This episode is from the WNYC archives. It may contain language which is no longer politically or socially appropriate.
Opens with BBC news report, then begins funeral coverage. Two reporters cover the funeral of Winston Churchill, following the procession and full state funeral. One reporter encourages listeners to follow events in the special edition of the Radio Times, reproduced below.
Transmission interrupted at times by engineers. Conversations between radio engineers in London and New York.
Rundown: Retrieved 2011-10-20 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/churchill/11030.shtml?page=txt
Radio Times (Incorporating World Radio) January 28 1965 Vol 166: No. 2151
Price Sixpence London and South East Jan 30 - Feb 5
Radio Times
The Funeral of Winston Churchill.
Saturday, January 30
Page 2 of 8
Processional Route
[Image depicts a map of Central London, marking points along the route]
The Funeral Procession through London anf the Service in St Paul's Cathedral will be followed by BBC television and radio. The Procession will leave St Stephen's Hall in the Palace of Westminster, where Sir Winston will Lie in State, at 9.45 am and arrive at St Paul's at 10.45. After the Service the cortege will proceed to Tower Pier for the journey by river to Festival Hall Pier and thence by road to Waterloo Station.
From Waterloo Station, Sir Winston's body wil be taken to Bladon, near Blenheim Palace, his birthplace, and there in the quiet churchyard Sir Winston will be laid to rest among his family.
Page 3 of 8
The Procession through London and the Funeral Service will be covered by BBC-1 and the Third Network from 9.20 am to 1.30 pm. The Service will also be broadcast in the Home and Light Programme (11.00 am to 11.30).
Order of Procession
1. Metropolitan Mounted Police
2. Two Bands of the R.A.F.
Detachments of:
3. Battle of Britain Air Crews
4. R.A.F.
5 4/5 (Cinque Ports) Batt. The Royal Sussex Regiment (T.A.)
6 4/5 Batt. The Essex Regiment (T.A.)
7 299 Field Regiment R.A. (T.A.) (Royal Buckinghamshire Yeomanry, Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars and Berkshire)
8 Honourable Artillery Company (T.A.)
9 Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst
10 Two Bands of H.M. Foot Guards
Detachments of
11 Welsh Guards
12 Irish Guards
13 Scots Guards
14 Condstream Guards
15 Grenadier Guards
16 Two Bands of the Royal Marines
Detachments of
17 Royal Marine Forces Volunteer Reserve
18 Royal Marines
19 Royal Marine Reserve
20 Royal Navy
21 Drum Horse and State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry
22 First Detatchment of the Household Cavalry
23 Two Bands of the H.M. Foot Guards
24 Four Chieds of Staff
25 Insignia Bearers: Orders and Decoratons of the Deceased borne by Officers of the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars
26 The Banners of the Cinque Ports and of Spencer-Churchill borne by Officers of the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars
27 Brigade-Major Household Brigade; A.D.C. to G.O.C. London District; Chief of Staff London District
28 The Major General, G.O.C. London District
29 The Earl Marshall
30 Royal Naval Gun Crew from H.M.S. 'Excellent' with Bearer Party from Grenadier Guards
31 THE COFFIN
with Escort of the R.A.F.
32 Royal Naval Gun Crew
33 The Family and the Principal Mourners
34 Second Detatchment of the Household Cavalry
35 Band of R.A.
36 Band of the Metropolitan Police
Contingents of
37 Police
38 Fire Services
39 Civil Defence Corps
40 Metropolitan Police Escort
The Order of Procession may be subject to slight alteration.
Page 4 of 8
HE ORDER OF SERVICE FOR THE FUNERAL OF SIR WINSTON LEONARD SPENCER-CHURCHILL K.G., O.M., C.H.
At the Cathedral Church of St Paul in the City of London
THE ARRIVAL
AT 10.0 the Dean and Chapter, accompanied by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, and the College of Minor Canons, will leave the Dean's Aisle and proceed to the West Door of the Cathedral.
At 10.4 the Speaker, preceded by the Mace, will arrive at the Cathedral and will be received by the Dean and Chapter.
At 10.6 the Lord Cahncellor, preceded by the Mace, will arrive at the Cathedral and will be received by the Dean and Chapter.
Then shall the Processions of the Lord Chancellor and of the Speaker be marshalled in this order:
A Virger
A Doorkeeper
The Serjeant at Arms carrying the Mace
The Speaker
The Trainbearer
The Speaker's Secretary
The Speaker's Chaplain
A Virger
The Permanent Secretary to the Lord Chancellor
The Serjeant at Arms carrying the Mace
The Pursebearer
The Lord Chancellor
The Trainbearer
The Lord Chancellor's Private Secretary
At 10.13 the Heads of State and Royal Representatives of Heads of State will arrive at the Cathedral and will be received by the Dean and Chapter and will be conducted to their seats under the Dome.
