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She has spent almost half her life playing a diminutive assassin in a world full of warriors and dragons, but now this picture can help reveal just where actress Maisie Williams was toughened up.

Here she is, as a child who had just turned four, at Flag Day, the hardcore Bristol City fans’ celebration day staged once a season.

Taken there by her father, pictured sitting behind her, the little Maisie is surrounded by cider-fuelled fans in City shirts outside the Three Lions pub in Bedminster, near City’s Ashton Gate ground.

It is thought the picture was taken at the end of the 2000-01 season, just after Maisie's fourth birthday, and it shows that Maisie, who turned 22 this year, grew up in a very manly world of friendly but uncompromising football fans.

(Image: James Beck)

It certainly might help explain why she was such a natural as Arya Stark, the pocket-rocket assassin who goes around bumping off her much bigger enemies in Sky’s Game of Thrones, which returns for its penultimate season on Monday.

The picture is one of many group shots taken of Flag Days down the years, and currently adorns the wall above the doorway to the men’s toilets in the pub.

“Flag Day has always been a celebration, a family day, and Maisie was very young when she would come,” said one regular. “She’s as City as f*** and her dad used to bring her.”

What is Flag Day?

The day is a colourful and noisy affair with fans gathering inside and outside the Three Lions - the spiritual home of City’s most vociferous supporters - to unfurl their flags, gather, let off smoke grenades known by the fans as ‘pyros’, and sing City songs, before heading down to the match.

Flag Day takes place inside and outside the Three Lions pub on West Street in Bedminster. The Three Lions is a landmark venue in BS3 with its distinctive St George’s flag street art front.

It’s also famous for a variety of wacky stunts - including having an ‘octopus’ predicting World Cup results last summer, and the mysterious tale of the Millwall team bus sign that had been on the wall of the pub for at least two decades, before it was abortively proposed to be handed back to Millwall supporters, in honour of one of their number’s heroic actions in the London Bridge terror attack.

When is Flag Day?

It was traditionally at or near the end of the season, but a few years ago was switched to the first home game of the season.

This year, Bristol City’s first game of the season was at home to Leeds - a high profile and high security game which was also taking place on a Sunday afternoon.

So the decision was taken to move Flag Day to the second game of the season - this Saturday, August 17, which sees Queen’s Park Rangers visit Ashton Gate.

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