I know why I think the steering wheel is on the right. Whether it’s correct is another matter.

Here goes…

Our story starts a long time ago in Europe.

A very long time ago in fact. So long ago that the indigenous people of a place that would come to be known as the United States of America were quite happily sitting in the middle of their horses and would remain happy for more than another 200 years.

OK, it’s the 16th Century…around 1530…June…10th…between lunch time and afternoon tea.

Anyway, in a place that the French called, le grande breton, or the big stone, …

…you see, as the French looked out from their Northern shore they could see a rock, which they called Breton and a much bigger rock which with typical Gallic flair and imagination they simply called le grande breton.

Sometimes the simplest thing is the most elegant, don’t you agree?

Anyway, back to the point…

The people of Europe had a great time beating the daylights out of each other. They had fights and battles and wars over anything. And occasionally they would get all wound up and frustrated and decide to take it out on the people who lived on le grande breton.

Now it just happened that the two most powerful people who lived on the European mainland were The Pope who is of course Catholic and The Emporer who at this time was French, (he was nearly always French,) and he was Catholic as well.

The man in charge of a big chunk of le grande breton, which if you haven’t guessed already is Great Britain and the big chunk in the South is England, was King Henry VIII. He had written a book, Septum Sacramentorum in 1521 extolling the virtues of Catholicism and presented it to The Pope, so he was a bit of teacher‘s pet at this point.

The Pope was very happy with this book and gave Henry the title, Fidei Defensor, Defender of the faith. This would turn out to be one of life’s little ironies.

Anyway, we all know what happens next. Henry marries his dead brother’s wife, changes his mind, wants a divorce, Pope says no, Henry sulks for a bit then throws the mother and father of all tantrums and what happens next is referred to as, the split with Rome.

As I mentioned earlier there was a lot of excess testosterone around at this time and The Pope had decreed that in order to reduce road rage people would pass on the shield side, most people who carried swords and shields, carry their shield on their left arm and their sword in their right hand. The sword’s scabbard is carried on the left hip. So as you approach someone on the left you can see their sword and they would have to turn awkwardly if they were going to attack you and you would already have your shield in the way. Makes sense doesn’t it?

By the way, this is also something to do with the arrangement of bride, groom and best man at the altar for a wedding. The bride stands to the left of the man and the best man ‘stands guard’ to the grooms right so that when he puts the ring on his bride the best man watches over his back.

Anyway, Henry decided that if Rome wanted a fight he would give them one. Among other ordinances he changed the law so that the people of le grande breton passed on the right, with their sword hand free to attack the unshielded right side of the friendly Europeans - actually they hadn’t been very friendly since Agincourt over 100 years earlier.

So, as single tracks widened to the width of carts and carriages and then cars came along British drivers sat on the right of their vehicles and passed close to each other.

The reason the switch happened in the U.S. may have something to do with The Pilgrim Fathers leaving England for religious reasons. This was then exacerbated during the war of independence in which France supported anyone who opposed the people of le grande breton.

Another quick possibility for the, ‘sit on the right; drive on the left’ or ‘sit on the left;drive on the right’ question is that god fearing Europeans would drive on the right of a road because right is right, ie correct, or to be on the right side of god. Anyway, as you drove down medieval tracks branches would whack you in the face if you sat on the side nearest the hedges and highwaymen could reach you more easily, so it could be that while they drove on the right they would sit on the left as this is further from the roadside.

The motto of the British Monarchy, regardless of which house they come from is, Dieu et mon droit, which is not Latin but French. You see Henry’s ancestor, Henry V wanted to make it clear to the French what he thought of the Emporer’s claim that he was in charge. The motto translated into English means, By god and my right. It is a statement that only god and the British King rule the people of Britain and therefore they can do what they want because the British Monarch is god’s representative on Earth. I think some of them actually believe this to be true.

That helped pass a quiet Sunday morning.

Hope everyone is having a good day.