At 10.23 Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and other members of the Royal Family will arrive at the Cathedral and will be received by the Dean Chapter and escorted to the Chapel of Saint Michael and Saint George.
At 10.28 the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs will arrive at the Cathedral and will be received by the Dean and Chapter and will be conducted to their seats in Choir.
At 10.30 the Choir, Honarary and Deputy Minor Canons, the Prebendaries, the Archdeacons, the Bishops, and the Archibishops will leave the Dean's Aisle and proceed to the Choir.
At 10.35 THE QUEEN and the Duke of Edinburgh will arrive at the Cathedral and will be received at the foot of the steps by the Lord Mayor, Her Majesty and His Royal Highness will be received at the West Door by the Dean and Capter, the Bishop of London, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, and will proceed to the Chapel of Saint Michael and Saint George.
The shall THE QUEEN'S Procession be marshalled in this order:
A Virger
The Cross Bearer
The College of Minor Canons
A Virger
The Archbishop's Chaplain bearing the Cross of Canterbury
The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury
The Dean's Virger
The Chapter Clerk The Registrar
The Bishop's Chaplain bearing the Crozier
The Lord Bishop of London
supported by
The Dean and Chapter
The Lord Mayor bearing the Mourning Sword
The Duke of Edinburgh THE QUEEN
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
The other Members of the Royal Family
At 10.49 the Coffin will be carried into the Cathedral and placed upon the Bier under the Dome. The Procession will be formed in this order:
A Virger
The Sacrist
The Canon in Residence
The Pursuivants of Arms
The Bearers of the Insignia and of the Banners
The Heralds with the Achievements
The Kings of Arms
Carter Kin of Arms
The Earl Marshal
The Pall Beareres
THE COFFIN borne by the Bearer Party
The Family and other Principal Mourners
ORDER OF SERVICE
As the Procession moves through the Nave, the CHoir shall sing
THE SENTENCES
I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. St. John 11: 25, 26
I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shalt stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroys this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another. Job 19: 25, 26 27
We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord. 1 Tim. 6: 7; Job I: 21
Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts;shut not, shut not thy merciful ears to our prayer; but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and most merciful Saviour, thou most worthy Judge eternal, suffer us not, at our last hour, for any pains of death, to fall from thee. Music by W. Croft & H. Purcell
When the Coffin has been placed upon the Bier and all have taken their places the whole congregation shall sing this HYMN:
Who would true valour see,
Let him come hither;
One here will constant be,
Come wind, come weather
There's no discouragement
Shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent
To be a pilgrim.
Whoso beset him round
With dismal stories
Do but themselves confound;
His strength the more is.
No lion can him fright,
He'll with a giant fight,
He will have a right
To be a pilgrim.
Hobgoblin nor foul fiend
Can daunt his spirit,
He knows he at the end
Shall life inherit.
Then fancies fly away,
He'll fear not what men say,
He'll labor night and day
To be a pilgrim.
Page 5 of 8
Almighty God, with whom do live the spirits of them that depart hence in the Lord, and with whom the souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from the burden of the flesh, are in joy and felicity: We give thee hearty thanks, for that it hath pleased thee to deliver this our brother out of the miseries of this sinful world; beseeching thee, that it may please thee, of thy gracious goodness, shortly to accomplish the number of thine elect, and to hasten thy kingdom; that we, with all those that are departed in the true faith of thy holy Name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in thy eternal and everlasting glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Almighty God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life: We humbly beseech thee, that, as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen
THEN ALL SHALL STAND TO SING THIS HYMN
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer him; be jubilant my feet!
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Our God is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
While God is marching on.
THEN FOLLOWS THE LESSON, read by the Canon-in-Residence
1 Cor. 15. 20.
Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ's, at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: But God giveth it a body, as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. So also is the resurrection of the dead: It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, (for the trumpet shall sound,) and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality; then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Then all shall stand to sing this HYMN
Fight the good fight with all thy might;
Christ is thy Strength, and Christ thy right;
Lay hold on life, and it shall be
Thy joy and crown eternally.
Run the straight race through God's good grace,
Lift up thine eyes, and seek His face;
Life with its way before us lies,
Christ is the Path, and Christ the Prize.
Cast care aside, lean on thy guide,
His boundless mercy will provide;
Trust and thy trusting soul shall prove
Christ is its Life, and Christ its Love.
Faint not nor fear, his arms are near,
He changeth not, and thou art dear.
Only believe, and thou shalt see
That Christ is all in all to thee.
