George Michael is buried next to his mother and sister. — Photos: FLORENCE TEH
Wanting to visit a cemetery as a touristic pursuit may seem strange to most people, especially the superstitious Chinese, but I was still keen to check it out, even though the Chinese New Year was imminent.
After all, I don’t practice feng shui nor am I a Taoist, so neither convention nor tradition held me back.
Having made numerous trips to London in the past, I’ve checked the essential tourist and shopping stops.
So, this time, I decided to take on a completely different route. My family members were in disbelief, but I was, well, dead serious.
I decided to visit the sprawling Highgate cemetery, which has drawn visitors from all over the world.
It may seem morbid, but cemeteries are truly peaceful places with their leafy and manicured landscapes.
On my trip to Argentina in the 1990s, I went to pay my respects to Eva Peron, the famous late Argentine politician and actress who served as First Lady from 1946 until her death in 1952, as the wife of President Juan Domingo Peron.
The lady is, of course, the inspiration behind the musical Evita and the soundtrack was made famous by Madonna’s rendition of Don’t Cry For Me Argentina.
The columnist at Karl Marx’s tomb, which is one of the main attractions at Highgate.
It took me a while to locate her modest tomb at the Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires and since then, I’ve been pretty hooked on cemetery excursions.
I checked out the Makomanai Takino cemetery in Hokkaido, with its beautiful lavender-covered landscape, during the autumn of 2018.
It’s easily the most beautiful memorial garden I’ve seen, what with over 150,000 lavender plants.
Fast forward to January 2023. The Highgate cemetery has been described as a place that has captivated visitors “by the evocative atmosphere and magnificent Victorian memorials,” with many coming to see the resting place of its famous residents.
It’s peculiar that this private cemetery, which charges a £10 (RM52) entry fee, promotes Karl Marx, the founder of communism, as its biggest attraction.
Marx, the German philosopher, economist and revolutionary socialist, is renowned for his books Das Kapital and The Communist Manifesto. His memorial, with his huge bronze bust sitting on top of a rectangular marble plinth accompanied by gilded lettering of his famous line “Workers of all lands unite”, is an easy find.
There are several tombs of communist admirers nearby, but ironically, directly opposite Marx’s tomb is that of liberal political theorist Herbert Spencer.
Another popular site is that of writer Mary Ann Evans, described as England’s greatest Victorian novelist, who used the male pen name George Elliot.
The lavender-covered Makomanai Takino cemetery in Hokkaido, Japan, which the columnist and his wife visited in 2018.
She wrote seven novels including Silas Marner, The Mill On The Floss and Middlemarch. A plaque celebrating her work and life has been erected in Westminster Abbey.
But these days, the biggest draw is George Michael, who is also buried here.
It was an oversight to not have done my research prior to visiting Highgate, so the result was an unnecessarily lengthy search.
The legendary 1980s singer, known for iconic hits like Careless Whisper, Faith and Last Christmas (with sidekick Andrew Ridgeley in Wham!), has a headstone inscribed with his real Greek name Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou.
It’s just a simple rectangular marble slab with the epitaph: “Beloved Son, Brother, Friend”, and he is buried next to his mother and sister.
George was found dead, aged 53, on Christmas Day, 2016, at his home. Tragically, it was his last Christmas.
Highgate is also the final resting place of Prof Man Fong Mei, a poet, physicist and philosopher, who invented the world’s first disposable needle for acupuncture.
Malcom McLaren’s grave at Highgate has a bronze death mask.
The inscription aptly reads, “a positive thinker who bridged East and West with passion and generosity”.
But my favourite grave must be that of Malcolm McLaren’s, with its bronze death mask.
He managed punk rock royalty from either side of “the pond”, guiding both the New York Dolls and later, the Sex Pistols, to superstardom. In fact, he even claimed to have invented punk. McLaren was married to the late fashion designer Vivienne Westwood.
He was also the original drummer for the band Siouxsie and the Banshees, which was part of the punk rock scene of the 1980s.
I spent almost two hours walking in the cemetery, with over 170,000 plots, and it wasn’t enough because there were just too many famous personalities here, especially writers and journalists, which interested me most.
Maybe on the next London trip, I will visit the Kensal Green cemetery, where Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, famous for his many hit songs including Bohemian Rhapsody, We Are the Champions and Radio Ga Ga, is buried under his real name Farrokh Bulsara.
These well-known figures may be gone, but their inspiration and legend live on.
The grave of writer Douglas Adams, who wrote the best-selling Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. A bouquet of pens is the hallmark at his tomb head which simply says 'Writer'. — Photos: FLORENCE TEH
The endless stream of fresh flowers placed at their tombs by visitors is a testimony to how they’ve touched people’s lives.
But in the case of writer Douglas Adams, his grave has bouquets of pens.
He is most known for his best-seller The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, a trilogy of five books that sold over 15 million copies. However, the tomb head has only one word – “Writer”.
The words on tombstones speak volumes and sometimes, for a legend, less is certainly more.
