MIND THE GAP!
Brian Blessed, and others, will be making tube station announcements on Thursday (29th Oct) as part of this year’s British Legion’s Poppy Appeal.
London Poppy Day is part of the national Poppy Appeal that aims to raise as much money as possible in a single day to support the whole Armed Forces community.
In addition, two Circle line Tube trains have been wrapped in the poppy livery, as well as nine London buses. All London Underground, London Overground and DLR trains will also have poppies on the front and back of every train.
King’s Cross, Canary Wharf, Tottenham Court Road, Liverpool Street, Westminster and Waterloo Tube stations will also be dressed in the poppy design in support of the appeal.
Poplar station on the DLR will also be partially branded in the famous poppies.
Military bands will play at selected locations.
On London Poppy Day, there will be around 2,500 uniformed personnel, veterans and volunteers collecting at around 50 Tube and main line stations. This year also marks the 92nd year of the London Transport Old Comrades Association, who will continue the tradition of marching alongside the Armed Forces and laying a wreath at the Cenotaph in the Annual Remembrance Sunday parade on 8 November.
London’s bus staff were given the right to march by King George V who granted this honour to the staff of the London General Omnibus Company in 1920, in recognition of the services rendered by the men who drove buses to the front line in France and Belgium from 1914-1918.
The celebrities whose voices will be heard across the transport network in support of The Royal British Legion’s campaign are:
| Brian Blessed | Hyde Park Corner, Green Park, Vauxhall, Embankment, Blackfriars, Angel, Kilburn, Rayners Lane |
| Marcus Bentley (Voice of Big Brother) |
Euston, Aldgate, Moorgate |
| Danny Dyer | Charing Cross, Shepherds Bush, Piccadilly Circus, Stratford, West Ham, Canning Town, Waterloo, Tramlink |
| Jo Brand | Brixton, Borough, Paddington, Old Street, Canning Town, Stratford |
| Peter Dickson | Oxford Circus, Ealing Broadway, Stockwell, Temple |
| Stephen Fry | London Bridge, Canary Wharf, Leytonstone, Oval, Leicester Square |
| Sir Derek Jacobi | Chalk Farm, Knightsbridge, Theydon Bois, Tottenham Hale |
| Ian Lavender | Liverpool Street |
| Trevor Nelson | Barbican, St James’s Park, Victoria, Clapham North, Cannon Street, Tower Hill, Bond Street |
| Barbara Windsor | Westminster, Great Portland Street, Baker Street, Bank/ Monument, Covent Garden, Westminster, Oval |
| Arsene Wenger (Arsenal FC) | Arsenal, Finsbury Park, Highbury & Islington, Holloway Road, Caledonian Road, Tottenham Hale |
| John Terry (Chelsea FC) | Fulham Broadway, West Brompton, Earls Court |
| Charlie Austin (QPR) | Wood Lane, White City, Latimer Road, Ladbroke Grove |
| Chris Ramsey (QPR) | Wood Lane, White City, Latimer Road, Ladbroke Grove |
| Jamie O’Hara (Fulham FC) | Putney Bridge, Hammersmith, Parson’s Green |
| Ben Pringle (Fulham FC) | Putney Bridge, Hammersmith, Parson’s Green |
| Harry Kane (Spurs) | Tottenham Court Road, White Hart Lane, Seven Sisters, Tottenham Hale |
| Ryan Mason (Spurs) | Tottenham Court Road, White Hart Lane, Seven Sisters, Tottenham Hale |
| Mark Noble (West Ham) | West Ham, Upton Park, East Ham, Plaistow |
I heard Brian Blessed at Vauxhall today – it would have been difficult not to, to be honest, they had the volume up so loud. But not a poppy-seller to be seen at any of the three stations I used….. sigh…