Battle for the Hood

Reconciling
historical accuracy and cultural legends is messy work, especially
when there is
serious money on the table. In an unsightly scramble to claim the tourist
dollars ($197 million) currently accruing to the English country of
Nottingham,
the neighboring county of Yorkshire now claims that centuries ago Sherwood
forest extended into Yorkshire, and that the historical Hood was actually
a local boy named Robert Hode.

The Midlands county of Yorkshire is challenging neighboring Nottingham,
where tradition holds Robin Hood plied his trade, as the rightful home
of Britain’s most famous outlaw.

To undo what they maintain is an historical inaccuracy, Yorkshire parliamentarians
are advocating the removal of all Nottinghamshire signs proclaiming "Robin
Hood country."

Nottingham has fought back. John Mann, member of Parliament from Nottinghamshire,
decried the Yorkshire claims to Robin Hood as a "historically inaccurate
myth."

from the Boston Globe