Bobby Charlton grave (11th October 1937 to 21st October 1923)

Nerds like me with little interest in football know who the mini Gods of British football were. One was Robert “Bobby” Charlton who was a widely considered as one of the greatest players of all time (he was a member of the England team that won the 1966 World Cup.) Here I am outside the hospital where he died and by his grave in the corner of an out-of-the-way intimate cemetery in the Cheshire countryside.

His eminent career (nearly 20 years at Manchester United) is too plentiful for me to cover here but he was known for his incredible fitness, passing accuracy, attacking instincts, long-range shots and unremitting stamina. He also known as the elder brother Jack who was also in the World Cup-winning team (they had two other brothers - Gordon and Jack.)

In his later years Bobby was knighted and he and his wife Norma lived in a Ollerton in Knutsford in large house up a drive hidden from the road by dense trees (found it.)

Three years before Bobby died Lady Norma confirmed Bobby was suffering with dementia - later confirmed to be Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a type of dementia associated with head impacts. He was moved into The Willows, a nursing home for dementia patients about two miles from the family home. After a bad fall the 86-year-old was moved twelve miles from home to Macclesfield District General Hospital. He died there of "trauma in the lungs, a fall and dementia."

His grave was found with perseverance and a dash of luck. An earlier search of Macclesfield Cemetery flushed out nothing (though we visited singer Ian Curtis’s grave while there). Bobby’s home was on Chelford Road so we searched the churchyard near his home. Nothing but luckily we got chatting to two men who affirmed what a boon local knowledge is. They told us exactly where Lady Norma still lived and where Bobby ‘might be’ buried. Oh no, my heart sank a little as these guesses are rarely right. The home address was right though it took some finding (the house sign wasn’t by the grass verge like the others). The burial location was right too. It was a quiet, handsome churchyard about five miles from the family home and not the kind of place you’d drive by regularly. I’d better not say here - not yet anyway - as it was probably chosen for its discretion and to provide family privacy.

It was good to see a flash of red on the grave. The size and conformity of the headstone is commensurate with Bobby's unflashy, unassuming manner. It would take Lady Norma about a fifteen minute to drive here from home. I’m not sure where daughters Suzanne and Andrea live.

He was lucky to live a long life. Aged 20 he was one of the Busby Babes player who survived the 1958 Munich air disaster - the ill-fated plane takeoff that killed eight Manchester United players. When the plane hit a building and crashed he escaped being mangled, crushed a decapitated and was only knocked unconscious for ten minutes. Regaining lucidity her saw teammate Harry Gregg helping get survivors out of the snow-laden wreckage. He only learnt of the breadth of the tragedy the next morning while reading a newspaper. In total 23 people died and he was one of three players who would live to play again.

Why don’t they make chaps like this nowadays? I did a salute and left.

Bobby died here at Macclesfield General Hospital...