Guwahati: Legendary singer-composer Bhupen
Hazarika's funeral has created a world record with the highest
number of people paying tributes to him over two days though
Michael Jackson memorial service holds record as the
most watched funeral on television.
According to Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia,
more than five lakh people attended the funeral of 'The Bard
of the Brahmaputra' and 30 lakh people watched it on
television.
Hazarika died on November five in Mumbai and his body lay
in state at the historic Judges Field for two days from the
night of November seven for people to pay their homage before
cremation on November nine.
The Wikipedia has a list of notable funerals representing
historical funerals, based on both the number of attendants
and estimated television audience.
The Michael Jackson memorial service on July 7, 2009,
holds a record as the most watched funeral ever with 2.5 to 3
billion viewing it the world over.
More than two lakh people paid tributes to Princess
Diana of Wales in September 1997 in London and Althorp, United
Kingdom while 2.5 billion viewed it on television.
The list includes, among others, the funerals of Elvis
Presley, Pope John Paul II, Martin Luther King Jr, Joseph
Stalin, Joseph Tito, John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Ayatollah
Khomeini, Ayatollah Montazeri, Benigno Aquino, C R Annadurai
and Aryton Senna.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, November 15, 2011, 00:50