2009 - Page 4 of 5 - Richard M. Langworth

Churchill in New Orleans

12 March 2009 Comments 0 Comments

I’m doing research for a video tour book on lesser known places in New Orleans. I recently heard that Winston Churchill made a visit here in 1932. Is this true? -B.K.

Yes, Churchill was in New Orleans on his 1932 lecture tour, between 16 February and 11 March, during the last hectic leg of his abbreviated schedule. (In December he was nearly killed by a car in New York and had recuperated in the Bahamas through 22 January.) On 11 March he boarded the Majestic in New York and sailed home. His New Orleans appearance would likely have been around February 18th-22nd, or just after the 23rd when he was in Atlanta, since train schedules would have had him in both cities within a day or so of each other.…

Read More Read More

Churchill’s Collected Works

11 March 2009 Comments 6 Comments

Can you direct me to a set of the “Collected Works” of Winston Churchill? If, as I suspect, this is a pricey and limited production, how can I build a complete collection of his works without spending a fortune? —G.S., Maine, USA

You refer to the Collected Works of Sir Winston Churchill, 40 volumes including four volumes of Collected Essays, published by the Library of Imperial History in London in 1974-75. (The Diner’s Club produced another collection of Major Works, but they were not complete.)

These books were discussed in my Connoisseur’s Guide to the Books of Sir Winston Churchill.…

Read More Read More

The Churchill Copyright

6 March 2009 Comments 0 Comments

To answer frequently asked questions, here are the rules governing copyright to the books, articles, speeches and papers of Winston S. Churchill:

1. Non-Commercial Use

The copyright in Sir Winston Churchill’s papers, literary works and those papers of which he was the author, did not form part of the 1995 purchase by the British Government, but remains (under the terms of Sir Winston’s will) the property of his family, except where it has been separately assigned. No charge is made in the case of reproduction for academic research. Certain educational or non-profit organizations such as the Hillsdale College Churchill Project are granted the right to reproduce (with acknowledgement) copyright material without charge.…

Read More Read More

Depression or “Black Dog”

6 March 2009 Comments 0 Comments

What is the truth about Churchill suffering from depression, which he referred to as his “black dog”? —A.L. Kansas

Churchill himself makes a few early mentions of his “black dog,” but the expression is much older than he was. It was frequently used by Victorian nannies, like Churchill’s Mrs. Everest, when their charges were in a dark mood. One reference dates it to Boswell’s Life of Johnson. Visit the Churchill Centre search engine and enter “Black Dog”; you will be led to numerous illuminating references. The first one is by his daughter Lady Soames, who I think has it right:

A lot has been made of the depressive side of his character by psychiatrists who were never in the same room with him.…

Read More Read More

More Obama and the Churchill Bust

6 March 2009 Comments 2 Comments

First and foremost, the Daily Telegraph did not connect Obama's grandfather's jailing with the Mau Mau rebellion. The Telegraph report is very careful on this point: "It was during Churchill's second premiership that Britain suppressed Kenya's Mau Mau rebellion. Among Kenyans allegedly tortured by the colonial regime included one Hussein Onyango Obama, the President's grandfather."

Read More Read More

“The Last Lion” Volume III is Published

5 March 2009 Comments 98 Comments

Over 400 readers asked when we will see the third and final volume of William Manchester’s Churchill biography, The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Defender of the Realm 1940-1965. Answer: Amazon was shipping copies as of mid-October 2012—only twenty-four years since Volume II!

Mr. Reid kindly asked me to proof the manuscript for Volume III, as did Mr. Manchester for Volume II.

This will be good news to the many Manchester fans who have waited for years. Paul Reid’s volume is written in the Manchester style, as dramatic and gripping as the first two volumes.…

Read More Read More

“Never give in”: Was this a three-word speech?

5 March 2009 Comments 2 Comments

Did Churchill ever make a three word speech, “Never Give Up,” and then just sit down? —A.S., Riga, Latvia

That story is all over the web, constantly repeated. But it is entirely wrong. I think it springs from the many inaccurate “wit and wisdom” quote books.

“Never give in” (not “up”)

The three words (“in” not “up”) were part of Churchill’s 20-minute speech to the boys at Harrow, his old school, when he visited Harrow for their annual songfest (“Songs”) on 29 October 1941. The full speech is published in Robert Rhodes James, ed.,…

Read More Read More

President Obama and the Churchill Bust – Out

4 March 2009 Comments 0 Comments

James Kirkup reported in the March 2nd Telegraph that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was presenting the President with "a first edition of Sir Martin Gilbert's seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill." ("Seven volumes" was a typo; Sir Martin was short Volume V, but Chartwell Booksellers in New York City helped him out and the full eight volumes were delivered.) So now, effectively, "Winston is Back" in the White House, and President Obama has arguably more Churchilliana than President Bush had.

Read More Read More

Eleuthera Byways: The Queen’s Baths

3 March 2009 Comments 1 Comment

PoOn the Queen’s Highway a few miles north of Gregory Town, about 300 yards before the Glass Window bridge, pull off the road across from a sandy track leading up the hill toward the Atlantic on your right. You can’t miss it: the Ministry of Tourism has recently erected a marker. You’ve arrived at the Queen’s Baths.

Walk up toward the Atlantic as the bush thins out and the sand takes over. Soon the sand thins and you’re walking on bare coral. Watch your step to avoid the uneven surface and pockmarked holes. As you approach the ocean, work your way to the left (north), keeping Harbour Island on the horizon ahead of you.…

Read More Read More

Eleuthera Byways: Edwin’s Fishlake

3 March 2009 Comments 1 Comment

First published in The Eleutheran, September 2008; Edwin’s Turtle Lake Marine Preserve, with a fine new dock and the bottle shack restored in December 2014.

Edwin’s of old

Three miles south of Governor’s Harbour, on the right side at the S-bends as the road plunges toward Palmetto Point, is a large saltwater lake. Passersby who stop to investigate will find the remains of a curious shed built of mortar and beer bottles, the amber, green and clear glass sorted by colour, bottoms facing out. A few yards away, obscured by bush and weathered by the years, was a wooden sign whose words were just legible:

Edwin’s Fishing Lake

Established March 10th 1954

The First Fishlake of the Bahamas

Over 20,000 fish of 32 varieties have

been placed in this lake.…

Read More Read More