Then, all kneeling, the Minor Canon shall say,
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
OUR Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil. Amen.
THE COLLECT
O MERCIFUL God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the resurrection and the life; in whom whosoever believeth shall live, though he die; and whosoever liveth, and believeth in him, shall not die eternally; who also hath taught us (by his holy Apostle Saint Paul) not to be sorry, as men without hope, for them that sleep in him: We meekly beseech thee, O Father, to raise us from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness; that, when we shall depart this life, we may rest in him, as our hope is this our brother doth; and that, at the general Resurrection in the last day, we may be found acceptable in thy sight; and receive that blessing, which thy wellbeloved Son shall then pronounce to all that love and fear thee, saying, Come, ye blessed children of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world: Grant this, we beseech thee, O merciful Father, through Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Redeemer. Amen.
Almighty God, Father of all mercies and giver of comfort: Deal graciously, we pray, with all who mourn; that, casting all their care upon thee, they may know the consolation of thy love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
O LORD, who didst give to thy servant Saint George grace to lay aside the fear of man, and to be faithful even unto death: grant that we, unmindful of worldly honour, may fight the wrong, uphold thy rule and serve thee to our lives' end: through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Then the Choir shall sing,
Give rest, O Christ, to thy servant with thy Saints:
Where sorrow and pain are no more:
neither sighing, but life everlasting.
Kieff Melody
The the Archibishop of Canterbury shall pray in these words:
GRANT, O Lord, that as we are baptized into the death of thy blessed Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, so by continual mortifying our corrupt affections we may be buried with him; and that through the grave, and gate of death, we may pass to our joyful resurrection; for his merits, who died, and was buried, and rose again for us, the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
2 Corinthians 13
THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the
Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.
Then shall all stand up to sing THE NATIONAL ANTHEM Then shall be sounded THE LAST POST and REVEILLE and Handel's Dead March be played upon the Organ
THE WITHDRAWAL
As the COFFIN is carried out of the Cathedral, in the same order as it entered, all present shall sing this HYMN:
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home:
Under the shadow of thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.
Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting thou art God,
To endless years the same.
A thousand ages in thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
Time, like an ever rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.
Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.
Page 6 of 8
SATURDAY TV January 30
THE STATE FUNERAL OF
The Right Honourable
SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL K.G., O.M., C.H.
From 9.20 am BBC-1 will give full coverage to the Procession from Westminster Hall to St. Paul's Cathedral, the Service, and the journey up the Thames from Tower Pier to Waterloo Station.
9.45
The cortege leaves Westminster Hall
For processional route see pages 2 and 3
10.13
The Foreign Heads of State and Royal Representatives arrive at St. Paul's
10.23
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and other members of the Royal Family arrive at St. Paul's
10.28
The Lord Mayor of London arrives at St. Paul's
10.35
Her Majesty THE QUEEN
And His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh arrive at St Paul's
11.00
THE SERVICE
The Order of Service is on pages 4 and 5
11.50
The cortege leaves St Paul's
12.25
The cortege arrives at Tower Hill
12.52
The Royal Air Force Fly-Past
1.05
The river cortege arrives at the Festival Hall pier
1.20
The motor cortege arrives at Waterloo Station
1.25
The special train departs from Waterloo [photograph of St. Paul's Cathedral]
COMMENTATOR, RICHARD DIMBLEBY
Readers will realise that this edition of Radio Times went to press immediately after the death of Sir Winston Churchill. Television programmes planned for this day have had to be changed and those for the rest of the day will be announced on the screen. The evening transmissions will include a ninety-minute edited recording of the Funeral Procession and the Service in St. Paul's Cathedral.
Page 7 of 8
AT REST IN BLADON [photograph of Bladon Church]
Surely he could have been buried in Westminster Abbey or St Paul's?
This question has been asked many times in the past day or two, since it became known that Sir Winston Churchill would be laid to rest in an unknown churchyard in a village called Bladon, 'not far from Oxford'. The inference was perhaps, that the great man was being belittled - that he deserved, but was not receiving, the highest honours that the country could give him.
Of course this is not so. It was Churchill himself who chose Bladon, the churchyard outside the walls of Blenheim Palace where he was born. According to one story-though there are so many Churchill stories that it is difficult to separate the true from the apocryphal- he said: 'I don't want to be buried in Westminster Abbey; there are too many people lying there already that I don't like'.
His subsequent approval of Bladon was natural enough. It is here that the Spencer-Churchills lie, within sight of the huge palace where the head of the family lives as Duke of Marlborough. The Dukes are buried in the Palace; the others, the Duchesses among them, are buried in modest simplicity just outside the west door of Bladon Church. This is accepted in the family, and the sexton of Bladon was not surprised a few years ago when Churchill, walking round the churchyard while visiting Blenheim, tapped an empty plot of earth with his stick, saying, 'This is my place, here.'
