Hundreds line streets to honour Hawking

Cambridge came to a standstill for the funeral of renowned cosmologist Stephen Hawking with well-wishers lining the streets.

HIGHLIGHTS OF FUNERAL FOR STEPHEN HAWKING:

* Professor Stephen Hawking died aged 76 on March 14

* Private funeral at St Mary the Great church, near Gonville and Caius College where Hawking was a fellow for 52 years

* Flags lowered to half-mast in many parts of Cambridge

* Hundreds line streets of Cambridge, breaking into applause as the hearse arrives at the church

* 500 guests, including model and Cambridge graduate Lily Cole, billionaire and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May, comedian Dara O Briain who made a documentary about Hawking, playwright Alan Bennett

* Family and relatives include Hawking's three children Robert, Lucy and Timothy as well as first wife Jane Hawking

* Bell at Great St Mary's tolls 76 times at the start of the service

* Service officiated by Reverend Cally Hammond, Dean of Gonville and Caius College

* Actor Eddie Redmayne, who portrayed Hawking in the 2014 biographical film The Theory of Everything, gives a reading from Ecclesiastes

* Astronomer Royal Martin Rees gives a reading as does a former student

* Hawking's eldest son Robert gives the eulogy

* Private reception held later at Trinity College

* Remains to be cremated at a later date and ashes to be interred at London's Westminster Abbey near the remains of fellow scientist Isaac Newton on June 15.


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Source: AAP



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