A Conversation for The Quite Interesting Society
QI - Last Will
Yarreau Started conversation Nov 28, 2008
Why did a well-known public figure insist on a private funeral?
QI - Last Will
Mrs Zen Posted Nov 28, 2008
Usually it's about avoiding the thing becoming a circus. Think of the outpouring when Diana died. Einstein asked to be cremated beacuse he did not want anyone "worshiping his bones". The pathologist stole his brain, though.
B
QI - Last Will
Mrs Zen Posted Nov 28, 2008
And then kept it in a jar, slicing bits up and sending them off to other scientists to study. He drove around the US with it in his car.
QI - Last Will
Mrs Zen Posted Nov 28, 2008
Not wanting people worshipping your bones is pretty specific.
Let's see....
If it was a he - did he not want his wife and his mistress to fight over his bones?
QI - Last Will
Mrs Zen Posted Nov 28, 2008
I thought it was fascinating, this stuff about Einstein's brain. Or more accurately about the wierd guy who stole it for studying.
I would say where I found it out - but it's FAR too good a source of potential QI questions to let on about it!
B
QI - Last Will
Br Robyn Hoode - Navo - complete with theme tune Posted Nov 28, 2008
Yarreau, which bit was the Klaxon? Just so we know what's definitely wrong!
QI - Last Will
Yarreau Posted Nov 28, 2008
The bit about "his wife and his mistress fighting". As far as I know, he was happily married.
QI - Last Will
Mrs Zen Posted Nov 28, 2008
Ok, so not a fight between a wife and a mistress - nothing as obvious as that.
Infection? Was it a matter of public duty? Did he want to avoid the crowds catching something?
QI - Last Will
Mrs Zen Posted Nov 28, 2008
No mistress. No epidemic. He clearly could specify what happened to his corpse (unlike a felon, for example).
Was the funeral actually private, or was it held publically despite his wishes?
QI - Last Will
Yarreau Posted Nov 28, 2008
No, he got his private funeral all right. He had cancer and knew he was dying, so he got to announce his wish, and the reason for it, a few weeks in advance.
QI - Last Will
Mrs Zen Posted Nov 28, 2008
*thinks*
So not Alexander the Great then. His corpse was smeared in honey and carted around the middle east and the eastern mediterranean for years, with armies fighting pitched battles to get hold of it.
I don't know if that counts as "public" or "not a funeral".
You can tell I'm stumped, can't you?
QI - Last Will
Yarreau Posted Nov 28, 2008
As much as I may want to, neither Shakespeare nor Alexander warrant a ...
This person was actually buried and is now hopefully resting in peace... there was nothing unusual about his funeral whatsoever, only about the announcement he made in advance.
QI - Last Will
Mrs Zen Posted Nov 28, 2008
Well, I knew it wasn't Alexander - I was just hoping to prompt you to say "no, he was modern". Alexander's marriage was hardly happy, either.
Hmmm.
Ok.
Are we talking this side of 1500 or the other side of 1500?
B
QI - Last Will
Yarreau Posted Nov 28, 2008
BTW, "avoiding a circus" probably wasn't all that far from the truth... although it is not the reason he stated.
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QI - Last Will
- 1: Yarreau (Nov 28, 2008)
- 2: Mrs Zen (Nov 28, 2008)
- 3: Mrs Zen (Nov 28, 2008)
- 4: Yarreau (Nov 28, 2008)
- 5: Yarreau (Nov 28, 2008)
- 6: Mrs Zen (Nov 28, 2008)
- 7: Mrs Zen (Nov 28, 2008)
- 8: Yarreau (Nov 28, 2008)
- 9: Br Robyn Hoode - Navo - complete with theme tune (Nov 28, 2008)
- 10: Yarreau (Nov 28, 2008)
- 11: Mrs Zen (Nov 28, 2008)
- 12: Yarreau (Nov 28, 2008)
- 13: Mrs Zen (Nov 28, 2008)
- 14: Yarreau (Nov 28, 2008)
- 15: Mrs Zen (Nov 28, 2008)
- 16: Mrs Zen (Nov 28, 2008)
- 17: Yarreau (Nov 28, 2008)
- 18: Mrs Zen (Nov 28, 2008)
- 19: Yarreau (Nov 28, 2008)
- 20: Mrs Zen (Nov 28, 2008)
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