The National Service of Remembrance is held every year on Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph on Whitehall, London. It commemorates "the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts".[1] It takes place on the second Sunday in November, the Sunday nearest to 11 November, Armistice Day,[a] the anniversary of the end of hostilities in the First World War at 11 a.m. in 1918.
The service has its origins in the 1920s and has changed little in format since. To open the ceremony, a selection of national airs and solemn music representing each of the nations of the United Kingdom are played by massed bands and pipes. A short religious service is held with a two-minute silence commencing when Big Ben chimes at 11 am. Following this, wreaths are laid by the King and members of the royal family, senior politicians representing their respective political parties and High commissioners from the Commonwealth of Nations. After the wreath-laying ceremony, a march-past of hundreds of veterans processes past the Cenotaph. The ceremony has been broadcast nationally by the BBC on radio since 1928 and was first broadcast by the BBC Television Service in 1937.[2]
- ^ "Remembrance Sunday". Department for Culture Media and Sport. Retrieved 10 November 2010.
- ^ "The Cenotaph on Screen". Radio Times. 5 November 1937.
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