Celebrity backing for reminder to show our respects for the fallen

The athlete, and the likes of X Factor hosts Olly Murs and Caroline Flack, Apprentice stars Alan Sugar and Karren Brady and Alesha Dixon, have been filmed holding poppies to their lips ahead of Wednesday’s 11am silence on Armistice Day.

Along with Rudimental musicians Piers Agget and Kesi Dryden, TV host Jools Holland and cricket star Andrew Flintoff, they appear in a new film by the Royal British Legion to raise awareness about the charity’s annual silence, which takes place at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month and marks the Armistice Treaty, which ended the First World War on November 11, 1918.

The two-minute-long movie by Gary Tarn follows research showing 38 per cent of 1,000 people are not planning to observe the silence, which was introduced by King George V in November 1919.

The Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, national chaplain to the Royal British Legion, said: “Modern life is lived at an incredibly fast pace, but it is hugely important that people find the time to remember and respect those that have sacrificed - and continue to make sacrifice - in the service of our country.”

In the run up to Armistice Day, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has confirmed that all 44 First World War memorials designed by architect Sir Edwin Lutyens are now protected by law - with Buckinghamshire’s Gerrards Cross memorial building the last to be protected, the Department confirmed today.