Today, July 15th, is St Swithin’s Day and if the myth of the holy man holds true then whatever weather we see today is likely to be replicated every day for the next 40 days and 40 nights. But just who was St Swithin and should we believe anything he has to say about anything? “St Swithin’s day if thou dost rain, for 40 days it will remain. St Swithin’s Day if thou be fair, for 40 days ‘twill rain nae mare,” was the quote attributed to the - admittedly rather dead - man. Deirdre Lowe told The Irish Times that while she was aware of St Swithin she had never come across a scintilla of evidence to suggest that the weather on St Swithin’s Day really did act as a taste of what is to come.

Source: The Irish Times July 15, 2019 12:04 UTC