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50 free Remembrance Day trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Remembrance Day falls on 11 November, the hour the guns fell silent in 1918. These 50 questions cover the armistice itself, the poppy and the poem that inspired it, the two-minute silence that began in Cape Town, the Cenotaph in Whitehall and the way Canada, Australia, the UK and others mark the day. The set runs from easy (what colour is the poppy?) to the details that catch out even keen history buffs: who first proposed the silence, why New Zealand wears poppies in April, and which King launched the first Armistice Day. Every answer is sourced so the quiz is safe for classrooms, Legion branches and quiz nights.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Remembrance Day marks the end of hostilities in which war?
World War I
It recalls the end of First World War fighting at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.
Q 02What flower is traditionally worn for Remembrance Day?
Poppy
The day is also known as Poppy Day because of the tradition of wearing a remembrance poppy.
Q 03In Barbados, the Remembrance Sunday parade is held at which Bridgetown site?
National Heroes' Square
A gun salute, wreaths and prayers are offered at the Cenotaph in the heart of the square, with the Governor-General and Prime Minister attending.
Q 04Which 1919 agreement signed on 28 June formally ended the First World War?
Treaty of Versailles
The armistice had only paused fighting; it initially expired after 36 days and had to be extended several times.
Q 05Which king hosted the banquet that opened the first 11 November commemoration in 1919?
George V
He entertained French president Raymond Poincaré at Buckingham Palace on the evening of 10 November 1919.
Q 06Which country marks 11 November as Veterans Day rather than Remembrance Day?
United States
The US renamed Armistice Day in 1954 at the end of the Korean War to honour all veterans.
Q 07Which bugle call traditionally opens the period of silence at a Service of Remembrance?
Last Post
The silence is followed by Reveille or The Rouse, and the service ends with the Ode of Remembrance.
Q 08The word cenotaph comes from Greek meaning what?
Empty tomb
Cenotaphs originated in ancient Greece, built when a body could not be recovered after battle.
Q 09Who designed the Cenotaph on Whitehall in London?
Edwin Lutyens
The original 1919 version was built of wood and plaster for a victory parade; the permanent Portland stone memorial followed in 1920.
Q 10What material is the permanent Whitehall Cenotaph built from?
Portland stone
Lutyens added entasis, a subtle curvature, but otherwise changed little from the temporary design.
Q 11The 1920 unveiling of the Cenotaph coincided with the burial of whom in Westminster Abbey?
The Unknown Warrior
King George V unveiled the memorial on 11 November 1920 as the unidentified serviceman's coffin passed on its way to the Abbey.
Q 12Which Canadian physician wrote the poem "In Flanders Fields"?
John McCrae
He wrote it on 3 May 1915 after presiding over the funeral of his friend Lieutenant Alexis Helmer.
Q 13"In Flanders Fields" was first published in which London magazine?
Punch
It appeared on 8 December 1915; the magazine changed the end of the first line from "grow" to "blow".
Q 21What do the French wear in place of the poppy to honour their war dead?
Bleuet de France
The blue cornflower is France's remembrance emblem; 11 November is a national holiday there and in Belgium.
Q 22New Zealanders mostly wear remembrance poppies on which day?
Anzac Day
The 1921 poppy shipment from France arrived too late for 11 November, so they were handed out on 25 April 1922 and the date stuck.
Q 23In which city did the two-minute silence originate in 1918?
Cape Town
Mayor Sir Harry Hands instituted a daily pause signalled by the Noon Gun on Signal Hill; a three-minute trial was judged too long.
Q 14McCrae's friend Alexis Helmer was killed in which 1915 engagement, prompting the poem?
Second Ypres
The battle saw one of the first chemical attacks in warfare, when chlorine gas was released on 22 April 1915.
Q 15What poetic form is "In Flanders Fields" written in?
Rondeau
The poem is written from the point of view of the dead, who call on the living to carry on.
Q 16Which American academic vowed to always wear a red poppy after reading McCrae's poem?
Moina Michael
She had taken leave from the University of Georgia to volunteer with the YMCA and wrote her own reply poem, "We Shall Keep the Faith".
Q 17Which Frenchwoman, "The Poppy Lady from France", organised the first Poppy Days?
Anna Guérin
She used silk poppies made by widows and children of France's devastated regions and later persuaded Field Marshal Haig and the British Legion.
Q 18In which year was the first British Poppy Day held?
1921
The British Legion was so underfunded that Guérin paid for the poppies herself and was reimbursed afterwards.
Q 19In which English town is the Royal British Legion's Poppy Factory?
Richmond
About 50 people, mostly disabled ex-servicemen, work year-round there; some 48 million poppies shipped in 2010.
Q 20Scottish poppies are made at a factory in which city?
Edinburgh
Lady Haig's Poppy Factory produces a curled four-petal poppy with no leaf, unlike the English design.
Q 24Who proposed to the British government that the silence become an annual Empire-wide observance?
Percy FitzPatrick
His son had been killed in France in 1917; the idea reached King George V, who put it to the War Cabinet in November 1919.
Q 25Which cabinet minister was the lone dissenter when the War Cabinet approved the silence in 1919?
Lord Curzon
The King's message to "all my people" was published in The Times on 7 November 1919.
Q 26When is the UK's main observance, Remembrance Sunday, held?
Weekend nearest 11 November
From 1939 the silence was moved to the Sunday nearest 11 November so it would not interrupt wartime production on weekdays.
Q 27How many ceramic poppies filled the Tower of London moat in 2014?
888,246
Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red used one poppy for every British Empire fatality of the First World War.
Q 28In what year did Canada's Parliament rename Armistice Day as Remembrance Day?
1931
Nanaimo MP Charles Dickie campaigned for the change, which also fixed the observance on 11 November.
Q 29Where is Canada's federal Remembrance Day ceremony held?
War Memorial, Ottawa
The governor general presides, and the Silver Cross mother lays a wreath on behalf of all bereaved mothers.
Q 30Which Canadian provinces do NOT treat Remembrance Day as a statutory holiday?
Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec
The Royal Canadian Legion opposes a national holiday, arguing schools in session can teach the day's meaning.