during the ceremony he was hailed as a man of prophecy, political sacrifice and as a great parliamentarian. During the service, Lord Biffen said that Powell's nationalism "certainly did not bear the stamp of racial superiority or xenophobia". After Powell's death, many Conservative politicians paid tribute to him, including former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who said, "There will never be anybody else so compelling as Enoch Powell. He was magnetic. Listening to his speeches was an unforgettable privilege. He was one of those rare people who made a difference and whose moral compass led us in the right direction." Other mourners at the service included socialist Labour MP Tony Benn who, despite criticising the Rivers of Blood speech, maintained a close relationship with Powell, and when asked why he had attended the funeral, simply responded with "he was my friend." Other politicians, including his rivals, also paid tribute to him, including former Labour party leader Tony Blair who said, "However controversial his views, he was one of the great figures of 20th-century British politics, gifted with a brilliant mind. However much we disagreed with many of his views, there was no doubting the strength of his convictions or their sincerity, or his tenacity in pursuing them, regardless of his own political self-interest." He was survived by his widow and two daughters. Personal life Powell spoke German, French, Italian, Modern Greek, and Hindi/Urdu, and had a reading knowledge of Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and Welsh. Among classical languages, he knew Ancient Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Despite his earlier atheism, Powell became a devout member of the Church of England, thinking in 1949 "that he heard the bells of St Peter's Wolverhampton calling him" while walking to his flat in his (then future) constituency. Subsequently, he became a churchwarden of St. Margaret's, Westminster. On 2 January 1952, the 39-year-old Powell married 26-year-old Margaret Pamela Wilson, a former colleague from the Conservative Central Office. Their first daughter, Susan, was born in January 1954, and their second daughter, Jennifer, was born in October 1956. Powell firmly believed that William Shakespeare of Stratford on Avon was not the writer of the plays and poems of Shakespeare. He appeared on an episode of Frontline, "The Shakespeare Mystery," 19 April 1989, in which he said, "My astonishment was to discover that these were the works of someone who'd 'been in the kitchen.' They are written by