January 1, 1970

Friday 8 May 2015 was the anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe Day), marking seventy years since the end of the Second World War in Europe. The occasion was commemorated with a three-day weekend of remembrance and celebration, with events being held across the UK. Click here to find out more.

The commemorations began on Friday 8 May with a Service of Remembrance and a two-minute silence at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London, at 3.00 pm, the exact time Churchill had announced the German surrender seventy years earlier.

Celebrations then continued into the weekend: street parties were held across the country; church and cathedral bells, from Westminster Abbey to Cardiff, chimed simultaneously at 11.00 am; the Queen lit a commemorative beacon at Windsor Castle, the first of hundreds to be lit across Britain. A star-studded concert was held at Horse Guards Parade in London, hosted by the Royal British Legion and featuring music and readings from the Forties or inspired by the period. Actor Robert Lindsay read extracts from Churchill’s famous speeches from the balcony in Whitehall to a hushed crowd of thousands.

On Sunday, 10 May, the Queen led the nation marking VE Day at a Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey. Around 1,000 veterans and their families joined members of the royal family, politicians, members of the Armed Forces and representatives of the Allied nations and Commonwealth countries that fought alongside Britain at the Abbey.