All over the United Kingdom last week, Britons were hacking, aching and dying in an outbreak of influenza. This year's flu bug was not the killer of 1918. It was taking its toll mostly from the aged. Nonetheless, it was keeping Britain's gravediggers, many of whom had flu themselves, busy enough. In six weeks flu deaths in England and Wales rose from 28 to 1,599.
"It's taking up to ten days for the dying to get themselves buried," complained one Liverpool undertaker. Said a cemetery foreman: "We've got carbide flares rigged up so my...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