Though there is nothing unusual about Sir Winston Churchill's connection with Blenheim and the Marlboroughs, his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, being the third son of the seventh Duke of Marlborough, the circumstances of his birth at the Palace were anything but normal. His mother, the American Jennie Jerome, daughter of the proprietor of the New York Times, was a woman of energy and spirit as well as beauty, and she did not allow pregnancy to be for her the crippling embarrassing handicap so bravely suffered by women ninety years ago. Knowing that her child was due in six weeks, she did not let this deter her from joining a shooting party in the grounds of Blenheim on a November day in 1874.
Suddenly she was seized with pain and was taken hurriedly back to the Palace. The situation was obvious and imminent. She was helped to a little ground-floor room just off the huge entrance hall, and there, on November 30, six weeks before his time, Winston was born. The room is preserved today as a little museum, with the same brass bedstead, a lock of his reddish, baby hair, and his minute vest.
Thus it was that in later years Winston Churchill would return to Blenheim, the most majestic of all the stately homes. He would arrive at Handborough station by train from Paddington and make his way as best he could to the Blenheim estate. On one occasion at least, within the memory of an old resident, he found the Palace estate's cart in the station yard and happily secured a lift ' up to the house' on the tail-board.
It is to this same station - very little changed, and likely to be closed soon to passengers - that the special train from London will bring the coffin this afternoon and there, by the large booking-office door - last used by the German Emperor on a visit to Blenheim - a motor hearse will be waiting. A mile or two down the road is Bladon, past the back gate to the Palace that the estate cart took all those years ago.
Bladon is not a particularly pretty village. It suggests the stone-built charm of the Cotswolds without having really achieved it. Nor has its church any great claim to beauty or antiquity. It was built 160 years ago to replace a much older church, the then Duke of Marlborough contributing towards the cost. Inside, it is plain and simple in the extreme.
The churchyard is like a gently sloping field, with a stone wall bounding it, and houses close by. The Spencer-Churchill graves lie by the church, on the right of the main path. They are as unostentatious as the church and the village. Only the grave of Churchill's father, Lord Randolph, has a headstone of any size and a heavy, rusting chain surrounding the plot. Next to it lies Lady Jennie, his mother, and close at hand his brother John Strange Spencer-Churchill who died in 1947, and his cousin, Ivor Charles Spencer-Churchill. The grave of Mary, Duchess of Marlborough, who died only three years ago, is farther away by the churchyard wall. The last burial space but one in the Spencer-Churchill is occupied by a newly dug grave still roughly covered by replaced turf. It was here that they buried the lovely Consuelo Vanderbilt, American-born eighth duchess of Marlborough and mother of the present Duke, only a few weeks ago.
So the Spencer-Churchills lie together as a family in death, and the last space is now to be given to the most illustrious of them all. Bladon and its church may not be particularly beautiful, but it has peace and simplicity. It seems entirely natural that a great man should be brought here after the sombre splendours of the day are over, to lie not only with his family but with the people of Bladon already here and just as close to him - John Adams, Perry Merry, William Partlett, and the others. We may be sure that for generations ahead travellers who seek the memorial to this splendid figure of our history will find it here at the side of the path in an English country churchyard.
RICHARD DIMBLEBY
[photograph of Bladon Church and graveyard]
In the shadow of the church tower is the last resting place of Sir Winston, among the graves of his family [text underneath photograph]
Page 8 of 8
[Clipping from radio listings for Saturday 30 January 1965]
The State Funeral of the Right Honourable Sir Winston Churchill
K.G., O.M., C.H.
[Illustration of the dome of St Paul's Cathedral]
9.30 The scene outside Westminster Hall and along the prcessional route to St Paul's Cathedral
11.0 Service in St Paul's Cathedral
11.50 Procession leaves St Paul's and proceeds to Tower Hill
12.50 The scene on the River Thames from the Tower of London to the Royal Festival Hall
12.52 The Royal Air Force Fly-Past
1.5 The arrival at the Festival Hall pier and procession to Waterloo Station
1.25 The Special train leaves London
See pages 2 and 3 for the Processional Route and pages 4 and 5 for the Order of Service
Descriptions by BBC radio commentators
Raymond Baxter, Robert Hudson
Audrey Russell, John Snagge
and Frank Willis of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The events and ceremonies of the day will be described and broadcast in the Third Network. The Service will also be broadcast in the Home Service and Light Programmes.
In the Home Service Only
3.45 Prayers at the time of the burial.
Audio courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection
WNYC archives id: 71811
Municipal archives id: T909