The Oxford University Press takes us back:
During the last decade of his life, he was the most famous man alive. On his ninetieth birthday, thousands of greeting cards were sent, addressed to ‘The Greatest Man in the World, London’, and they were all delivered to Churchill’s home. During his last days, when he lay dying, there were many who found it impossible to contemplate the world without him, just as Queen Victoria had earlier wondered, at the time of his death in 1852, how Britain would manage without the Duke of Wellington.
Winston Churchill was, in fact, the first commoner to receive a state funeral since the Duke of Wellington.
The dockyard cranes “bowing” to Churchill’s body as it passed by was a particularly memorable part of the day. Havengore, the ship that bore Churchill’s coffin, will retrace its journey this January 30th, with a military band playing “Rule Britannia” and a wreath tossed onto the Thames. There will also be a special evensong at Westminster Abbey. So very British.
Winston Churchill also has one of the great pieces of public art in London (or maybe anywhere): the bronze statue by Ivor Roberts-Jones of the prime minister, in greatcoat and cane, “gazing, somewhat defiantly, toward the Houses of Parliament.” That’s good statuary!
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