42 Fun Facts About Remembrance Day

In 2011, which football body first refused, then let England's players wear poppies on black armbands?

FIFA bans political, religious or commercial messages on shirts, and it relented only after Prince William and Prime Minister David Cameron wrote to protest.

Which country celebrates 11 November as its National Independence Day?

Poland had been carved up by neighbouring empires in the late 18th century, and it re-emerged as a sovereign state as the First World War ended.

In Barbados, the Remembrance Sunday parade is held at which Bridgetown site?

National Heroes' Square held a bronze statue of Admiral Nelson from 1813 until November 2020, when Barbados removed it from the heart of Bridgetown.

Which 1919 agreement signed on 28 June formally ended the First World War?

The Treaty of Versailles made Germany accept responsibility for the war's damage and pay reparations, and stripped it of its overseas colonies.

Which king hosted the banquet that opened the first 11 November commemoration in 1919?

George V also asked his people, in a message published days before, to fall silent for two minutes at 11 a.m. on 11 November 1919.

Which country marks 11 November as Veterans Day rather than Remembrance Day?

The United States renamed Armistice Day as Veterans Day in 1954, after World War II and Korea, so that the day would honour American veterans of all wars.

Which bugle call traditionally opens the period of silence at a Service of Remembrance?

Last Post was sounded at the end of the military day, so at remembrance ceremonies it symbolises death.

The word cenotaph comes from Greek meaning what?

Empty tomb suits Britain's war memorials: an early wartime policy forbade bringing the dead home, so most families had no nearby grave to visit.

Who designed the Cenotaph on Whitehall in London?

Edwin Lutyens rapidly designed a temporary wood-and-plaster version for July 1919's Peace Celebrations, and after more than a million people visited in a week it was rebuilt to last.

What material is the permanent Whitehall Cenotaph built from?

Portland stone was cut with subtle curves, so the Cenotaph's seemingly straight sides actually taper inwards.

The 1920 unveiling of the Cenotaph coincided with the burial of whom in Westminster Abbey?

The Unknown Warrior was chosen from bodies exhumed across the Western Front's battle areas and buried 'among the kings' to represent the Empire's dead.

Which Canadian physician wrote the poem "In Flanders Fields"?

John McCrae's poem was soon used to raise money and recruit soldiers, and it became known throughout the English-speaking world.

"In Flanders Fields" was first published in which London magazine?

Punch printed it anonymously on 8 December 1915, after The Spectator had rejected it, and only later credited its author.

Alexis Helmer, whose burial inspired "In Flanders Fields", was killed in which 1915 battle?

Second Ypres, which began on 22 April 1915, saw Germany's first mass use of poison gas on the Western Front.

Which NHL team displays the "throw the torch" line from "In Flanders Fields" in its dressing room?

Montreal Canadiens adopted the poem's torch lines as the club motto and display them on the wall of the players' dressing room.

Which teacher vowed to always wear a red poppy after reading "In Flanders Fields"?

Moina Michael campaigned to sell silk poppies for disabled veterans, and her efforts led the American Legion Auxiliary to adopt the poppy as a remembrance symbol.

Which Frenchwoman, "The Poppy Lady from France", organised the first Poppy Days?

Anna Guérin had poppies made by French widows and orphans and sold them to raise money for children in France's war-ravaged regions.

Which poppy colour did Britain's Women's Co-operative Guild introduce in 1933?

White poppies are meant to remember all victims of war and to promote peace, and today they are distributed by the Peace Pledge Union.

In which English town is the Royal British Legion's Poppy Factory?

Richmond's Poppy Factory was set up in the 1920s so that disabled ex-servicemen could earn a living making poppies for the Poppy Appeal.

Scottish poppies are made at a factory in which city?

Edinburgh's Lady Haig's Poppy Factory was founded in 1926 by Countess Haig, wife of Field Marshal Douglas Haig, to give work to disabled veterans.

What do the French wear in place of the poppy to honour France's war dead?

Bleuet de France, the cornflower, recalls the young recruits nicknamed 'bleuets' for their horizon-blue uniforms.

Why were New Zealand's first remembrance poppies sold months after 11 November 1921?

