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Postcards from the EdgeBy Jon BlythWhilst browsing through the news recently, I came across the story that there is a group which is currently trying to raise funds to recover the body of Sir Francis Drake. It is intended to extract the famous privateer/pirate from his watery grave somewhere off Panama in order to give him a proper burial. It is worth noting that Drake expressly requested not to be buried at sea, and I doubt as well whether he has been resting in peace in Catholic waters for the past four centuries. However much debate rages about the motives behind this planned expedition, and it looks doomed to failure. On a plus note, all this has prompted me to resurrect (sic) the popular educational-historical party game Whose Body is it Anyway?1. Given a state funeral, and then dug up several years later in order to be hanged on a gibbet at Tyburn. 2. Pickled in a barrel, sailed down the Thames, and then stuffed under St Paul's. 3. Buried in an unmarked grave after the poisoning, shooting, stabbing, beating and then drowning incident. 4. Slung naked over a horse so his head bashed against a bridge, and then buried in Greyfriars Church, Leicester. Oh yes, and then dug up and thrown into the River Stour. 5. Buried quietly. Then exhumed and transported home(-ish) to be buried in a lead coffin. Oh and then a series of wooden coffins and finally an oak sarcophagus. Presumably to make sure he didn't escape again. 6. Interred at Glastonbury Abbey. Or Cornwall. Or Edinburgh…the list goes on… 7. Left on the floor of a Rouen convent until he went squishy. Then hastily buried. 8. Buried at Chertesy Abbey. Then buried at Windsor. Then buried at Westminster. All this after losing a civil war at least twice. 9. Buried in India, Cochin to be exact, in 1524. Dug up in 1539 and transported home to Portugal for a burial fitting for an exploring national hero. 10. Laid to rest on top of the wardrobe. Scroll down for the answers...
1. Oliver Cromwell
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