2 AUGUST 2008, Page 23

Lying about the dead

Sir: Geoffrey Wheatcroft’s musings on funeral addresses (Diary, 26 July) reminded me of my own late father, a Spectator reader for as long as I can remember. He left strict instructions that there should be no eulogies at his own funeral, as he called them ‘two men lying’ — one in his coffin, the other from the pulpit.

Jamie Day

St Albans, Hertfordshire