10/26/2010

Tony Wilson's Headstone Unveiled This Week.

 
From NME: Tony Wilson's memorial headstone has been unveiled, having been designed by his long-term Factory Records cohort Peter Saville and his associate Ben Kelly. 

The black headstone, which is made of granite, is now sitting at The Southern Cemetery in Chorlton-Cum-Hardy, Manchester, reports Creative Review. 

Wilson died of a heart attack in 2007, following a long-term battle with cancer. He is referred to on the headstone as a "broadcaster and cultural catalyst." It also features the following book extract, selected by Wilson's family and taken from Isabella Varley Banks' 1876 novel The Manchester Man

"Mutability is the epitaph of worlds/Change alone is changeless/People drop out of the history of a life as of a land/Though their work or their influence remains." 

Despite being designed by Saville and Kelly, the headstone does not feature one of Factory's trademark catalogue numbers. Wilson's coffin, labelled FAC 501, was the last of these. 

Photo: Jan Chlebik via Creative Review