LLOYD George knew my father, ran that old popular refrain in those innocent days when Britain was fortunate enough to have leaders who were actually respected by the population at large.

And, I daresay, there was the folksy equivalent back in Nelson's time. Indeed, there were numerous ballads about the legendary admiral, especially in the wake of his demise.

In those days, song was just as much a form of communication as the early newspapers. So, this being the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, it is perhaps worth recalling that the great sea hero visited Worcester a few years before his death in October, 1805.

Our sister paper Berrow's Worcester Journal reported on the great man's visit. Over the years, there has been much argument about the matter, but I will always remain convinced that Copenhagen Street was named after Nelson's victory over the Danish navy.

This ancient Worcester road had previously been Cucken Street, the word taken from "cuckold". Many an adulteress passed through this ancient thoroughfare to keep her appointment with the ducking stool at the bottom of the hill on the banks of the Severn.

Here's another thing. It is easy to forget in this study-everything-learn-little age that British schoolboys were, until relatively recently, routinely indoctrinated with the example of men such as Nelson.

Many people would regard this as laughable nowadays, but as late as the early 1960s, grammar school boys were expected, in the words of our headmaster "to become English gentlemen".

I'll never forget that first day at Lawrence Sheriff School. With his voice booming and bouncing off the walls of the old hall, Mr Staveley talked about honour, duty, resolve... and commanded his young charges to remember the sacrifice of former pupils who had died in South Africa and two world wars.

He would point to the lists of names picked out in gold on wooden plaques, citing these long-dead schoolboys as being perfect examples of patriotism and sacrifice, young men who had given their lives for an England that had already vanished.

This sort of thing has long been mocked into extinction. In many ways, we have laughed and sneered at ourselves so much that Britain is now a country that is not so much ill at ease with itself, rather marinaded in self-loathing.

However, in this anniversary year, perhaps we should remember with reverence the man who bought - with his own life - 100 years of peace for this country. In fact, it's our duty... nothing less than what Nelson would have expected.