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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Cenotaph
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(London SW1) The national monument to the men and women who died in the services in both world wars (the word means 'empty tomb' in Greek). Standing in the middle of *Whitehall, it is a slightly curving vertical block of Portland stone, adorned with the flags of the three services and the merchant navy, and with the simple inscription 'To the Glorious Dead'. It was designed by *Lutyens and was completed in 1920 in time for the second *Armistice Day, which was also the occasion when the coffin bearing the *Unknown Warrior passed on its way to burial in Westminster Abbey. The dates of World War II were added to the monument in 1946.
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On each Remembrance Sunday, the successor to Armistice Day, the two-minute silence is followed by the *Last Post; then wreaths are laid at the foot of the Cenotaph by the royal family, the leaders of the main political parties and many other representatives of national institutions.
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