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Every major news provider had an obituary on file, revised and updated every year or so as the Queen Mother's extraordinary longevity continued. She had planned her own funeral long in advance; the implications of her passing had been contemplated and discussed for decades.

The media pessimistically warned that public response would be disappointingly lukewarm. Even in the hours before her coffin was placed on its magnificent catafalque in the ancient Hall of Westminster, some commentators predicted that it would be mainly tourists who attended her lying-in-state, and speculated that its length had been deliberately kept short to avoid the embarrassment of a low turn-out. They were wrong.

Towards the end of the 1950s, Richard Bowdler left the staff of All Souls, Langham Place, and the ministry of 'Chaplain to the Stores' passed to Michael Harper.

He was a Londoner (the family home had been in Welbeck Street) and he had long been an occasional visitor to All Souls. He was converted to Christ in his first year at Cambridge, and during the vacations had alternated between All Souls and Westminster Chapel.

The fourth conference of 'Essentially Evangelical' met at High Leigh in mid-June, attended by a wide range of evangelicals. Here is a summary of the vision-setting address given by David Jackman, Director of the Cornhill Training Course, at the end of the consultation.

'Essentially Evangelical' was born in 1997, at a conference in Bawtry Hall, which drew together a number of leaders across the spectrum.

After 2,000 years the events of the first Easter still remain an enigma. How might Sherlock Holmes have tackled the issue?

As I entered the room, Sherlock Holmes sat in his usual chair, his long legs extended, puffing his pipe in a most thoughtful fashion.