'Do not yield to violence and tyranny': Timothy Spall kicks off VE Day celebrations with moving Winston Churchill speech
5 May 2025, 13:04 | Updated: 5 May 2025, 13:15
Actor Timothy Spall has kicked off commemorative events for the 80th anniversary of VE Day in London as he delivered some of the words of Sir Winston Churchill's 1945 victory speech.
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Speaking in Parliament Square in front of a statue honouring Sir Winston after Big Ben struck midday, Spall 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."
Wearing a dark grey suit, the bespectacled actor continued: "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'."
