LOL...I get a laugh when I read how others are so upset (or is that uppity) with people talking trash about Maggie. Britain is a different culture. I'm not sure why people need Brits to adhere to our cultural standards.
Margaret Thatcher is dead.
- Thread starter JLM
- Start date
LOL...I get a laugh when I read how others are so upset (or is that uppity) with people talking trash about Maggie. Britain is a different culture. I'm not sure why people need Brits to adhere to our cultural standards.
It's a simple reflection on you gopher... Nothing more and nothing less. Hell, she isn't even a politician in your nation and yet there is this frothing at the mouth reaction
Myself, I really could care less, but it says volumes about the individual particularly in terms of how visibly upset that you've become in feeling the need to describe Thatcher in such vivid terms.
The rehearsal for Maggie's funeral took place in central London early this morning.
Major Andrew Chatburn, the man in charge of choreographing the parade, said the rehearsal 'went very well' and claimed it was 'vitally important' to stage a trial of Wednesday's event.
Practice: The early morning dress rehearsal for Baroness Thatcher's funeral procession arriving at St Paul's Cathedral in London this morning. Amongst the assortment of British troops in the picture is a Gurkha, with his traditional Nepalese kukri knife
More than 700 serving Armed Forces personnel gathered in central London before dawn as a Union flag-draped coffin was carried on a horse-drawn gun carriage from St Clement Danes, the church of the Royal Air Force, down the Strand to St Paul's Cathedral.
Meanwhile Lady Thatcher's twins, Mark and Carol, spent time at her grand house in Belgravia in central London today, and were later joined by Mark's wife Sarah and their children Michael and Amanda.
Military: As darkness surrounds St Paul's Cathedral, the armed forces practice their march up the steps and along by the pillars as they prepare for the funeral on Wednesday
Maj Chatburn, ceremonial staff officer for the Household Division, who was also behind the royal wedding procession two years ago and last year's Diamond Jubilee parade, said: 'Timings are most important. We will learn something quite significant this morning about the timings, and to familiarise the troops of their duties.
'Bearing in mind these are sailors, soldiers and airmen who have come in to do this specific task from their routine duties, so it's new to them.
'They need to see the ground as well so they can get a feel for how it's going to go and they can perform their duties with confidence on the day.
'I thought it went very well.'
Dawn: While most of Britain slept the dress rehearsal was in full swing this morning
The procession band played the funeral marches of Chopin, Beethoven and Mendelssohn as it made its way along the deserted streets.
During the rehearsal the military and police wore their working dress and high visibility clothes respectively, but they will be in ceremonial uniform on Wednesday.
March: Military personnel will be playing music at the event, which will see the Iron lady's final journey
The procession, timed to last 19 minutes, will see the Union flag-draped coffin carried on a horse-drawn gun carriage from St Clement Danes, the church of the Royal Air Force, down the Strand on Wednesday morning.
Moving: British forces' officers escort a Union Jack-draped coffin on a gun carriage drawn by the King's Troop Royal Artillery past The George pub
Led by the Band of the Royal Marines, the solemn procession will then slowly travel along Fleet Street towards St Paul's where around 2,000 mourners are expected to attend the service.
The streets of central London will be lined by men and women from all three services along with three marching bands.
A Royal Navy sailors bows her head as she prepares for the coffin to pass by
These will be the RAF band, which will be closest to St Clement Danes, the Band of the Scots Guards and the Band of the Royal Marines, all with their drums draped in black as a mark of respect. Once at St Paul's, Lady Thatcher's coffin will be met by a Guard of Honour provided by the Prince of Wales Company of the First Battalion Welsh Guards.
A tri-service bearer party, drawn from ships, squadrons and regiments particularly associated with the Falklands, will then place the coffin on their shoulders and the gun carriage will draw away.
The bearer party, dressed in their regimental or service uniform and who have been carefully selected according to their height, will be made up of the Royal Navy/Marines, Scots Guards, Welsh Guards, Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, Parachute Regiment, Royal Gurkha Rifles and RAF.
