2010 - Richard M. Langworth

The Word Play of “Notability or Notoriety”

14 December 2010 Comments 0 Comments

One remark I love to quote but cannot locate is WSC’s self avowed quest for fame by “notability or notoriety.” Great word play. The best I can remember is seeing it in one of the early companion volumes of the official biography, edited by his son Randolph. —M.W., New Jersey

I have sent this to several colleagues to help fathom, because I cannot provide you with the reference. In searching my scanned data, the only instance of “notability and notoriety” (together) is in Finest Hour 99, p 19 (“Patterns in Churchill’s Charmed Life” by Manfred Weidhorn).…

Provide for Your Library

31 October 2010 Comments 0 Comments

“BILL’S BOOKS”

“What shall I do with all my books?” Churchill asked in Thoughts and Adventures. It is a question we should all ponder—while there is still time.

In the November 1st issue of National Review, Neal B. Freeman writes a touching and sensitive appreciation of the library of the late William F. Buckley, Jr.: an eclectic mix, from tomes on the harpsichord to biographies of Elvis Presley, from books inscribed to him to feverishly marked-up books relating to Buckley’s own writing, to the classics he admired. Because he had not thought to leave specific instructions, his library was broken up, scattered to the winds—and not everything in it reached an appreciative owner.…

Translations of “The Second World War”

10 October 2010 Comments 1 Comment

I‘m working on an article and there are some details I need to know: (1) The number of languages into which Churchill’s Second World War memoirs were translated and (2) The number of languages into which the 1959 abridged one-volume edition was translated. —G.A., Spain

According to Ronald I. Cohen’s Bibliography of the Writings of Sir Winston Churchill (London: Continuum, 2006, 3 vols., I: 729-30), The Second World War was translated into nineteen languages: Czech, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.…