You tried
One for you celebrants. In a deceptively ‘unclever’ eulogy for James Gandolfini, David Chase, creator and head writer of the Sopranos, offered this thought about the subordinate value of coherence in speechmaking: I remember how you [Gandolfini] did speeches. I saw you do a lot of them at awards shows and stuff, and invariably you […]
Life stories don’t tell half the story
For the living there is much pleasure to be derived from surveying a person’s life when the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and their work is done. Dead, in other words. Works in progress – biographies of the living – just don’t cut it. Death focuses the mind on […]
In praise of the well-judged anecdote
We are indebted to Anne Barber for making this paraphrase of what the Daily Telegraph’s obituaries’ editor, Harry de Quetteville, said on Sunday’s Broadcasting House on dear old Radio 4. We all love a good story, but a good anecdote is even better, briefly, amusingly confirming or upsetting the reputations of those we thought we […]
RIP CMJ
“Tony Greig died of a heart attack on Saturday. It was probably for him a merciful release because the late stage of any cancer is often hell on earth.” So wrote Christopher Martin-Jenkins in The Times on 31 December. He knew what he was writing about. He died of cancer himself on New Year’s Day. […]
Is ceremony dying?
Posted by Richard Rawlinson This seems a strange question just after economically-challenged Britain has hosted the Olympics, a no-expenses-spared ceremonial games that unites nations in celebration of sporting prowess. But as the cult of individuality nibbles away at established social conventions, more and more people seem to be caring less for ceremony on a more intimate […]
‘Moose…Indian’ – whose last words?
Posted by Vale 150 years ago yesterday Henry David Thoreau died. I’ve loved him ever since I came across his views on the first transatlantic telegraph cable. Emerson had written in praise of it, but Thoreau – with something of the prophet in him – refused to be enthusiastic simply noting that “perchance the first […]
Quote of the day
“I was deeply moved by the appreciation shown by many of my children’s peers for my address at my wife’s funeral; their expression of my bravery for doing so was extremely heart warming. I didn’t feel brave, but what was I to do? What better time to offer a celebration of her life and her […]
Publishing event of the year!
The Natural Death Handbook, Fifth Edition A thoroughly updated and revised edition of the Natural Death Centre‘s celebrated handbook. Now presented alongside a new collection of essays on death, dying and funeral practices by doctors, historians, authors, poets, theologians and artists including Richard Barnett, David Jay Brown, Dr Sheila Cassidy, Charles Cowling, Bill Drummond, Stephen Grasso, […]
Eric Idle’s eulogy to George Harrison
Eric Idle’s eulogy to George Harrison at the memorial event at the Hollywood Bowl: When they told me they were going to induct my friend George Harrison into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame posthumously: my first thought was – I bet he won’t show up. Because, unlike some others one might mention – but […]
Dying Large
Very nice piece here by Wendy Dennis in the Huffington Post. I must have crossed some kind of age threshold, because when I go to funerals lately, I start thinking about my own. It’s not the dying part that scares me. It’s the numbers I’ll draw for the service. I’m in the sanctuary and the […]