They will then carry the coffin up the west steps of St Paul's which will be lined by 14 pensioners from Royal Hospital Chelsea and 18 service personnel: six from the Navy, six from the RAF and six members of the Blues and Royals, Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment.
The officer in command of the bearing party is Major Nicholas Mott of the Welsh Guards, while the chief marshal, who will walk behind the procession band, is Falklands veteran Colonel Hugh Bodington.
The coffin will be carried on one of six First World War-era gun carriages of the Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery, used routinely for gun salutes, most recently to mark the 61st anniversary of the Queen's accession to the throne.
The carriage, never used in a funeral before, is likely to be named after Lady Thatcher as is traditional after such occasions. It will be drawn by six black horses, three of them mounted, all with their manes removed to give them a sleeker appearance and stop the harness snagging.
It will be led by a charger named Mister Twister with a second charger to the side of the other six horses, with three soldiers walking alongside the carriage.
Shining: Gunner Lacey Powell from King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery cleans horse bridles in preparation for the funeral of Lady Thatcher
High security: A young woman walks past steel pedestrian barriers close to the rear of St Paul's Cathedral, as the construction of a ring of security begins before the funeral of Baroness Thatcher on Wednesday
Maj Chatburn, previously senior director of music in the Household Division and director of music in the Irish Guards, said the three bands lining the route will play their martial music slightly subdued in keeping with the solemnity of the occasion, such as that played at the cenotaph on Remembrance Day.
They will stop playing as the coffin is lifted at St Clement Danes.
Meanwhile the procession band will be playing the funeral marches of Chopin, Beethoven and Mendelssohn, with the order expected to be determined during a full rehearsal of the parade in the early hours of Monday morning.
Maj Chatburn said the procession poses a ‘significant challenge for the musicians’ as the pace of funeral marches is irregular.
While the pace of the music is 60 beats per minute, the procession will move at 70 beats per minute due to the speed the horses walk. A total of 183 musicians are taking part.
‘The devil is in the detail and if you don't plan, you'll fail,’ Maj Chatburn said.
‘They are professional service personnel who will address this with the dignity and solemnity and, more importantly, the professional approach that one would expect of the armed services.
‘But that doesn't mean to say that we're complacent at all. We will take whatever lessons we learn from this and we will apply them to whatever comes forth.’
Maj Chatburn said the ‘threat’ of protesters disrupting the procession is a matter for the police.
But the servicemen and women ‘will adapt to whatever is required of them, they are serving soldiers, sailors and airmen’.
He said: ‘Many of these have served in Afghanistan and if there is anything that they have to adapt to, they will adapt with it within the confines of their responsibility.’
No members of Lady Thatcher's family will be walking alongside the coffin and the parade will not feature any civilians, he said.
During the procession the Honourable Artillery Company will fire Processional Minute Guns from the Tower of London with the first round fired as the wheels of the gun carriage start to roll and the last one as the carriage stops outside St Paul's.
Margaret Thatcher’s funeral service will be dominated by movingly patriotic selections of music and verse, chosen by the former Prime Minister herself.
The service, conducted by the Bishop of London, the Right Rev Richard Chartres – a long-standing friend of Lady Thatcher – will reflect her public love of her country and her private literary tastes.
Lady Thatcher’s coat of arms is on the front page of the Order of Service, as granted following her elevation to the peerage in 1992. Underneath are the words ‘Cherish Freedom’, her motto.
On the second page is the poem Little Gidding, by T. S. Eliot, written at the height of the Blitz in 1941. The poet was a particular favourite of Lady Thatcher.
The ten-strong bearer party has been deliberately chosen from ships, units and stations ‘notable for their service during the Falklands Campaign’.
Funeral: The coffin will be taken from the RAF's St Clement Danes Church, pictured this morning, to St Paul's, by gun carriage
The final bill for the funeral may approach £10million. Lady Thatcher’s family is meeting an unspecified amount of the expense, thought to cover transport, flowers and the cremation, with the Government funding the rest, including security.
Foreign Secretary William Hague said:‘When it comes to money, the rebate she negotiated for this country from the EU has brought us so far £75billion…I think that puts money in perspective.’
