Actor Timothy Spall began VE Day commemorations in London on Monday by reading extracts of then prime minister Winston Churchill’s victory speech to the nation on May 8 1945.
The events on bank holiday Monday mark the beginning of four days of celebration across the nation up until Thursday May 8, exactly 80 years since Victory in Europe was declared.
Standing in front of the statue of the Second World War leader in Parliament Square, Spall, 68, said: “My dear friends, this is your hour.
“This is not victory of a party or of any class.
“It’s a victory of the Great British nation as a whole.
“We were the first, in this ancient island, to draw the sword against tyranny.”
“Every man, woman and child in the country had no thought of quitting the struggle.
“When shall the reputation and faith of this generation of men and women fail?
“I say that in the long years to come not only will the people of this island, but of the world, wherever the bird of freedom chirps in human hearts, look back to what we have done and they will say: ‘Do not despair, do not yield to violence and tyranny, march straightforward and die if need be unconquered’.”
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