2011 - Page 2 of 2 - Richard M. Langworth

Arrington McCardy 1947-2011

12 April 2011 Comments 3 Comments

Self-trained, he had unorthodox techniques. On a steep hill, the standard tactic is to shift up two cogs and stand up, adding your body weight to the downstroke, using your arms to wiggle the bike from side to side to help the upstroke. We never saw Arrington stand. Instead he would hunker down in the saddle and simply power his way over the hill. And he always left us in the dust. I was hoping to watch this technique in the White Mountains when he and Hazel were to visit us in New Hampshire.

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Dreyfus and Churchill: Don’t display autographed photos

5 April 2011 Comments 0 Comments

The signature on a fantastic autographed photo of Winston Churchill at Chartwell, which a friend framed and kept on his wall and hid from the light, has faded to nothingness. Even ambient room light will fade ancient inks, and there is nothing to be done.

Back when I was senior editor at Automobile Quarterly, I rescued a wonderful big 3×2-foot photo of the great Grand Prix champion René Dreyfus (the world’s last great Frenchman), and his Type 35 Bugatti, from the dustbin and brought it over to Le Chanteclair, his wonderful French restaurant on 49th Street, Manhattan, for him to inscribe to me.…

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Churchill’s Speech Problem: A Lisp, not a Stutter

5 April 2011 Comments 1 Comment

What many thought was stuttering was a prop, not a handicap.

Churchill’s speech problem was a lisp. He could not pronounce the letter “S” and never really learned to do so—so he turned it into a prop, exaggerating words like his famous “Narzzsseess” for “Nazis.”

What some people thought was stuttering was his habit of turning over a word or phrase in an undertone before settling on the final words. He often used this technique in speeches, because he found that it would stir people to renewed interest in what he was about to say next.

Example is a quote from his speech at Harvard University, 6 September 1943:“Man has parted company with his faithful friend the horse, and has sailed into the azure on the wings of eagles—eagles being represented by the infernal….uh,…

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Churchill on the Middle East

31 March 2011 Comments 0 Comments

Churchill By Himself, p. 437: “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. It is very sad, but we had all better recognise it. At present our friendship is not valued, and our enmity is not feared.”…

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Bahamas Fishing Haul, Spanish Wells

30 March 2011 Comments 0 Comments

My friend Bruno Underwood called March 18th to ask if we were up to fish—his only opportunity to take us out since he’s working round the clock. We have been enjoying fishing charters with Bruno for five years. On March 19th he and his dad, Baron, met us at Gene’s Bay, north Eleuthera, at 9 and off we went to their favorite spots, plotted by GPS. We were in from 12 to 25 feet with 25 lb.-test spinning tackle and cut bait (goggle-eyes).

For the first half hour, only nibbles; Baron said these were yellowtail stealing our bait, but ”they’ll soon be full and will move on for the big boys.”…

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The Alcohol Question (Again)

2 March 2011 Comments 1 Comment

Reference to Churchill and abuse of alcohol. When my father and I had lunch with Churchill at the House of Commons in 1952, I certainly did not see Churchill drink any more than the usual lunch time glass of wine. My father never mentioned his excessive use of alcohol in any form.—R.W.

He had an impressive capacity but you’re right. Except for a bodyguard who helped him and Eden totter home after a night of toasts with the Russians at Teheran, no one close ever saw him the worse for drink. (Well, Alanbrooke sometimes wrote in his diary that the boss was inebriated.…

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