please empty your brain below
I went to see Churchill's funeral as a young boy, but felt no desire to go yesterday or to take my son. One big difference was that Churchill's funeral was on a Saturday. Also, the turnout from the rest of world's statesmen was rather more impressive.

Nigel | 18.04.13 - 7:16 a.m. | #

I was around for Winston Churchill's funeral and remember it well. I also remember King Georges funeral. I heard King Georges on the radio and read about it in the "Daily Mirror", I think I still have the newspaper!. For Churchill we watched on black and white TV.
As I had 5 funerals to attend last I did not watch Mrs.Thatcher's funeral. However she does have my respect.

John | 18.04.13 - 7:22 a.m. | #

I watched the whole thing live on my desktop computer thanks to the BBC. Call me old-fashioned but I still feel uncomfortable with close-ups of people who have temporarily forgotten there are cameras watching their every move.
The heroes of the occasion were the servicemen carrying the coffin up, and then down, the steps of St Paul's. It was nail-biting stuff. Do you think Christopher Wren foresaw this?

Great Aunt Annie | 18.04.13 - 8:22 a.m. | #

Fascinating to be able to see the handsignals passing between the pall bearers
Terrifying for them - and in mega closeup.
We do all of this stuff so well and I was aware of the occasion even if I appeared to be the only person at work who was

gilly | 18.04.13 - 9:18 a.m. | #

I avoided all news outlets yesterday and went for a long walk in the north Essex countryside. Much better all round for my blood pressure...

THC | 18.04.13 - 9:24 a.m. | #

I also took a detour via Fleet Street on my walk to the office, and saw some on the BBC website. The crowds were somewhat thinner than I expected - mostly office workers who had popped out for an hour or so.

I doubt any other Prime Minister will be getting anything like this for quite some time, and quite right too. I am not at all convinced that Thatcher should have had much more than a usual private funeral and memorial service at Westminster Abbey. But she certainly changed the country.

Andrew | 18.04.13 - 10:22 a.m. | #

Plenty of impassioned discussion here in Sheffield, and long memories, even from those who were barely alive when she was in her pomp. A very noticeable difference from the south east.

Sarah | Homepage | 18.04.13 - 11:32 a.m. | #

I must have been watching the wrong funeral on tv because the one I watched was packed with thousands of people showing respect to a great pm and a great Briton.

Colinint | 18.04.13 - 11:36 a.m. | #

@Colinint read the piece again. DG was talking about the empty streets in the early morning, not during the funeral procession itself. I walked from Cannon Street station to Blackfriars around 9am and the streets -- an hour ahead of the procession -- were still relatively quiet, with people heading to work but also quite a few people -- including some men in top hats, as the dress code was morning dress -- trying to find their way round the barriers into the cathedral.

Alan Burkitt-Gray | 18.04.13 - 12:09 p.m. | #

Very well organised, apparently we have a talent for this sort of occasion.Great pity we can`t apply it to running the country.

jerym | 18.04.13 - 12:19 p.m. | #

I followed at work by the always excellent BBC news online text service then watched the event on Sky news I had Sky +.

The next huge funeral will no doubt be Royal and for The Queen will be on a much larger scale than this from the moment of her death.

Rick | 18.04.13 - 1:39 p.m. | #

I was busy getting on with my life so only caught some snippets late at night wile nagging my son to bed. While not anti-Thatcher per se, I do feel it was a bit OTT in these times of austerity, for a mere politician, no matter how revolutionary she was! Had she had a low-key ceremony and the money saved put into helping sort out some of the country's problems I'd have felt happier.

CornishCockney | 18.04.13 - 3:45 p.m. | #

I was there for Winston Churchill's funeral and then I popped down to Clapham Junction to see his funeral train go by. But then Maggie didn't enjoy travelling by train did she?

And as for travelling by BUS - No way, for her!

Petras409 | 18.04.13 - 7:44 p.m. | #

Hmm. Aren't the crowd control barriers the wrong way round? I thought they were designed so you stood on the pointy bit therefore providing weight to stop you being able to push it over?

Kirk | 18.04.13 - 9:33 p.m. | #











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