Last poem
Japanese Maple by Clive James (who is dying) Your death, near now, is of an easy sort. So slow a fading out brings no real pain. Breath growing short Is just uncomfortable. You feel the drain Of energy, but thought and sight remain: Enhanced, in fact. When did you ever see So much sweet beauty […]
What would Doctor Who’s funeral be like?
Posted by Melissa Stewart How does the Doctor’s experience of intergalactic death care compare with our earthly experiences? What would he think of arrangements in an average high street chain? In the 1985 episode ‘Revelation of the Daleks’, loosely based on Evelyn Waugh’s ‘The Loved One’, we learn a little about the Doctor’s attitude to […]
Yer gotta hav it!
Guest post by John Porter Anyone who says to me “You have to”, I nearly always reply with “why?” and then “why?” again! The fact is I don’t have to do anything. I can choose whether to or not – that’s different. “Not so,” I hear some say, “you have to have car insurance – […]
Packed to the rafters
One night in the early 1700s, Henry Trigg was making his way home when he heard a disturbance in the churchyard. Looking closer, he saw, to his horror of course, grave-robbers making off with a freshly-buried corpse. He continued on his way, resolving never to let the same thing happen to him. (He isn’t reported to have tried […]
14 years ago today
Posted by Richard Rawlinson Do you remember what you were doing on 9/11/2001? I was visiting the offices of BSkyB in London, discussing media issues in a meeting room that had a TV screen on a wall showing Sky News with the volume down. Our conversation came to an abrupt halt as we became aware of […]
Death releases both Ivan Ilyich and his folk
On 9 September, Leo Tolstoy was wished a Happy 186th Birthday by Google Doodle. The Google homepage included a slideshow of Tolstoy’s works, including War and Peace, Anna Karenina and The Death of Ivan Ilyich. The latter, written shortly after Tolstoy’s religious conversion, tells the story of the premature death of a Russian legal whizzkid. […]
Good Funeral Awards 2014 – the WINNERS
Funeral Director of the Year Sarah Clarke of Arka Original Funerals Most Promising New Funeral Director of the Year – sponsored by the Church of England Sarah Stuart and Lel Wallace of Wallace Stewart Green Funeral Director of the Year sponsored by GreenAcres Tracy O’Leary, Woodland Wishes Association of Green Funeral Directors Green Funeral Director […]
Calling all you lastminuters!
The Ideal Death Show starts today. There will be great speakers, great exhibitors, great fellowship and great fun. The event will have all its usual hallmarks: No hush and awe No black suits inclusive unstuffy chatty amazing cakes (how great thou art) Didn’t get around to booking?? No worries. Saturday’s the day to be there. […]
Peter Pan and the could-have-beens
Posted by Richard Rawlinson The two-minute silence, the candle-lit vigil and the ‘lights out’ remembrance ritual have all played a part in World War One centenary commemorations this year. The Great War’s anniversary topicality has also sparked interest in its history, whether reading, or visiting the extremely well-curated centenary exhibition at London’s Imperial War Museum. It […]
Give others a chance to help pay for child funerals
What an interesting debate that was, the one about whether undertakers and celebrants should charge for the funerals of children. A great many people followed it silently; the 25 comments represent a tiny fraction of the overall readership. The debate was not conducted on a level of dispassionate logic, so neither side prevailed, but the heart-over-head […]
