Every November 11, mysterious public rituals take place in a remarkably large number of countries to mark the anniversary of events that happened nearly 90 years ago. All told, fewer than two dozen veterans of the first world war are still living. The number of people with first-hand memories of the war’s end cannot be vastly larger. Yet this week, millions of people born long after the guns fell silent will pin paper poppies in their lapels, observe two-minute silences, lay wreaths and attend church services in honour of the war dead. Such observances will occur not only in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but also in Australia, Bermuda, Canada, the Cayman Islands, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, South Africa and St Lucia. For a day – or at least for two minutes – the British Empire will reconstitute itself in “remembrance” of “the fallen”.

True, Anzac Day (April 25, the anniversary of the Gallipoli landings) has to some extent eclipsed Remembrance Day in the Antipodes. And, of course, it is not just the British and the inhabitants of their former colonies who commemorate the end of the first world war. The French, too, have their Armistice Day holiday, as do the Belgians. The Americans have Veterans’ Day, although few of them now recall that it originated with the war of 1917-1918. In Poland, November 11 is Independence Day, despite the fact that the independence the Poles won in 1918 was lost again just 21 years later. Yet it is the durability of Remembrance – a distinctly British set of rites and symbols – that is most impressive. Although the victims of other conflicts are now honoured, too, including civilians, the focus remains on the 750,000 servicemen who lost their lives between 1914 and 1918.