Make poppies white, says actor Mark Rylance

Actor Mark Rylance has called for white poppies to replace the traditional red symbol of Remembrance Day.

The former artistic director of the Globe Theatre, pictured, told Radio 4’s Today programme white should be worn as a symbol of peace and to recognise that 90 per cent of war casualties are civilians.

He added: “The safest place to be on a battlefield was in the military. I felt therefore that remembrance only of the military dead and wounded was not very accurate.

“It’s a slightly different thing if you have agreed to be part of it than if you are just a bystander or a child or people at a wedding who get hurt.”