Getting to Know More of England’s Two Giants
By Dr Khalid Siddiqui
Ohio
Two giant English personalities, who should have been buried in London, were not buried there. They are the well-known William Shakespeare and Winston Churchill. A quick half-day tour from London, however, can cover both of the two burial sites.
Churchill
Sir Winston Churchill died on January 24, 965 at the age of 90. He was buried in the family plot outside St Martin’s Church, Bladon, Oxfordshire. His wife and many other family members are also buried there.
Although the tombs are very accessible, no visitors are allowed beyond a chain rope fence.
His daughter, Marigold, died of sepsis in 1921 at the age of 3 years. She was originally buried in London, but in 2019 her remains were moved to the family graveyard in Bladon.
He was an accomplished writer and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953. His hobby was painting and he used a pseudonym ‘Charles Morin’. Hundreds of his paintings are on display in museums, or with private collectors. He was also an amateur bricklayer!
Numerous memorials have been dedicated to him all over the world. His statue in Parliament Square, London was unveiled in 1973. He is one of eight people who were granted honorary US citizenship.
While several quotations have been attributed to him, some of them may not be accurate. Here are some of the quotes:
George Bernard Shaw wrote to Churchill:
” I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play, bring a friend… if you have one.” To which he received the reply: “Cannot possibly attend the first night, will attend second… if there is one.”
Bessie Braddock: “Winston, you are drunk!”
Churchill: “Bessie, my dear, you are ugly. But, tomorrow, I shall be sober.”
Lady Astor: “Winston, if you were my husband, I would poison your coffee.”
Churchill: “Nancy, if you were my wife, I should drink it.”
Churchill (after being disturbed while in the toilet by the Lord Privy Seal): “Tell him I can only deal with one shit at a time.”
Churchill about America: “America always manages to do the right thing after we try to do everything else.”
He owned several pets including cats, dogs, pigs, lambs, chickens, goats and fox cubs. He once made a statement that “cats look down on us and dogs look up to us, the pigs treat us as equals”.
Shakespeare
Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. He died on April 23, 1616. He was buried inside the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, about a two-hour drive from London.
The visitors are allowed up close to his tomb, but not next to his tomb. His wife is also buried beside him.
Globe Theater, for which Shakespeare wrote plays, was built in 1599. It is located in the Borough of Southwark
on the south bank of River Thames, southeast of the City of London. This area was chosen as theaters were banned in the City of London because of the risk of plague in crowded places. Also, in those days, theaters and acting were considered immoral. The theater was rebuilt in 1644 and renamed Shakespeare’s Globe. Plays are still staged there in summer in the original form. No modern audio-visual props are used.
Shakespeare attended Southwark Cathedral, located close to London Bridge.
The church honored Shakespeare by dedicating to him a large stained glass window with scenes from his plays. A statue of the reclining playwright is located below the window. His brother, actor Edmund Shakespeare, is buried inside the cathedral. Outside there is another statue of him sitting on a bench.
