Johnny Depp's dram-atic funeral

He revealed his morbid idea was inspired by his late friend, the US writer Hunter S. Thompson, who requested his ashes be fired from a cannon on top of a tower.

Johnny, who plays hellraiser Thompson in his latest movie The Rum Diary, said: "I could go in a whisky cask and everyone can take a sip."

Johnny honoured his friend's wish by spending a reported two million dollars to have a tower and cannon built for the 2005 send-off at Thompson's farm in Colorado.

He said: "Hunter had dreamed of a special way to go. He wanted to be fired from a cannon.

"Brilliant! So I built a huge cannon after his death in 2005 and fired his ashes into the sky."

Better to watch that than having to stomach a dram of whisky with Johnny preserved in it.