When reading a Times obituary column recently I was struck by a thought. All responsible newspapers carry a library of prepared obituaries for the Great and
Good for instant use when circumstances demand. Obviously they have to be kept up to date (I gather that updating the late Queen Mother's obituary, often
compared to painting the Forth Bridge, another never-ending task, was used a punishment by editors and viewed with horror by the poor hack forced to do it).
It occurred to me that there must be obituaries of Jack all over the place, in all sorts of media and in all sorts of countries, although we all devoutly hope they won't be needed for a good long while yet. Now an editor forced to produce such a thing often farms the task out to an acknowledged expert in the field. And experts in the life, times & works of JV are probably those closely associated with the VIE, often found these days in boards like this one.
My question is: have any of you written or been approached about, or contributed to, such a thing? Mind you, such things are often written under a requirement to keep the whole thing confidential, so you may not be able to tell us anyway.
Perhaps it's more realistic to ask: who do you think would be the best person to produce one?
It occurred to me that there must be obituaries of Jack all over the place, in all sorts of media and in all sorts of countries, although we all devoutly hope they won't be needed for a good long while yet. Now an editor forced to produce such a thing often farms the task out to an acknowledged expert in the field. And experts in the life, times & works of JV are probably those closely associated with the VIE, often found these days in boards like this one.
My question is: have any of you written or been approached about, or contributed to, such a thing? Mind you, such things are often written under a requirement to keep the whole thing confidential, so you may not be able to tell us anyway.
Perhaps it's more realistic to ask: who do you think would be the best person to produce one?
