When the Rugby World Cup comes to Gloucester in September and October this year, one of the nations we will be hosting is the USA. They face Japan in the final game at Kingsholm on October 11th. Press reports that President Obama could be attending are probably wide of the mark (and we’d have to shut most of the city down for security reasons!), but there are plenty of links between Gloucester and the USA that could tempt some special American guests.

The CEO of the USA Eagles (America’s national rugby side) is the former Gloucester Director of Rugby Nigel Melville, who led the Gloucester team through its most successful period in recent times. Rugby is the fastest growing sport in the USA.

Gloucester in Massachusetts takes its name from our city – perhaps because many of its new occupants originated here, but more likely because Gloucester was a Parliamentarian stronghold in the English Civil War.

John Stafford Smith (1750-1836) is best known for writing the music for the US national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner”. Smith was baptised in Gloucester Cathedral, was the son of the Cathedral organist and attended what we know today as the King’s School.

The evangelist George Whitefield (1714-1770) was born at the Old Bell in Southgate Street and preached his first sermon at St Mary de Crypt. He was one of the founders of Methodism and in 1740, Whitefield travelled to America where he preached a series of revivals that came to be known as the “Great Awakening”.

Perhaps lesser-known is the fact that Button Gwinnett (1735-1777), the second signatory to the US Declaration of Independence, was born in Down Hatherley (the son of the Vicar of Down Hatherley Church) and attended the Gloucester Cathedral school.

The Gloucestershire Regiment was awarded the US Presidential Unit Citation following the Battle of Imjin River in the Korean War in April 1951.

So, rugby aside, we have a lot to attract our American friends. I hope they will come here in great numbers – not just for the World Cup, but time and time again.