Sound and silence
Before the national remembrance service at Whitehall in 1919, author Evelyn Waugh had feared an occasion marked by 'artificial nonsense and sentimentality'. The mood proved far more sober. After 11 chimes from Big Ben, there was the very first observance of the two minutes' silence, a gun salute, and the sound of pigeons taking flight.
The two minutes' silence was the suggestion of Australian journalist Edward Honey; though his original idea was five minutes - for 'Communion with the Glorious Dead'.
"Have you heard the news of my boy Jack?"
Not this tide.
"When do you think that he'll come back?"
Not with this wind blowing.
Rudyard Kipling
In Uxbridge, the same year, according to one reporter: 'For two minutes buying and selling all ceased, in every rank and vocation of life'. Three years later, though, there was confusion when a gun meant to signal the end of the silence went off at the wrong time.
Today the two minutes' silence is used when there is any need to mark an occasion of communal mourning.
Lest we forget