Interesting Facts

A funeral is the ceremony that is held after someone dies. (In the UK the dead person is usually buried in a coffin or cremated, and the ashes scattered. The reason I'm mentioning this word is that Elizabeth Taylor's funeral was held, and her coffin arrived 15 minutes late. She had requested this in her will, in order to fulfil the idiom "She'd be late for her own funeral". If someone says that someone would be late to their own funeral, they mean that they are always late for meeting or appointments.)

Dame Elizabeth Taylor died of heart failure on 23rd March 2011. (She was definitely an interesting person, right from the start. She was born with scoliosis, or curvature of the spine, and suffered back problems all her life. She had both hips replaced and beat skin cancer,a brain tumour, diabetes, seizures and a stroke. She endured an estimated 70 illnesses and had 100 operations, 20 of them major surgery; she estimated she had almost died four times. She made 50 movies and won two Oscars. She got married eight times (twice to Richard Burton) and had ten grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She leaves a fortune of 360m, and a legacy of having raised Aids awareness around the world. The New York Times paid tribute to her by admitting that she had actually outlived the person who wrote her obituary by six years.  For whatever reasons, she will be remembered.)