History: November 2018 Archives

Today is the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended the fighting of what they knew as the Great War, what we know as the First World War.

In memory of the millions who died in the conflict and the millions more who were maimed in body and mind, here is the poem "For the Fallen," written in 1914, by Laurence Binyon.

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children, England mourns for her dead across the sea. Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit, Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

MORE:

Every year leading up to Armistice Day, the Royal British Legion sells poppy badges as a remembrance, a tradition with roots in the poem, "In Flanders Fields."

The Great War website is a wealth of information about the history of the war.

The BBC has a wealth of radio programming remembering World War I available online around the world.

Today's commemorations:

Sunday: A Remembrance Special, presented by Edward Stourton

For the Fallen: A service from the Chapel of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, to mark the centenary of the WWI Armistice.

Ceremony of Remembrance at the Cenotaph: The annual laying of wreaths at the memorial in Whitehall

A Service to Mark the Centenary of the End of the First World War, from Westminster Abbey, with the Royal Family in attendance.

Armistice Day Poems: Eight short poems broadcast today on BBC Radio 4.

Historical interviews and dramatisations:

Voices of the First World War presents interviews with those who lived through it, from the archives of the BBC and the Imperial War Museum. 56 episodes, presented chronologically through the course of the war. A condensed series of five one-hour episodes, one for each year of the war, is available for the next month.

Two dramas tell the story of life during the Great War: Tommies, about those on the front lines, and Home Front for those who stayed behind.

On the lighter side, BBC Radio 4 Extra presents "Salutes You, Sir!" a three-hour collection of radio comedy by and for the Armed Forces, including episodes of The Navy Lark, Much Binding in the Marsh, and Dad's Army, hosted by Ian Lavender -- Private Pike on Dad's Army.