He was behind the royal wedding procession two years ago and last year's Diamond Jubilee parade - so Major Andrew Chatburn certainly has plenty of experience in working while the world watches.
The Household Division ceremonial staff officer is in charge of choreographing Baroness Thatcher's funeral parade, which will be the largest Britain has seen since that of the Queen Mother's in 2002.
The military procession leading to the St Paul's Cathedral service in central London will feature more than 700 serving Armed Forces personnel from units particularly associated with the Falklands War.
Major Chatburn said the plans are based on ‘precedent and pragmatism’ with the wishes of the former prime minister herself. He added: ‘Baroness Thatcher had no direct service relationship.
‘On this occasion it was felt appropriate that service personnel who have an association or connection with the Falklands conflict, for which the late prime minister is pretty famous for, was probably the most suitable on this occasion.
'Of course, Baroness Thatcher's wishes will have been taken into account.’
Maj Chatburn said his department has contingency plans for a number of eventualities but did not have one in the event of the death of the Baroness.
She will have a ceremonial funeral complete with military honours with the procession tailored especially to her, he said. The last prime minister to have such a send-off was Winston Churchill in 1965, but he had a state funeral.
The pensioners from Royal Hospital Chelsea did not take part today due to the early start, but they will line the west steps of St Paul's for the real event.
Maj Chatburn said: 'The point of the rehearsal is to prove the route, make sure that the soldiers, sailors and airmen are familiar with their duties and to prove the timings.
Salute: Lady Thatcher's coffin will be carried on a gun carriage though the City of London to St Paul's cathedral where a funeral service will be held on April 17
'There is always scope for error but we try to eliminate that as much as we possibly can.
'We'll go back now, we'll have a debriefing and we'll take the points from that.
'We'll address whatever we have to address. If it's additional rehearsals in barracks we'll conduct those rehearsals and we'll get it right on the day.'
Exit: After Wednesday's ceremony, Lady Thatcher's coffin will then be taken out of St Paul's
Preparations: The Lord Mayor of London, Roger Gifford takes part in a rehearsal for the funeral inside St Paul's
Grand: Mr Gifford stands in the heart of the cathedral, below its world famous dome
Teamwork: Soldiers from King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery move the Ceremonial Gun Carriage from the workshop in London in preparation for the upcoming funeral of former prime minister Baroness Thatcher
Read more: News | Mail Online
Spick and span: Lance Bombardier Nikopaul Powell cleaning the Ceremonial Gun Carriage that will move the coffin of Lady Thatcher from St Clement Danes Church along the processional route to St Paul's Cathedral
Read more and see video: Margaret Thatcher funeral: Eerie London scene at daybreak as hundreds of servicemen rehearse former PM's funeral | Mail Online
Just because childish and nasty members of the Left have just about failed in getting "Ding Gong The Witch Is Dead" to the top of the UK charts (it's at No2 after selling 52,605 copies), whereas the pro-Thatcher song "I Am In Lover With Margaret Thatcher" entered the charts at No35, does not mean that Thatcher was more hated than loved.
In fact a recent poll, as I posted on a previous page of this thread, has shown that the British people think Thatcher is the greatest of the 13 Prime Ministers since WWII. She is more popular even than Churchill.
Major Andrew Chatburn, the man in charge of choreographing the parade, said the rehearsal 'went very well' and claimed it was 'vitally important' to stage a trial of Wednesday's event.
Practice: The early morning dress rehearsal for Baroness Thatcher's funeral procession arriving at St Paul's Cathedral in London this morning. Amongst the assortment of British troops in the picture is a Gurkha, with his traditional Nepalese kukri knife
More than 700 serving Armed Forces personnel gathered in central London before dawn as a Union flag-draped coffin was carried on a horse-drawn gun carriage from St Clement Danes, the church of the Royal Air Force, down the Strand to St Paul's Cathedral.
Meanwhile Lady Thatcher's twins, Mark and Carol, spent time at her grand house in Belgravia in central London today, and were later joined by Mark's wife Sarah and their children Michael and Amanda.
