2014 - Page 2 of 2 - Richard M. Langworth

“Squeeze Germany until the Pips Squeak”

14 September 2014 Comments 6 Comments

Writing in the Arizona Republic, Clay Thompson properly corrects a reader. It was not Churchill who coined the phrase, “we shall squeeze Germany until the pips squeak.” Mr. Thompson correctly replied that the author was likely Sir Eric Campbell-Geddes, First Lord of the Admiralty in 1917-19. No sooner had Geddes uttered it than the line was ascribed to Prime Minister David Lloyd George. It worked well in the 1918 British general election, which Lloyd George handily won.

Lloyd George was personally not revenge-minded. But as a politician he was all too ready to adopt the popular cry “Hang the Kaiser.”…

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Senators’ Goose Goslin slides safely into home and collides with Yankees catcher Wally Schang in 2nd game of a double header, 1925. The Senators went on to win their second straight pennant. (Library of Congress)

Ryan Zimmerman and the Curse of the Goose

2 August 2014 Comments 0 Comments

On 23 June 2014 Washington Nationals star third baseman Ryan Zimmerman went out with a hamstring injury that may sideline him for the rest of the season. The effect on the team's play was astonishing. Postscript: he was soon back, and stayed on the roster until he retired in 2021. He was not Goose Goslin, however.

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“Welcome Mr. Gandhi” —Winston Churchill

11 July 2014 Comments 2 Comments

Before we pigeonhole Churchill as an unrepentant imperialist, consider what he and Gandhi had in common. Gandhi and Churchill viewed a break-up of the subcontinent with regret and sadness. Both feared religious extremism, Hindu or Muslim. Each believed in the peaceful settlement of boundary disputes. Both strove for liberty. Such precepts more widely held would be welcome today. In Parliament Square, Churchill will be fine with Gandhi.

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“Definitive Wit of Winston Churchill”

9 July 2014 Comments 1 Comment

Thanks, Colin Randall, for the kind words. Contact me for a copy of the big book from which The Definitive Wit of Winston Churchill was derived.

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Moe Berg: “Give My Regards to the Catcher” —Franklin Roosevelt

21 May 2014 Comments 7 Comments

Who was Moe Berg? Merely a major baseball league catcher who spoke fifteen languages and spied for his country in World War II. He has no brass plaque at the Baseball Hall of Fame, but they display his Medal of Merit.

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Lord Randolph and the Aylesford Sports

7 March 2014 Comments 1 Comment

Was Winston Churchill's father a Lord? If so, how did he serve in the House of Commons? And did this continue even after he found he had to get out of town, so to speak, when he "incurred the displeasure of a great personage" A movie could be made. Ah, the Victorians.

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Centenary of the Great War: Let the Spin Begin

5 January 2014 Comments 2 Comments

Tristram Hunt on the Great War

I didn’t expect to find myself agreeing with Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt. But take a look at his Great War article “Bashing History,” and see what you think.

We’re going to be reading a lot of silly nonsense about the Great War in the next year or two, and Hunt’s preemptive strike is a salutary warning.

His piece recalls a poetic answer to Eric Bogle’s famous poem “Willie McBride,” written by Stephen Suffet in 1997:

Ask the people of Belgium or Alsace-Lorraine,

If my life was wasted, if I died in vain.…

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