Yes it's true, see here.

The "KBGS lads" seem to be doing quite well

Aye, Chris- and where, oh where, was that lovely, pouring rain when we really, really needed it!!!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1945-50

Current location (optional) Keighley

First 2012 Olympic medal for Yorkshire (Lizzie Armitstead of Otley). Wonder when Team GB will get their first.

Current location (optional) Singapore

Yes Chris. Very pleasing. It had even managed to blot out the commentators' incessant use of the term "Team GB", which has two faults.
1. It is an extremely irritating Americanism. Here we would say "The British Team"......
2. .... except for the fact that it is actually "The United Kingdom Team". Who decided to ditch Northern Ireland?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1958-65

Current location (optional) Leeds

Would welcome your erudition here, Shaun, with reference to the application of the adjective British to the islands of Ireland. As you can see my request springs from your posting above.

I understand the name "prytani" was applied to the indigenous occupants of mainland "Britain" by the Greek explorer, Pytheas some 300BC. From this came the term Britannia during the Roman occupation.Were the unconquered occupants of the islands of Ireland not prytani?

Mistakenly (?) I always understood the term British Isles to be geographical - neither ethnical nor political, and so referring to all the islands that make up that variety of islands off the west of Europe.

In my early days of interest in international Rugby, the British Lions meant to me a select team of players who originated from any of the British Isles - given that the term, British Isles, did not have any political significance.

When and why did it become necessary to use the tautologous term British and Irish Lions?

It must have been political - either nationalism or the chauvinism of the individual rugby unions. And where does that leave an Ulsterman on such a tour? Is he a British Lion - or Irish Lion - or both? Or just a rugby player?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1952-60

Current location (optional) Nirvana

At the risk of boring the rest of the visitors to this thread :-
I agree with your comments about the British Isles and with your puzzlement over the Lions.
As regards the UK - Great Britain refers to the large island and the closely adjacent small ones. Ireland (and, puzzlingly, the Isle of Man and Channel Islands) are not part of Great Britain - so no "Team GB".

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1958-65

Current location (optional) Leeds

I owe this to Wikipedia:

"The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain, Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: Ireland (sometimes called the Republic of Ireland) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom). The British Isles also include three dependencies of the British Crown: the Isle of Man and, by tradition, the Bailiwick of Jersey and the Bailiwick of Guernsey in the Channel Islands, although the latter are not physically a part of the archipelago."

It seems to bear out our view about the British Lions. Could it have been the Irish RFU which insisted on the inclusion of "Irish" in the Lions title? Thus implying Irish rugby is a separate entity whilst still being included with the rest of the British - Welsh, Scottish and English - when it comes to Southern Hemisphere contests?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1952-60

Current location (optional) Nirvana