Do you think it's because we're shy of our body being cut up by other people, is that what it is? And yet we're dead. A huge part of his job is getting it through to the students that this isn't just a piece of meat but a person. They all have their heads shaved and you don't learn their names or their jobs as he wants to keep them anonymous. He said there are old men sometimes who come in and you can tell that the nail polish has been done by a five year old,. Their grandkids. It's not hurting their anonymity in any way. It's just saying that this is a person.
Ever since she was a young child, journalist Hayley Campbell has been fascinated by death. It's the theme of her new book, All the Living and the Dead: An Exploration of the People Who Make Death Their Life’s Work, which has been acclaimed by the likes of Neil Gaiman, Nigella Lawson and Tuppence Middleton. In conversation with writer Blanche Girouard, Campbell relates the encounters she has had with the people who make a living by working with the dead, including mass fatality investigators, embalmers and a former executioner who is responsible for ending 62 lives. This episode contains discussion about grief and bereavement that some listeners may find distressing.
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