Refreshingly Honest Obituary or This really is your life.

Hat-tip to Matthew Ingram for pointing out the Best.Obituary.Ever.

Obituaries, unlike eulogies, aren’t bound to the convention of presenting the deceased in the best possible light. In fact, good ones are highly accurate accounts of an individual’s life & impact – whatever it may be. However, it’s still common for them to paint a favourable portrait as the person writing them is often intimately acquainted with the person (friend, family, etc..).

So what to make of one that starts:

Count Gottfried von Bismarck, who was found dead on Monday aged 44, was a louche German aristocrat with a multi-faceted history as a pleasure-seeking heroin addict, hell-raising alcoholic, flamboyant waster and a reckless and extravagant host of homosexual orgies.

and ends:

He never married.

You can find the full obituary here. It’s definitely worth reading.

Tags: obituary, telegraph, bismarck, honesty