The Gas Poker
The Gas Poker by Thom Gunn (An account of his mother’s suicide when he was in his teens, written in the third person.) Forty-eight years ago— Can it be forty-eight Since then?—they forced the door Which she had barricaded With a full bureau’s weight Lest anyone find, as they did, What she had blocked it for. […]
Good question, Poppy
In 2010/11, 40,000 women attended NCT antenatal classes. This is on top of regular meetings with midwives and GPs. Mumsnet gets 50 million page views per month. We clearly want information badly. So why do we prepare ourselves for birth and death so differently? Read the whole of Poppy Mardall’s article in the Huffington Post […]
Feeding time
Yorkshire-headquartered Yew Holdings has been acquired by rival funeral services provider Dignity in a deal priced at £58.3m. Dignity has also announced plans for a share placing to raise £24.2m before expenses. The acquisition comprises 40 funeral locations and two crematoria located in the north of England. Dignity added there were “significant opportunities” to improve […]
There’s snow stopping him
From the Birmingham Mail: Motorbike-mad Horace Craythorne was given a high-octane send-off – when he made his last journey in a sidecar hearse. The old soldier – who died earlier this month aged 97 – beat the snow by travelling to a Midland crematorium in fitting style yesterday, his coffin draped in a Union flag. […]
You only get one chance to get it wrong
A few years ago I worked with a very nice woman on her second husband’s funeral. Naturally, we talked about all sorts of things. She recalled the day of her first husband’s funeral. The hearse was due to go direct to the crematorium and she left home in good time so as to be sure […]
RIP Michael Winner
“If you’re dead, you’re dead, so who cares. I tell people illness is a nuisance and extreme illness is a f***ing nuisance, but you have to live with the cards you’ve been dealt. My family were put to death in the camps, so compared to that, what I’m going through is minor. “I’m very happy to […]
The British way of death
The composer Benjamin Britten’s last words to his sister, Barbara: “Sorry, old thing.”
Familiarity breeds contentment
The so-called traditional or Victorian funeral derives from a time when they did death differently, when people grieved differently. It was characterised by hush and awe, ostentatious gloom and social pretension. It was an invention of the Gothic Revival and claimed, spuriously, descent from the medieval guild funerals devised and superintended by the College of Arms. […]
Just walking the dead
Posted by Richard Rawlinson When David Bowie is on good form, he’s darn good. As a childhood fan, I was pleased to read rave reviews of his new album, The Next Day, marking a return, aged 66, from a decade of semi-retired obscurity in which the cigarette-puffing, ex-coke sniffer suffered bouts of ill health. His new […]
Lily sees off vicar
From the i. More in the Telegraph here. Hat-tip to Michael Jarvis
