Clarke gets his funeral wish

Writer Arthur C. Clarke will be buried on Saturday in a plot owned by his adopted family in the simple ceremony he asked for.

“It will be a secular, simple funeral and there will be no speeches,” said his aide, Nalaka Gunawardena.

Clarke, who died at the age of 90 yesterday, had left written instructions that no religious rites of any faith should be associated with his funeral.

He will be laid in a Colombo’s general cemetery burial plot owned by a friend and diving company partner with whom the writer lived for decades.

Fred Clarke, his brother, arrived on the island to participate in the funeral.

The visionary author won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future.

Clarke listed three wishes on his 90th birthday last December, that he would like to see evidence of extraterrestrial beings, the world turning from oil to cleaner energy resources and a lasting peace to his adopted home, Sri Lanka.

More than 70,000 people have been killed here in fighting between government troops and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels since 1983.