Grandfather was an old-fashioned pharmacist who never ceased venting his resentment at the growing number of retail items the drugstore had to carry, and he would go into periods of fearful rage when the subject of chain stores was raised.

Sometimes a famous subject may even outlive his own obituary writer.

I can't imagine a person becoming a success who doesn't give this game of life everything he's got.

Be kind to an old man.

Lisa was the subject of a real old fashioned gamble, we took a number of four figure bets including one punter from Kensington who turned up with £7,000 in cash wanting to back Lisa to go. John was a good result for us, but this has more than wiped out our winnings.

Beyond being timely, an obituary has a more subjective duty: to assess its subject's impact.