The GFG Blog
2014Jan
The stalemate of funeral choice
Charles
Jan
22
2 comments
Posted by Richard Rawlinson Cherishing freedom of speech we often quote the line, ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it’. So democrats proselytise in order to influence others, and sometimes those influenced leave one tribe and join another. A far
Philip Treacy remembers Issie Blow
Charles
Jan
21
No Comments
Posted by Richard Rawlinson Running until 2 March at London’s Somerset House, Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore! is an exhibition celebrating the extraordinary life and wardrobe of the late patron of fashion and art. To promote the show, one of her many protégés, milliner Philip Treacy, talks here. As the interview progresses,
In your prayers
Charles
Jan
20
No Comments
Some sharp comment here in Monday’s Times by David Aaronovitch: Death prattle Pieties are by no means always religious. I don’t know when the practice began in this country of appending “our thoughts are with etc” to any tribute to the recently departed, but it has gone too far. No
Down To Earth is looking for a manager
Charles
Jan
20
1 comment
Down to Earth manager Full time, £30,656, One in five people cannot afford a funeral. QSA seeks a full-time manager to deliver an award-winning project, Down to Earth, which provides independent funeral advice for people on low incomes in east London. The position includes management, planning and delivery,
Funerals, who needs em?
Charles
Jan
19
24 comments
When England first played Scotland, on 30 November 1872, both teams employed formations that would raise eyebrows today. Scotland went for a cautious 2-2-6 while England employed a more swashbuckling 1-1-8. The game was all kick-and-rush in those days. Kick-and-rush. It’s how businesses, anxious to futureproof themselves, respond to prophecy.
Calling all telegenic undertakers
Charles
Jan
18
1 comment
A phone call and two emails shattered the tranquillity here at the GFG-Batesville Shard late last week. The gist was: we are currently developing a new project for Channel 4, which will be an observational documentary series set in a funeral parlour. We envisage the series being warm and informative, recognising
Fusion funerals: Cockneys, immigrants and Hackney hipsters
Charles
Jan
16
2 comments
Posted by Richard Rawlinson The story of T. Cribb & Sons is one of business resilience in the cultural quicksand of London’s East End. A family-run firm of undertakers since 1881, its heritage is Cockney: close-knit, white, working class communities celebratory of both their roots and the material trappings of wealth:
Your number’s up and it’s 23
Charles
Jan
15
7 comments
The American writer William S Burroughes met a seaman, a Captain Clark, in the 1960s who told him that he had been sailing for exactly 23 years without mishap of any kind. That very day, Clark’s ship was lost at sea; it went down with all hands. As Burroughes pondered
Richard III’s reinterment remains unresolved
Charles
Jan
14
2 comments
Posted by Richard Rawlinson Will Richard III’s DNA-approved descendants scupper this May’s planned reinterment of his remains during a televised, Anglican ceremony at Leicester Cathedral? Having objected to Leicester’s claim to the last Plantagenet monarch, there’s now to be a judicial review in March aiming to annul Leicester’s license. Will the
Candlepower
Charles
Jan
14
5 comments
If you’re out in Soho on a Saturday night chances are, as you reel from one nightspot to another, that a fresh-faced young person will greet you with the somewhat discordant question, “Would you like to light a candle in a church?” Being idealists, these gentle, big-eyed souls are used
