“Few great leaders are also great writers; none who were compare with Churchill. HIS NOBEL PRIZE was for historic and biographic eloquence and oratory in defense of liberty. Yet, unusually for a politician, he also thought deeply about the nature of mankind.” —RML
Fake Churchill Quotations: Democracy, Life, Living, Enemies

Fake Churchill Quotations: Democracy, Life, Living, Enemies

<> Among fake quotations, this one is famous. It was revived by broadcaster Trevor Phillips in The Times. Mr. Phillips was explaining that British Conservatives, almost certainly to be the Opposition after the next election, need to stand strong—particularly against themselves. No quarrel with his logic, only his attribution.

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Vanishing National Anthems: Do We Still Know the Words?

Vanishing National Anthems: Do We Still Know the Words?

There’s always been something faintly concerning to important or fancy people about national anthems. Early on, the disenchantment was relatively trivial. During Queen Victoria’s Jubilee in 1897, Lady Randolph Churchill arranged for a young man with a music box to play God Save the Queen whenever Her Majesty sat down in her Jubilee dress. When she rose, the song stopped, only to recommence when she sat down again. Nowadays, the critics are more frantic, and most lyrics have been forgotten.

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Facing Disaster with a Smile: The Dick Teague I Knew

Facing Disaster with a Smile: The Dick Teague I Knew

"So I told Red Lux to cut up the last Packard prototype. This welder had been there since the cornerstone, and was hanging on by his thumbnails. I came back and the pieces were lying all around like a bomb had gone off. It was probably the dirtiest trick I ever played but I said: 'My God, Red, what have you done? Not this one, man—the one over in the corner!' The poor guy had to have had a strong heart, because if he didn’t, he would have died right there. His face drained, and when I told him I was just kidding he chased me around the room. You’ve got to have a sense of humor in this business." —Dick Teague

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Churchill Quotes: “Law Above the King” and “All Will Be Well”

Churchill Quotes: “Law Above the King” and “All Will Be Well”

"A law which is above the King" occurs in Churchill's "The Birth of Britain" (London: Cassell, 1956). He was explaining Magna Carta, the Great Charter of Freedoms, one of the towering benchmarks of Western Civilization. “All will be well” was a very frequent expression. In South Africa in 1899-1900, the young Winston had picked up the Afrikaans phrase "Alles sal regkom" or “All will come right.” He used both phrases interchangeably because they expressed his sentiment.

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“Empire First”: the Bowman War on Churchill’s D-Day

“Empire First”: the Bowman War on Churchill’s D-Day

Greenock, Scotland, played a noble part in Britain’s war effort. Perhaps its historians might now busy themselves with a travelogue. They could tell of an old man’s courageous journeys from Greenock into U-boat-infested seas in pursuit of victory in a global war. Or they could describe the ships and munitions built in Greenock to support the “lodgment on the continent” the old man had supported since 1941. They might even mention the Mulberry Harbors, the old man’s conception that made possible a successful D-Day. 

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Churchill, Palestine and the State of Israel, Part 2: 1945-1951

Churchill, Palestine and the State of Israel, Part 2: 1945-1951

"The Middle East is one of the hardest-hearted areas in the world. It has always been fought over, and peace has only reigned when a major power has established firm influence and shown that it would maintain its will. Your friends must be supported with every vigour and if necessary they must be avenged. Force, or perhaps force and bribery, are the only things that will be respected.... At present our friendship is not valued, and our enmity is not feared." —WSC, 1958

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Churchill, Palestine and Israel, Part 1: 1917-1945

Churchill, Palestine and Israel, Part 1: 1917-1945

Churchill and Palestine had a long association, spanning two world wars and thirty years. It began in 1917, when British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour promised a “Jewish National Home” in Palestine. Almost simultaneously, Lawrence of Arabia was offering the Arabs sovereignty over a Middle East ruled for nearly half a millennium by the Turks. By war’s end, the Ottoman Empire was a shambles. “At this truly horrendous moment,” Professor Fromkin told us, “Prime Minister David Lloyd George turned to his Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill and said in effect, ‘You deal with it.’”

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No, Churchill Didn’t Sink the Lusitania, Either

No, Churchill Didn’t Sink the Lusitania, Either

The scholar Harry V. Jaffa placed most of the blame on human error: “Not only was Lusitania's steam reduced; her crew was also. The best men had been taken by the Royal Navy; lifeboat drills were listless…. The davits by which they had to be lowered were virtually unworkable from the moment the ship began to list. But the greatest of all the failures was the captain’s, since he navigated almost exactly as he would have done in peacetime.” Captain Turner had slowed down after striking the Irish coast, in order to arrive with the tide at Merseyside. 

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The Churchill Tours, 1983-2008: A Certain Splendid Memory

The Churchill Tours, 1983-2008: A Certain Splendid Memory

"Garry, check this Churchill tour, and the price. To think that you and we used to deliver two weeks and places these people never heard about for a third the money not so long ago" .... "Richard, just think back to the people we met with Churchill connections who are no longer with us. And in many cases our tours visited their homes. Quite unique when you think about it—in fact impossible to be repeated. We definitely had the best.”

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“At Bladon”: Fifty-nine Years On, Echoes and Memories

“At Bladon”: Fifty-nine Years On, Echoes and Memories

30 January 1965: "On the way home, my mind was a blank. I tried to say some silent prayers for that brave and generous soul, but they were choked and confused, and came to nothing. I could not mourn for him: he had so clearly and for so long wanted to leave the World. But I was submerged in a wave of aching grief for Britain's precipitous decline, against which he had stood in vain. When I reached our flat in Eaton Place it had been burgled." —Anthony Montague Browne

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