1:21:03
In order to prepare this speech,
I rang a few people
1:21:06
to get a general picture of how Gareth
was regarded by those who met him.
1:21:12
'Fat' seems to have been a word
people most connected with him.
1:21:18
'Terribly rude' also rang a lot of bells.
1:21:23
So 'very fat' and 'very rude' seems
to have been the stranger's viewpoint.
1:21:28
But some of you have rung me
and let me know that you loved him,
1:21:32
which I know he would have been
thrilled to hear.
1:21:36
You remember his fabulous hospitality,
his strange experimental cooking.
1:21:43
The recipe for duck รก la banana
fortunately goes with him to his grave.
1:21:49
Most of all, you tell me of
his enormous capacity for joy.
1:21:55
And, when joyful,
for highly vocal drunkenness.
1:22:03
I hope joyful is how
you will remember him.
1:22:08
Not stuck in a box in a church.
1:22:14
Pick your favourite of his waistcoats
and remember him that way.
1:22:18
The most splendid, replete,
1:22:23
big-hearted
1:22:27
- weak-hearted, as it turned out -
1:22:29
and jolly bugger most of us ever met.
1:22:35
As for me, you may ask
how I will remember him.
1:22:40
What I thought of him.
1:22:46
Unfortunately, there I run out of words.
1:22:52
Forgive me
if I turn from my own feelings
1:22:54
to the words of another
splendid bugger, WH Auden.