Military: As darkness surrounds St Paul's Cathedral, the armed forces practice their march up the steps and along by the pillars as they prepare for the funeral on Wednesday
Maj Chatburn, ceremonial staff officer for the Household Division, who was also behind the royal wedding procession two years ago and last year's Diamond Jubilee parade, said: 'Timings are most important. We will learn something quite significant this morning about the timings, and to familiarise the troops of their duties.
'Bearing in mind these are sailors, soldiers and airmen who have come in to do this specific task from their routine duties, so it's new to them.
'They need to see the ground as well so they can get a feel for how it's going to go and they can perform their duties with confidence on the day.
'I thought it went very well.'
Dawn: While most of Britain slept the dress rehearsal was in full swing this morning
The procession band played the funeral marches of Chopin, Beethoven and Mendelssohn as it made its way along the deserted streets.
During the rehearsal the military and police wore their working dress and high visibility clothes respectively, but they will be in ceremonial uniform on Wednesday.
March: Military personnel will be playing music at the event, which will see the Iron lady's final journey
The procession, timed to last 19 minutes, will see the Union flag-draped coffin carried on a horse-drawn gun carriage from St Clement Danes, the church of the Royal Air Force, down the Strand on Wednesday morning.
Moving: British forces' officers escort a Union Jack-draped coffin on a gun carriage drawn by the King's Troop Royal Artillery past The George pub
Led by the Band of the Royal Marines, the solemn procession will then slowly travel along Fleet Street towards St Paul's where around 2,000 mourners are expected to attend the service.
The streets of central London will be lined by men and women from all three services along with three marching bands.
A Royal Navy sailors bows her head as she prepares for the coffin to pass by
These will be the RAF band, which will be closest to St Clement Danes, the Band of the Scots Guards and the Band of the Royal Marines, all with their drums draped in black as a mark of respect. Once at St Paul's, Lady Thatcher's coffin will be met by a Guard of Honour provided by the Prince of Wales Company of the First Battalion Welsh Guards.
A tri-service bearer party, drawn from ships, squadrons and regiments particularly associated with the Falklands, will then place the coffin on their shoulders and the gun carriage will draw away.
The bearer party, dressed in their regimental or service uniform and who have been carefully selected according to their height, will be made up of the Royal Navy/Marines, Scots Guards, Welsh Guards, Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, Parachute Regiment, Royal Gurkha Rifles and RAF.
They will then carry the coffin up the west steps of St Paul's which will be lined by 14 pensioners from Royal Hospital Chelsea and 18 service personnel: six from the Navy, six from the RAF and six members of the Blues and Royals, Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment.
The officer in command of the bearing party is Major Nicholas Mott of the Welsh Guards, while the chief marshal, who will walk behind the procession band, is Falklands veteran Colonel Hugh Bodington.
The coffin will be carried on one of six First World War-era gun carriages of the Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery, used routinely for gun salutes, most recently to mark the 61st anniversary of the Queen's accession to the throne.
The carriage, never used in a funeral before, is likely to be named after Lady Thatcher as is traditional after such occasions. It will be drawn by six black horses, three of them mounted, all with their manes removed to give them a sleeker appearance and stop the harness snagging.
It will be led by a charger named Mister Twister with a second charger to the side of the other six horses, with three soldiers walking alongside the carriage.
Shining: Gunner Lacey Powell from King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery cleans horse bridles in preparation for the funeral of Lady Thatcher
High security: A young woman walks past steel pedestrian barriers close to the rear of St Paul's Cathedral, as the construction of a ring of security begins before the funeral of Baroness Thatcher on Wednesday
Maj Chatburn, previously senior director of music in the Household Division and director of music in the Irish Guards, said the three bands lining the route will play their martial music slightly subdued in keeping with the solemnity of the occasion, such as that played at the cenotaph on Remembrance Day.
They will stop playing as the coffin is lifted at St Clement Danes.
Meanwhile the procession band will be playing the funeral marches of Chopin, Beethoven and Mendelssohn, with the order expected to be determined during a full rehearsal of the parade in the early hours of Monday morning.
