Knights Templar ghosts walk among Bristolians
Posted by Richard Rawlinson I’ve just seen a Templar knight in Bristol, walking the streets in helmet, chain mail and white tunic with red cross. This is not uncommon in a city with a rich Templar history, reflected by the station name, Temple Mead, and a Weatherspoon pub called Knights Templar. I’m not sure if he […]
Any takers for the real face of death?
A few weeks ago I posted a blog about embalming — a short piece, just three quotes, no comment. One of the quotes acclaimed the art of the embalmer who, ‘by and through his professional attainments‘ in causing a corpse, by artificial means, to be made tolerably presentable to the living, glorifies ‘the divinity in man‘. A […]
A funeral with a steam engine theme
Vintage Lorry Funerals has a number of members in the company’s support team who can provide items to supplement the Floral Tributes or a Theme if their inclusion can enhance a display to exceed a Family’s expectations. A Garden Contractor has supplied a Victorian Railway Porter’s Cart, a 1950’s Milk Churn and newly sawn Logs. […]
Did Marc Bolan predict his own death?
Posted by Richard Rawlinson T-Rex star Marc Bolan died, aged 29, in a car crash in west London in the early hours of a September morning in 1977. His girlfriend Gloria Jones was driving him home from a night in Mayfair when her purple Mini smashed into a tree by the side of the road. Even […]
Your kids, your legacy
From today’s Times Diary: Given a reminder of mortality by Michael Schumacher’s recent accident, Sir Matthew Pinsent, who is a year younger than the German racing driver, decided to have a serious talk with his three children about his plans in the event of anything happening to him and his wife. The oarsman-turned-presenter discussed wills, […]
The makes-you-proud-to-be-British way of death
Alice Pitman, in the Christmas edition of the Oldie magazine, describes her extremely unwell 88 year-old mother rising to the occasion in hospital: Eventually a porter came and perfunctorily wheeled her to theatre. [We] followed down an interminably long corridor, the Aged P issuing instructions over her shoulder about what we were to do if […]
Caitlin Moran offers posthumous advice to her daughter
Here’s one we missed earlier: journalist Caitlin Moran’s draft last letter to her daughter published in The Times in July of last year (remember 2013?). You can find the entire article (£) here. My daughter is about to turn 13 and I’ve been smoking a lot recently, and so – in the wee small hours, […]
