Why do people wear poppies in November?
People in England and across the UK wear red poppies in late October and November to remember members of the armed forces who died in war. The poppy is linked to the battlefields of World War I in Belgium and France.
Poppies grew on the churned-up battlefields of the Western Front. The Canadian doctor John McCrae wrote the poem In Flanders Fields in 1915, which describes poppies blowing between the crosses of soldiers' graves.
The Royal British Legion, a charity for veterans, adopted the poppy as its symbol in 1921 and began selling paper poppies to raise money.
Remembrance traditions
Remembrance Sunday is held on the second Sunday of November, with a ceremony at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London, attended by the King, politicians and veterans. Armistice Day, on 11 November, marks the end of World War I in 1918.
A two-minute silence is held at 11am on Armistice Day and on Remembrance Sunday.
In 2014, a huge installation of ceramic poppies filled the moat of the Tower of London, one for each British and colonial military death in World War I. Some people wear white poppies for peace or purple poppies for animals that served in war.