Maj Chatburn said the procession poses a ‘significant challenge for the musicians’ as the pace of funeral marches is irregular.
While the pace of the music is 60 beats per minute, the procession will move at 70 beats per minute due to the speed the horses walk. A total of 183 musicians are taking part.
‘The devil is in the detail and if you don't plan, you'll fail,’ Maj Chatburn said.
‘They are professional service personnel who will address this with the dignity and solemnity and, more importantly, the professional approach that one would expect of the armed services.
‘But that doesn't mean to say that we're complacent at all. We will take whatever lessons we learn from this and we will apply them to whatever comes forth.’
Maj Chatburn said the ‘threat’ of protesters disrupting the procession is a matter for the police.
But the servicemen and women ‘will adapt to whatever is required of them, they are serving soldiers, sailors and airmen’.
He said: ‘Many of these have served in Afghanistan and if there is anything that they have to adapt to, they will adapt with it within the confines of their responsibility.’
No members of Lady Thatcher's family will be walking alongside the coffin and the parade will not feature any civilians, he said.
During the procession the Honourable Artillery Company will fire Processional Minute Guns from the Tower of London with the first round fired as the wheels of the gun carriage start to roll and the last one as the carriage stops outside St Paul's.
Margaret Thatcher’s funeral service will be dominated by movingly patriotic selections of music and verse, chosen by the former Prime Minister herself.
The service, conducted by the Bishop of London, the Right Rev Richard Chartres – a long-standing friend of Lady Thatcher – will reflect her public love of her country and her private literary tastes.
Lady Thatcher’s coat of arms is on the front page of the Order of Service, as granted following her elevation to the peerage in 1992. Underneath are the words ‘Cherish Freedom’, her motto.
On the second page is the poem Little Gidding, by T. S. Eliot, written at the height of the Blitz in 1941. The poet was a particular favourite of Lady Thatcher.
The ten-strong bearer party has been deliberately chosen from ships, units and stations ‘notable for their service during the Falklands Campaign’.
Funeral: The coffin will be taken from the RAF's St Clement Danes Church, pictured this morning, to St Paul's, by gun carriage
The final bill for the funeral may approach £10million. Lady Thatcher’s family is meeting an unspecified amount of the expense, thought to cover transport, flowers and the cremation, with the Government funding the rest, including security.
Foreign Secretary William Hague said:‘When it comes to money, the rebate she negotiated for this country from the EU has brought us so far £75billion…I think that puts money in perspective.’
He was behind the royal wedding procession two years ago and last year's Diamond Jubilee parade - so Major Andrew Chatburn certainly has plenty of experience in working while the world watches.
The Household Division ceremonial staff officer is in charge of choreographing Baroness Thatcher's funeral parade, which will be the largest Britain has seen since that of the Queen Mother's in 2002.
The military procession leading to the St Paul's Cathedral service in central London will feature more than 700 serving Armed Forces personnel from units particularly associated with the Falklands War.
Major Chatburn said the plans are based on ‘precedent and pragmatism’ with the wishes of the former prime minister herself. He added: ‘Baroness Thatcher had no direct service relationship.
‘On this occasion it was felt appropriate that service personnel who have an association or connection with the Falklands conflict, for which the late prime minister is pretty famous for, was probably the most suitable on this occasion.
'Of course, Baroness Thatcher's wishes will have been taken into account.’
Maj Chatburn said his department has contingency plans for a number of eventualities but did not have one in the event of the death of the Baroness.
She will have a ceremonial funeral complete with military honours with the procession tailored especially to her, he said. The last prime minister to have such a send-off was Winston Churchill in 1965, but he had a state funeral.
The pensioners from Royal Hospital Chelsea did not take part today due to the early start, but they will line the west steps of St Paul's for the real event.
Maj Chatburn said: 'The point of the rehearsal is to prove the route, make sure that the soldiers, sailors and airmen are familiar with their duties and to prove the timings.
Salute: Lady Thatcher's coffin will be carried on a gun carriage though the City of London to St Paul's cathedral where a funeral service will be held on April 17
'There is always scope for error but we try to eliminate that as much as we possibly can.
