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Sunday Morning: Remembrance Sunday with Ricky Ross

The Unknown Warrior

Remembrance Sunday with Ricky Ross

BBC Radio Scotland - Sunday Morning, Remembrance Sunday with Ricky Ross

Marking the end of the First World War with the story and a Ballad for the Unknown Warrior

As the nation honours and remembers the centenary of the Armistice and end of WWI, Ricky pays his respects by telling the story and writing a modern Ballad for the Unknown Warrior.

We take time to reflect on the lives lost to war and think about those who have been affected by war.  

To mark the centenary of signing the Armistice that began the peace negotiations to end the First World War, Ricky explores the story and writes a new song in commemoration of the Unknown Warrior.  The Grave of the Unknown Warrior lies in honour in Westminster Abbey "amongst the kings".

To write his song, Ricky looks into the history of the Unknown Warrior.  He talks to Trevor Royle, historian and member of the Scottish Government’s Advisory Panel for Centenary Commemoration for World War 1.  He visits Brookwood Military Cemetery and hears from Peter Francis of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and meets the grandson of army chaplain, Rev David Railton, who proposed the idea of remembering the many hundreds of thousands of dead by giving due honour to an Unknown Warrior.   The Rev George Kendall was responsible for helping to select the body of the Unknown Warrior and keeping the identity completely secret.  Ricky meets his son, David Kendall, and his grandson, Tim Kendall, to hear about that particular responsibility.  And Ricky pays his respect at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior in the company of the Dean of Westminster Abbey, the Very Rev Dr John Hall.

Ricky’s Ballad for the Unknown Warrior is performed by the National Youth Choir of Scotland, led by conductor, Christopher Bell and accompanied by arranger David Higham, after the national silence at 11am.

After we hold the silence together, Ricky hears from women directly affected by loss as a result of conflict.  Christine Morgan’s son was killed in Iraq; Anne Blair’s husband was killed in Northern Ireland and, in partnership with the War Widows’ Association of Great Britain, Dr Nadine Muller of Liverpool John Moores University, is gathering the stories and experiences of war widows past and present. 

War, and the remembrance of those who suffer its terrible consequences, has always been a draw for writers and artists.  Susan Holland happened to receive a letter in the post that captured her imagination and drew her into the story of one young man who lost his life in WW1.  

And Remembrance this year is being marked by people coming together to participate in community art through drawings on the sand in beaches across the country and through sharing the words of the poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy.  Ricky talks to writer, Andrew Greig, and poet and Makar, Jackie Kay, about finding the words to capture something of the impact of war.

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