Since I decided to give my FUNNY LITTLE WARS/PORTABLE WARGAME armies proper names, I’ve had several suggestions for names that I can use.
Three such suggestions stand out; Dick Bryant’s Marshal Armand Maladroit as the ruler of Burgundy and Archduke Piccolo's Jean-Andre Vicomte d’Avidhomme and General Igor Grigorevitch Provgorat. The latter came about as a result of me mentioning that my Masonic rank in Hertfordshire is Provincial Grand Orator, which on documents is abbreviated to be ProvGOrat.
It was whilst I was thinking about the latter that I recalled that many years ago some of the alumni of St Albans School had formed a Masonic Lodge called the Old Albanians Lodge No.4999. When I discovered the existence of this Lodge, I had visions of a Lodge full of men wearing sheepskin or goatskin jerkins and bandoliers of bullets. The reality was a group of mainly old or middle-aged men wearing sheepskin aprons.
The memory of my initial idea has stayed with me, and when I began to think about possible names for small Balkan-like imagi-nations, I thought about the Old Albanians … and conflated the name of the school so that it became Stalbania (St + Albans).
All I have to do now is to find some suitable figures for my Stalbanian Army!
The city of St Albans (and therefore the name of the school) comes from the name of the first British saint, Alban.
The shield that forms the centre of the Arms of the city of St Albans.
Alban converted to Christianity after sheltering a persecuted Christian priest (who was named Amphibalus) in his house. He was impressed with the priest's piety and when the Roman authorities searched Alban's house, Alban took the priest's place. As a result, Alban was asked to renounce Christianity or suffer the punishment intended for the priest. Alban refused and was executed, thus becoming Britain's first saint.