'We'll go back now, we'll have a debriefing and we'll take the points from that.
'We'll address whatever we have to address. If it's additional rehearsals in barracks we'll conduct those rehearsals and we'll get it right on the day.'
Exit: After Wednesday's ceremony, Lady Thatcher's coffin will then be taken out of St Paul's
Preparations: The Lord Mayor of London, Roger Gifford takes part in a rehearsal for the funeral inside St Paul's
Grand: Mr Gifford stands in the heart of the cathedral, below its world famous dome
Teamwork: Soldiers from King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery move the Ceremonial Gun Carriage from the workshop in London in preparation for the upcoming funeral of former prime minister Baroness Thatcher
Read more: News | Mail Online
Spick and span: Lance Bombardier Nikopaul Powell cleaning the Ceremonial Gun Carriage that will move the coffin of Lady Thatcher from St Clement Danes Church along the processional route to St Paul's Cathedral
Read more and see video: Margaret Thatcher funeral: Eerie London scene at daybreak as hundreds of servicemen rehearse former PM's funeral | Mail Online
Just because childish and nasty members of the Left have just about failed in getting "Ding Gong The Witch Is Dead" to the top of the UK charts (it's at No2 after selling 52,605 copies), whereas the pro-Thatcher song "I Am In Lover With Margaret Thatcher" entered the charts at No35, does not mean that Thatcher was more hated than loved.
In fact a recent poll, as I posted on a previous page of this thread, has shown that the British people think Thatcher is the greatest of the 13 Prime Ministers since WWII. She is more popular even than Churchill.
As only an evil monster would. I t will be thousands of years before flowers grow there again.
The pervert Churchill will show her around hell. When a people love a monster built by bankers they also love then that nations time is nigh done by all historical accounts. You should start swimming for the new world 'as soon as' Blackleaf.
It looks like the funeral will be a pompous, overwrought, turgid spectacle for that pathetic old hag. Something that the Anglican Church, a crumbling vestige of the British Empire.. now inundated with a homosexual clergy and pagan doctrine.. does quite well.. since its given up on Christianity. I won't be watching.
Why hasn't Britain gone back to pre-Thatcher policies if she was so bad for the country?
I think you are bullsh*tting me, Walter. Tell me, Walter, what are the main identifying features of a "leftie"?
Your going to have to prove I did anything like that, because I have no idea what you're getting all emotional about.
Who's getting all upset or uppity? Besides gopher that is.
The rehearsal for Maggie's funeral took place in central London early this morning.
Major Andrew Chatburn, the man in charge of choreographing the parade, said the rehearsal 'went very well' and claimed it was 'vitally important' to stage a trial of Wednesday's event.
Practice: The early morning dress rehearsal for Baroness Thatcher's funeral procession arriving at St Paul's Cathedral in London this morning. Amongst the assortment of British troops in the picture is a Gurkha, with his traditional Nepalese kukri knife
I'd be guessing Old Maggie's sendoff exceeded the average $3000-$6000.
Normally I agree with you, Goph, but I think you're "out to lunch" on this one. -
So then you are in agreement with the right wingers that it is OK to apply double standards on situations like this. The hell with Labourite Foot and Chavez but honor murderer Thatcher who ordered that IRA prisoners be kept naked in jail cells and who applauded apartheid.
OK. That says a lot more about you and the right wingers than it does about it.
captain morgan; said:
Chavez wasn't a pol here in the States but look at the rapturous joy expressed on this forum at his death. Did you criticize that?
Thatcher's policies in supporting apartheid slavery in South Africa was just as bad as Rothemere's support of Hitler and Mussolini in the 1930s. It was she who entrenched British military presence in Northern Ireland and she was a union buster. She forced the poor to become poorer and deserves all the condemnation she has gotten. Anyone who praises her doesn't know anything about her history.
I know very little about Thatcher and nothing about Chavez. What I do know about Thatcher is she was reelected by her own people twice, so for the most part they obviously liked her, so I'm certainly not going to have a hernia over her. Unless one knows the whole story, it's dangerous to have a solid opinion.