Union Jack (pedants pennant)

The Union Jack is 400 years old today, but it seems that Malcolm Farrow flag historian and the president of the Flag Institute has mislead the BBC .

On the BBC web site Mr Farrow states that, the Union Jack "has been adopted as our national flag without any national authority," and on the BBC Today Program he said "No act of Parliament enshrines it as such".

Well, I have news for Mr Farrow malcolm.farrow1@ntlworld.com Article One of the UNION WITH ENGLAND ACT 1707 (still un amended) States:

That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England shall
upon the first day of May next ensuing the date hereof and
forever after be United into One Kingdom by the Name of
Great Britain And that the Ensigns Armorial of the said
United Kingdom be such as Her Majesty shall appoint and
the Crosses of St Andrew and St George be conjoined in
such manner as Her Majesty shall think fit and used in all
Flags Banners Standards and Ensigns both at Sea and Land

Update, Mr Farrow has replied to my e-mail informing me he is not a "historian", So Aunty got that wrong as well. The BBC website states "In the words of union jack historian Malcolm Farrow, "a mish-mash - but what do you expect from the British constitution?"

Indeed sir, it is a mish mash, another example of the BBC's research and accurate reporting.
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