ACTOR Timothy Spall will launch Britain’s VE Day celebrations tomorrow — by reading extracts from Winston Churchill’s triumphant 1945 address.
Spall, 68, who played the inspirational World War Two PM in 2010 film The King’s Speech, will repeat his stirring words to the nation from Buckingham Palace.
AlamyTimothy Spall will launch Britain’s VE Day celebrations tomorrow[/caption]
The Red Arrows team trail red, white and blueCpl Phil Dye/RAF/CMG
Cpl Phil Dye/RAF/CMGThe aerobatics team have been practising in Greece[/caption]
AlamyPoppies on show at the Tower of London[/caption]
After his address — with its famous message “This is not victory of a party or of any class. It’s a victory of the great British nation as a whole” — the Red Arrows will soar overhead.
The aerobatics team, who have been practising in Greece, will leave trails of red, white and blue smoke in their wake.
Events will begin at noon and the King and Queen will be on the Palace balcony to watch the extravaganza marking the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe.
The display will be followed by a 1,300-strong procession of British and Commonwealth troops down Whitehall, through Admiralty Arch and up The Mall.
Normandy vet Alan Kennett, 100, will formally start the march after being handed the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Torch for Peace by RAFAC Cadet Warrant Officer Emmy Jones.
Eleven members of the Ukrainian military will take part.
Their leader, Major Pavlo, 30, who could not give his surname for security reasons, said: “Being a part of this is a real privilege.
“It’s a really important time to show strength, unity and partnership with the UK and other allies.”
Lt Col Charles Foinette, 47, whose RAF bomber grandad was shot down during the war, is lead organiser for the march.
He said hundreds of troops, many on horseback, processed to the sound of bagpipes in a rehearsal from 2.30am on Saturday, much to the surprise of revellers in central London.
Tomorrow’s celebrations will be the first of four days of events across Europe to mark the final defeat of the Nazis.
Major buildings will be illuminated including 10 Downing Street, the Tower of London, Cardiff Castle, Rochester Cathedral in Kent and Belfast City Hall.
On Tuesday, events will be held on HMS Belfast, now a museum ship moored on the Thames close to Tower Bridge.
It fired some of the opening shots on D-Day in 1944 and protected Arctic convoys.
Street parties will take place nationwide.
Events will conclude on Thursday — the May 8 anniversary of 1945’s VE Day — with a service of thanksgiving from Westminster Abbey and a live concert from the Horse Guards Parade.
PM Sir Keir Starmer said the anniversary was a moment of “national unity” when the memory of those who died and the “sacrifices made by so many to secure our freedom” should be honoured.
Ken Cooke, 99, one of the last living Second World War veterans, politely declined King Charles’s invitation to a garden party so he could return once more to Normandy to mark VE Day.
Ken, of York, laughed: “I’m in the bad books, I think.”
AlamyUnion flags at the ready on the Mall[/caption]
ReutersProud Ukrainian soldiers practise[/caption]
A dry-run by the Cenotaph at night Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
