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, […]
Right, that’s your lot
As 2013 totters down the pub for a festive pint, it’s time for us to hang up our trocar and call it a day. A big thank you to all our readers. An even bigger thank you to all our guest bloggers; you keep us fresh and unpredictable. Biggest thanks of all to Richard […]
In memory of England’s slaves
The arrival of slave trading ships at Bristol’s port helped make the city rich in the 18th century. But there are few memorials to the thousands of Africans put to work around Britain in that century. It was, therefore, interesting to learn that the modern Pero’s Bridge at Bristol Harbour is named after the slave of […]
Can grief be assuaged by a nice big car?
Extract from Therapy, Legitimation or Both: Funeral Directors and the Grief Process by Ivan Emke (2003): One example of a product which is “sold” to funeral consumers is funeral automobiles. The sleek automobiles have become standard fare in funeral processions, but one can inquire about the function of these products. Do they help the families in their grieving? […]
Raising money in memory
The sun that bids us rest is waking Our brethren ’neath the western sky The words of the well-known hymn put us in mind of our undertakerly comrades, slow adopters in everything — justly cautious of novelty. In the last year there’s been a lot of waking up to the benefits of online charity fundraising […]
Don’t stop all the clocks
Posted by Baggaman Yesterday Quokkagirl had a go at crappy crematoria. Fair do’s. But it’s not all bad. Take the time limit. Is that a restraint or a constraint? A restraint is bad, something to be got round. A constraint is good. The best art, literature and music are inspired by self-imposed constraints. The haiku, […]
Crème de la crem
A rant by Quokkagirl Imagine if you will – a member of the mourning congregation spends the funeral ceremony of a dear 100 year old friend, listening intently to me …..….awaiting his cue. When the cue comes, he leaves his role as a mourner to fiddle with his mp3 player (which he’d had to go […]
