“Not a day passes when Winston Churchill, who proved indispensable WHEN LIBERTY HUNG IN THE BALANCE is not accused of something dreadful, from misogyny to warmongering. My book, Winston Churchill: Myth and Reality, confronts this busy industry.” —RML
A friend sends a letter from a “Planning firm” to his homeowners association. The firm seeks a consultant contract. But its proposals are so full of jargon that my friend wondered what Churchill would make of it. The letter contains many sentences Churchill would have deplored:
“The committee tasked with the planning and completion of an inclusive and productive process.”
“General understanding offers guidance for the implementation committee.”
And: “An outward and honest marketing position achieves its goals…”
“Tasked,” of course, is a new noun, converted from the verb “task” by modern Newspeak.…
John Fleet is a filmmaker who has produced an excellent documentary on Winston Churchill and Alexander Korda. Their collaboration in movie making, though not widely known, was substantial. A trailer for “Churchill and the Movie Mogul” may viewed online. For the full lecture, including Q&A—or the option of reading a transcript—click here.
A Treat Instead of a Treatment
We always begin watching any new film about Churchill with trepidation. After the skewed portraits in the television series The Crown, the fake history about postwar India in Viceroy’s House, and the absurdities of Churchill played by Brian Cox, we are fearful of having sit through another slapdash, ill-researched portrait.…
Above all and first, the importance of Henry V is what it teaches about leadership. “True leadership,” writes Andrew Roberts, “stirs us in a way that is deeply embedded in our genes and psyche.…If the underlying factors of leadership have remained the same for centuries, cannot these lessons be learned and applied in situations far removed from ancient times?”
Churchill’s war speeches are—what shall we say—inspired by, remindful of, analogous to Shakespeare’s works in ancient times.…
