Thousands to attend Jackson memorial service

Published: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:01:01

Some 8,750 people have been selected to attend a memorial service in honour of the late Michael Jackson. More than 1.6 million fans applied for tickets to Tuesday's ceremony, with the select few notified by email on Sunday.

The late notice of the confirmation email could leave many British fans in the lurch, with little more than 24 hours to find a flight to Los Angeles. And the city's assistant police chief Jim McDonnell has stressed fans without tickets should not attempt to attend the service. "We looked at other funerals around the world and different numbers that have come out for that," he told reporters.

"We've heard that for Elvis Presley's funeral there were about 75,000, for Princess Diana there were about 250,000, so you can estimate that for Michael Jackson there will be significant numbers that intend to come out. "Whether they hopefully will take that advice that this is not the best place to be unless you have a ticket, we'll have to wait and see." Tributes at Tuesday's memorial service are expected to be led by Diana Ross, who the Jackson family have asked to sing his 1995 hit You Are Not Alone.

The Supremes star had known Michael since he was a child and in a will written in 2002, he named her as a guardian to his three children if his mother Katherine was unable to take care of them. Actress Elizabeth Taylor is to read a eulogy at the ceremony while other famous guests expected to attend the service include President Barack Obama, Whitney Houston, Justin Timberlake and Stevie Wonder.

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