Two minutes' silence released as a charity single

An unlikely charity single could reach number one this week: two minutes' of silence. The track, which is released today as a digital download, is to raise money for the Royal British Legion. The organisers hope that it might top the charts next week, coinciding with Remembrance Sunday.



Though the track, "2 minute silence", contains no music or speaking at all, the accompanying video features noiseless contributions from David Cameron, Thom Yorke, the lead singer of Radiohead, Andy Murray, the tennis player, Martin Johnson, the England rugby coach as well as the British actors Bob Hoskins and David Tennant.

All are pictured standing still, looking at the camera, with just the noise of their background, contributing a gentle hum. Alongside the famous faces there are also contributions from both serving and injured soldiers. Chris Simpkins, The Royal British Legion's director general, said he hoped people would appreciate the significance of the absence of sound.

Just a short excerpt. I imagine the full-length video will appear later.


"Rather than record a song, we felt the UK public would recognise the poignancy of silence and its clear association with remembrance," he said. The track costs £1. Anyone who buys the digital single will also receive a video file, which can be downloaded and played either on a computer or on an MP3 player that has a screen, such as an iPod. It is not available as a compact disk or other physical format.