More great myths of Funeral world…
…or are these ones true? Posted by Richard Rawlinson No. 3: A company offering the expensive service of deep freezing and preserving corpses of wealthy folk who hoped that future generations would be able to revive them back to life, went in liquidation. Because of unpaid bills the electricity supply was cut off and the bodies […]
To our critics
Dear Ian and Frank, It was good to see you commenting once more on the blog. It shows that people of all shades of opinion read it, not just a clique. I hope you appreciate the way I allow you to say whatever you like, however abusive (so long as it isn’t also libellous). […]
Philosophical brain teaser
Posted by Richard Rawlinson Some readers might recall Roal Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected on TV. ‘William and Mary’ was a particularly beastly story about an academic having his brain and one eye transplanted from his body after death, and attached to an artificial heart so they both continue to function. William can see and […]
The Dabbler
Extract from the blurb for The Fixer, BBC2, Tuesday 26 Feb, 8pm-9pm: David Holmes runs a family business that’s one of the few industries to buck the current economic trend. Yet Holmes and Sons in Fleet, Hampshire, is almost dead and buried. If you haven’t guessed, they’re funeral directors. David’s young sons Olly and Toby […]
Dead as a dodo
Posted by our ornithology correspondent Richard Rawlinson With its alliterative similarity to Shakespeare’s phrase ‘dead as a doornail’, the term ‘dead as a dodo’ also remains in usage. The extinct bird has become a symbol of obsolescence. Unable to fly and laying just one egg at a time, this three feet-plus tall, 20-plus pound woodland forager […]
Blogs away!
Extraordinary communiqué from Sir Basil Batesville-Caskett Bt, CDM, RLSS (Bronze) I have just been handed a note. It reads: Yo Bazza Hey, about that week’s holiday you’ve been promising me. Well, I’m taking it. I’ve gone to the seaside with my lovely missus. See ya next Monday! Blog-ed x x I of course apologise to […]
Great myths of Funeralworld
Posted by Richard Rawlinson No.7 : Cremation is greener than burial. The writer of Ilkley Moor Bar T’at was ahead of his time. Here’s a translation of the lyrics from the Yorkshire dialect: On Ilkley Moor without a hat You have been courting Mary Jane You are bound to catch your death of cold Then we […]
Jennifer Paterson, Francis Bacon and other fallen stars
Posted by Richard Rawlinson — in sparklingly shameless name-dropping form – ED ‘Thank goodness for inequality,’ quipped a friend with nonchalant disregard for political correctness as we casually admired inequality’s legacy of beautiful architecture lining the streets of Belgravia this weekend. The plethora of blue plaques adorning these grand houses gave a degree of substance […]
Introducing the self-drive hearse
There’s a small but growing number of funeral shoppers who are becoming increasingly determined to find funeral directors who will assist them, or partner with them, in arranging a funeral. Some simply want to roll their sleeves up and do their bit for the person who’s died; others want to keep the costs down. It’s […]
‘I want the world to see what they did to my baby’
From The Star, Toronto: If Americans knew what bullets did to human flesh, they’d support gun control. So perhaps they should be shown in living colour what bullets do to small bodies. A mere description is insufficient for the literal-minded. Noah Pozner, 6, was one of the 20 child victims in the Sandy Hook shooting […]
