Funeral for James Bond author John Gardner

Thriller writer and James Bond author John Gardner must have enjoyed a celestial chuckle at his daughter Alexis's frantic but unsuccessful efforts to have a Royal Marine bugler sound the Last Post at his funeral last week. Gardner, who died at the age of 80 last month, was a Marine commando before he became a writer - reports The Daily Mail.

"The Marines tried very hard to find one, but there were so many funerals on the same day that all their buglers were busy," says Alexis. "We had to make do with a recording."

The Rector, Canon Nigel Cumming, told the congregation: "I knew this was going to be different from most funerals when I saw we were going to sing Monty Python's Always Look On The Bright Side of Life."

Click here to read John Gardner's obituary on MI6.

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