Their ship arrived too late for Armistice Day, so the poppies were sold at the next commemoration instead, and New Zealand's Poppy Day kept that later date.

Which city's daily wartime pause in 1918 inspired the two-minute silence?

Cape Town's daily pause, signalled by the noon gun on Signal Hill, first lasted three minutes in May 1918 before it was shortened to two.

Which victims of war does the purple remembrance poppy commemorate?

Animals are what the purple poppy honours, and Animal Aid later replaced it with an all-year badge, arguing that animals in war are victims, not heroes.

Which Irish footballer began declining to wear a shirt poppy in 2012, citing Bloody Sunday in Derry?

James McClean received death threats after declining to wear the poppy, which he said would disrespect those killed on Bloody Sunday in his hometown.

Where is Canada's federal Remembrance Day ceremony held?

War Memorial, Ottawa hosts the national ceremony; built for the First World War dead, the memorial was rededicated in 2014 to all Canadians who died in service.

Where does the Royal Canadian Legion say to wear the poppy?

Over the heart, on the left side, is the Legion's guidance, and the Legion holds a trademark on the poppy to protect the symbol of its fundraising campaign.

Which day has largely eclipsed Remembrance Day as Australia's main war commemoration?

Anzac Day marks the first major action of Australian and New Zealand forces in the First World War, the 1915 Gallipoli campaign, and is a public holiday in every state.

Who wrote "For the Fallen", the source of the Ode of Remembrance?

Laurence Binyon later worked as an orderly in a military hospital in France, and the experience shaped his war poems.

In which newspaper was "For the Fallen" first published?

The Times printed the poem in September 1914, written to honour the British Expeditionary Force's first casualties after the retreat from Mons.

In which French forest was the 1918 armistice signed, inside a railway dining car?

Compiègne saw the same carriage used again in June 1940, when Hitler, as an act of revenge, had France sign its armistice at the exact spot.

Italy marks its 4 November armistice anniversary under what name?

Unity and Armed Forces Day marks the 1918 Armistice of Villa Giusti taking effect, the victory that brought Trento and Trieste into Italy.

Germany's national day of mourning, held two Sundays before Advent, is called what?

Volkstrauertag was first held in the Reichstag in 1922, but in 1934 the Nazis renamed it Heldengedenktag and made it a state holiday.

What do the Dutch celebrate on 5 May, after 4 May's remembrance?

Liberation Day marks the German surrender in the Netherlands, negotiated on 5 May 1945 at the Hotel de Wereld in Wageningen.

What can Natalie's ramonda, Serbia's remembrance flower, famously do?

Revive after drying out completely is what the ramonda can do, so Serbians wear it as a symbol of their state's resurrection after the First World War.

The 1987 Remembrance Sunday bombing that killed eleven people took place in which town?

Enniskillen's victims included Marie Wilson, whose injured father Gordon set a tone of forgiveness and went on to campaign for peace.

Which Dublin church hosts the Remembrance Sunday service the President of Ireland attends?

St Patrick's Cathedral, the Church of Ireland's national cathedral, hosts the service, even though Remembrance Day is not a recognised holiday in Ireland.

Which flower, Newfoundland's own war emblem, have its Legion members been allowed to wear?

Forget-me-not was Newfoundland's own emblem until the poppy largely displaced it, and in 2016 Legion members wore it for the Beaumont-Hamel centenary.

Which writer's poem 'Recessional' repeats the remembrance refrain 'Lest we forget'?

Rudyard Kipling lost his son John at the Battle of Loos in 1915, and later wrote a history of John's regiment, the Irish Guards.

In the 1918 daily pause that inspired the two-minute silence, how were the two minutes dedicated?

Thanksgiving, then the fallen: as the noon gun fired, trams and taxis stopped, pedestrians stood still and most men bared their heads.

Which US ex-servicemen's group patented the "Buddy Poppy" in 1924?

The VFW ran the first veterans' Poppy Day Drive for Memorial Day 1922 after the Legion briefly switched to the daisy.

Which grocer briefly banned staff poppies at its Canadian stores in November 2020?

Whole Foods Market had told staff a poppy would be 'supporting a cause' under its uniform policy, then lifted the ban within days after ministers objected.