Odd News

'Smoking killed me' sign placed on hearse, grave

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-03-03 22:39

'Smoking killed me' sign placed on hearse, grave
The coffin of life-long smoker Albert 'Dick' Whittamore is carried at St Mary's Cemetery in Dover, England, Tuesday March 2, 2010, during a burial service, after he died in January aged 85 from the lung disease emphysema. [Agencies]

LONDON - A smoker who died after battling emphysema has had his dying wish granted with the placement of a "Smoking killed me" sign on his hearse and his grave.

Albert Whittamore blamed his youthful smoking habit for the lung disease.

He said before he died at age 85 in February that he wanted the sign to serve as a warning to young people about the dangers of tobacco smoking.

The sign was designed to look like the health warning on a packet of cigarettes.

The printed placard at his grave will be left in place for a week.

The hearse carrying his body through the town of Dover 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of London had several of the printed signs displayed in the windows.