Well, we've had the wedding. In fact, we've already had one of the funerals - and a very quiet affair it was, especially in comparison to what went a couple of days before it. The other funeral will take place shortly although, as far as I am aware, no date has been announced.
For the sake of posterity (Who am I trying to kid?) I should explain that the wedding took place between Prince William of Wales and Miss Catherine Middleton last Friday. Saturday's Daily Telegraph newspaper devoted no less than 23 pages to reporting the event which millions of people had already seen on television. It might seem a little strange that they have managed to fill only 16 pages today on the death of Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted terrorist, at the hands of US special forces. It is his funeral that has already taken place, a burial at sea so there is no grave to become a shrine to his violent followers.
Bin Laden will not be mourned by many in the western world, nor, indeed, in the Arab world either. Sir Henry Cooper, however, will be. His death also occurred over the weekend. There will be many who have never heard of one of Britain's greatest boxers but there are equally as many to whome his name is synonymous with not only boxing but sportsmanship in general. I am not a fan of boxing although I have watched the occasional fight on television, usually because my father wanted to watch and I didn't happen to be out that evening. Somehow it was obvious that Henry Cooper, as he was then, was a natural gentleman. One of identical twins, he never lost his sarf London accent and always referred to himself as 'Enry. His well-deserved knighthood made no difference.
So, after a tumultuous four-day weekend (here in England), the world is both better than it was last week and poorer.
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