Churchill's funeral voyage re-enacted 50 years after death Britain on Friday paid tribute to its wartime prime minister Winston Churchill, who remains a touchstone of political life and a reminder of a faded age of global influence. London's Tower Bridge was raised and the HMS Belfast warship fired a gun salute as the boat that carried his coffin up the River Thames in 1965 retraced its procession, with music from bagpipers on board. IMAGES.