• The Filipino flag is flown with the red stripe up in times of war and blue stripe up in times of peace.

• The first Olympic flag went missing for 77 years after the 1920 games until a 1920 Olympian revealed he’d had it in his suitcase the whole time

• During truce talks between North and South Korea, both parties would try to bring a bigger national flag than the other to each meeting. This went on until a special meeting was called to address the size of the flags, as they could no longer fit in the room.

• Nepal is the only country with a flag that is not rectangular. Its shape is two overlapping triangles.

• The flags of the Republic of Ireland and Ivory Coast are identical tricolours except the order of the colours is reversed. (L-R: Green, white and orange for Ireland and orange, white, green for Ivory Coast.

• The Afghanistan and Cambodian Flags hold the distinction of being the only two flags in the world to feature a building in their design.

• The flag of Andorra is the only national flag with two cows on it. Belize has the only national flag with people displayed prominently on it.

Published in Dawn, Young World August 12th, 2017