Silent Minute - How it Began " The idea began in 1917 when two British officers were discussing the war and its probable aftermath. The conversation took place on a billet on the hillside at the mouth of a cave in the Palestine hills, and on the eve of a battle. One of the two, a man of unusual character and vision realising intuitively that his days on earth were to be shortened, told his friend who was Wellesley Tudor Pole: "I shan't come through this struggle and, like millions of others, it will be my destiny to go on. You will survive and live to see a greater and more vital conflict fought out in every continent and ocean and in the air. when that time comes, remember us. We shall long to play our part. Give us the opportunity to do so, for that war will be a righteous war. We shall not then fight with material weapons, but we will be able to help you if you will let us. We shall be an unseen but mighty army. You will still have 'time' as your servant. Lend us a moment of it each day and through your silence give us the opportunity. The power of silence is greater than you know. When those tragic days arrive do not forget us." Next day the speaker was killed. W.T.P. was severely wounded and left with the enemy, but managed to get back to the British lines with an inescapable sense of miraculous deliverance. The idea of the Silent Minute was thus born in Palestine in December 1917. It came to the external realisation in the dark days of Dunkirk twenty three years later when Britain stood alone and unprotected against overwhelming forces of evil. men and woman of goodwill in England and throughout the Commonwealth and elsewhere where then asked to devote one minute of their time at nine each evening to a prayer prayer for peace, and thus create a channel between the visible and the invisible worlds. the movement grew until unknown numbers were united in keeping this evening tryst. This dedicated Minute received the warm support of H.M. King George VI, Mr. Winston Churchill, his Cabinet and many other leaders in Church and State. The value was fully realised by the late President Roosevelt and by our Allies from overseas. The Minute was observed on land, air and sea, on the battlefields, in air-raid shelters, hospitals and prison camps and in the homes of poor and rich alike. At T.P.'s request and with the Prime Minister's support, the B.B.C. restored the voice of Big Ben to the air on Remembrance Sunday, November 10th, 1940, as a signal for the Silent Minute at nine each evening; and this became accepted practice on the Home and Overseas Service for the remainder of the war years and for some time afterwards. According to the BBC the number of those observing it in Britain from 1942 onwards ran into the millions. Soon after the end of hostilities in europe in 1945 a British Intelligence officer, interrogating high Nazi officials, asked one of them why he thought Germany had lost the war. This was his reply: "During the war you had a secret weapon for which we could find no counter-measure and which we did not understand, but it was very powerful. It was associated with the striking of Big Ben each evening. I believe you called it "The Silent Minute". Quoted from: 'Writing on the Ground' by Wellesley Tudor Pole Published by Pilgrims Book Services Prepared by ELYSIUM PRODUCTIONS - specialists in the Art of the Alternative