DEATH may not be the obvious subject for a comedy book, but Preston-born funeral director Philip McKenna has decided to lift the coffin lid on his profession and the results are anything but grave.

After more than 20 years in the family business in Lancashire, Philip isn't short of a rib tickling tale or two about some of the wackier aspects of the dying business.

Philip, whose family own The Warren next to St Mary's RC Church, in Broadfield Walk, Leyland and a funeral parlour in Meadow Street, Preston, has been dying to let people in on the mysteries of the trade.

Now he has written a book -- "I told You I was Ill" -- about some of his more hilarious experiences after being urged to put down his anecdotes by friends and family members.

Philip now lives in New Zealand with his wife Jacqui where he works as the superintendent of a crematorium and three cemeteries.

He joined the family funeral parlour business at the age of 19 and was one of six of the McKenna children to follow in their father Leo's footsteps and became a fully qualified embalmer and funeral director.

Philip said: "People in the pub had been telling me for ages that these were funny stories and that I should write them down.

"It's certainly not something that most people associate with comedy and I'm sure nobody's ever done anything like this before."

Philip's favourite tale from the book is when he and brother Steve were called to a house to remove a body.

He said: "We went into the house and were met by a gentleman in obvious distress who told us there was a body in the upstairs bedroom. We went up with the coffin but there was no body.

"We checked the other bedroom but there was nobody there either so we went back down to talk to the man.

"He came upstairs with us and took us back into the first bedroom, went up to the bed and pulled back the bedclothes and there was the body of his dead pet parrot.

"He was absolutely beside himself and insisted we take the pet away in the coffin.

"He was obviously a well to do sort of chap and insisted on a full burial ceremony in his own private woods at Stoneyhurst."

There is also a chapter about the most frequently asked questions to do with burial including "Do we get our loved one's ashes or are they someone else's?" and "Is the coffin cremated with the body?".

"I Told You I was Ill" is published by Winckley Press at £8.95 and is available from WH Smith.