There is a strong chance that most people reading this will not be aware of the significance of today's date, April 23. The minority, though, will know that it is St George's Day - the national day of the English.

It is a celebration which, over the years, has become so low-key that nowadays it passes virtually unnoticed. The Irish mark St Patrick's day famously. The Scots annually commemorate St Andrew and the Welsh St David. But apart from parades by Scouts and Guides, the English largely ignore poor St George.

However, there are signs that the situation could be changing. A national survey has found that 75 per cent of people want St George's Day to be made a national holiday. And that view has been backed by readers surveyed by the T&A - even though many of them did not know the date of it.

It could be that there is a genuine groundswell of opinion that the English should start to make more of their Englishness as our national identity is increasingly being swallowed up by Europe. On the other hand, the apparent enthusiasm to start to make more of St George's Day could be due to a desire to enjoy another national day off.

Whatever the reason, a Bank Holiday for St George now appears to be on the agenda for national debate, with the main argument against it likely to be that it falls in that small segment of the year which already includes days off for Easter, May Day and Spring Bank Holiday.