canadian provincial flags - still retain it. Curiously it also features on the flag of the US state of Hawaii.

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Q. What about the Basque flag

A. The Basque nationalist flag, known as the ikurri�a, was first run up the mast in Bilbao on 14 July 1894. Resembling the Union Jack in its design, it consists of a green diagonal cross (like Scotland, that of St Andrew) and a white cross superimposed on a red background.

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By Simon Smith