A cycle of denial and fear
We’ve extracted this from a Q and A with mortician Caitin Doughty in the Los Angeles Times. Some brilliantly expressed insights here, we’re sure you’ll agree. Do people see death differently in other parts of the world? How — and how does that change the way they respond to death? Some cultures are terrified of […]
There were six of us in the house. Seconds ago there had been seven.
Fran and her Mum on her 70th Fran Hall, a funeral industry practitioner of many years’ standing, much admired by the GFG, now works as a consultant. She is also the newly-appointed Chair of the Natural Death Centre. For years Fran successfully managed to balance detatchment and empathy in her professional life, so how did it feel when […]
Which? hunt
Okay then, what’s so what’s our line on the latest media coverage of Funeralworld sparked by the ‘consumer advocacy organisation’ Which? deploring mendacious, predatory funeral directors? All the age-old charges are levelled against funeral directors: opaque pricing, upselling, and talking people into services they don’t need like embalming. Out of 20 funeral directors mystery shopped […]
Dethe where is thy sting, where Grave thy victory cry Molesworth
Posted by Vale Ronald Searle is no more. We marked the day here at the GFG Batesville tower with a blog post and a brief period of mourning by dressing like Alaster Sim playing the headmistress of St Trinian’s. Enuff said. But, in the pages of the Economist, the grate Molesworth himself has remembered […]
Without knobs on
From Richard Rawlinson, our religious correspondent, who is a Catholic. The campaign against ugly and extraneous coffin handles launched by aesthete and designer David Hicks, which the GFG ran a little while back – here – has support in high places. Pope John Paul II’s coffin was beautiful in its simplicity.
Second-hand coffin for sale
A used casket went up for sale last month at a Los Angeles auction house with the estimate price of $1,000. The ‘one previous owner’ was Lee Harvey Oswald, President John F Kennedy’s suspected assassin. Shot dead by Jack Ruby just days after JFK’s murder in 1963, he was buried in Texas, but was unearthed […]
Best of Fife
You remember Neil Brunton? He’s the singer-songwriting-undertaker you voted for a while back in that Radio 2 competition. Let us refresh your memory here. Well, partly thanks to you he’s made it to the final. Here’s the story (abridged): Neil Brunton has reached the final stages of a national songwriting competition called Oldie Composers, on […]
Deathfest Southbank
With a Festival Day Pass for Saturday 28 January or Sunday 29 January, muse upon mortality, tackle the taboo and join us for a weekend of discussion, workshops and talks. Ask questions, share your stories or simply be enlightened about the end. Including: – Assisted dying: The Human Rights Debate with Jon Snow – The Long […]
Ozzy Osbourne on coffin shopping
Ozzy Osborne is an agony uncle at the Sunday Times. Here’s a recent interaction: Dear Dr Ozzy, is it bad form to shop for your own coffin? (I ask this as a cancer patient with very particular tastes.) Anonymous Ozzy replies: It ain’t bad form, but there’s gotta be something better to do with your […]
Bicycle hearse for sale
Paul Sinclair, he who begat Motorcycle Funerals, has a bicycle hearse for sale. It’s made to his own design, and it’s been thoroughly tested. Says Paul, “We put a coffin on it and 30 stones of sandbags then rode it with two, me being pillion. It went fine.” Paul warns: “I won’t sell it to someone […]
