As the Metropolitan Police today made a devastating statement about the late celebrity Sir (for now) Jimmy Savile - and as his nearest and dearest decide to dismantle his portentous grave - it seems fitting to revive the memory of a Blog from a year ago.
And to which we might add that golden coffins continue to accrue interesting associations. Not only, in fact, is the danger of too much gold in your dying place that the living will take it from you, or you from it but that the light of history may destroy it faster than the Yorkshire weather. Cheap wood or wicker for me please, and regarding the rest I'll keep trusting Jesus'll fix it.
9 NOVEMBER 2011
Prior to today's funeral, showman Jimmy Savile's golden coffin lay 'in state' in a hotel in Leeds. We'll miss him, epitomised in his epitaph IT WAS GOOD WHILE IT LASTED.
And to which we might add that golden coffins continue to accrue interesting associations. Not only, in fact, is the danger of too much gold in your dying place that the living will take it from you, or you from it but that the light of history may destroy it faster than the Yorkshire weather. Cheap wood or wicker for me please, and regarding the rest I'll keep trusting Jesus'll fix it.
9 NOVEMBER 2011
Prior to today's funeral, showman Jimmy Savile's golden coffin lay 'in state' in a hotel in Leeds. We'll miss him, epitomised in his epitaph IT WAS GOOD WHILE IT LASTED.
A couple of days before we've heard of the conclusion of the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor - and the international star also had a golden coffin. Sadly the story of Michel Jackson, notwithstanding his great talents, was that it was not always good while it lasted. That was why he died young.
Who else? There was Carl Williams (2006); he was a killer himself killed in jail in Australia after being a leader of the Melbourne underworld; Nick Rizutto, son of the imprisoned Mafia boss in Montreal (2010). And so on: golden coffins have some interesting associations.
There's nothing new about golden caskets either. The gilded bed on which old Tutankhamen's remains lay is but one of the golden treasures that, since their discovery, have made his death arrangements among the best known in history. Sadly for him, the treasures were so wonderful that he (or at least his remaining molecules) were separated from the gold so that museum visitors can see the gold. So the danger of too much gold in your dying place is that the living will take it from you, or you from it.
The real trick would not be about gold at all. It would be to be able to exit the place to join the living once again. Lady Gaga achieved this earlier this year at Radio 1's Big Weekend. For her first song she emerged from a golden coffin to launch her song set. Great show! Sir Jimmy was proud I'm sure. But the tricky, and achingly important, part of the real trick would be to do that after being publicly dead, say on the third day . . .
The real trick would not be about gold at all. It would be to be able to exit the place to join the living once again. Lady Gaga achieved this earlier this year at Radio 1's Big Weekend. For her first song she emerged from a golden coffin to launch her song set. Great show! Sir Jimmy was proud I'm sure. But the tricky, and achingly important, part of the real trick would be to do that after being publicly dead, say on the third day . . .
Jesus'll fix it.
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