Year: 2018

All the “Quotes” Churchill Never Said (1: Accept Change-European Union)

All the “Quotes” Churchill Never Said (1: Accept Change-European Union)

Fake Quotes: A-E

In 1686 the Oxford Eng­lish Dic­tio­nary described “red her­ring,” a metaphor to draw pur­suers off a track, as “the trail­ing or drag­ging of a dead Cat or Fox (and in case of neces­si­ty a Red-Her­ring) three or four miles…and then lay­ing the Dogs on the scent…to attempt to divert atten­tion from the real ques­tion.” I apply the term to quotes, alleged­ly by Churchill, which he nev­er said—or if he did, was quot­ing some­body else.

Hence my Red Her­rings Appen­dix, updat­ed here­with, for the new, expand­ed edi­tion of my quotes book Churchill by Him­self.…

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“No Cutlet Uncooked”: Andrew Roberts’ Superb Churchill Biography

“No Cutlet Uncooked”: Andrew Roberts’ Superb Churchill Biography

Andrew Roberts, Churchill: Walk­ing with Des­tiny. New York, Viking, 2018, 1152 pages, $40, Ama­zon $25.47, Kin­dle $17.99. Also pub­lished by the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. For Hills­dale reviews of Churchill works since 2014, click here. For a list of and notes on books about Churchill from 1905 cur­rent­ly through 1995, vis­it Hillsdale’s anno­tat­ed bibliography.

“No Cutlet Uncooked”

He lies at Bladon in Eng­lish earth, “which in his finest hour he held invi­o­late.” He would enjoy the con­tro­ver­sy he still stirs today, in media he nev­er dreamed of. He would rev­el in the assaults of his detrac­tors, the ripostes of his defend­ers.…

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Hillsdale’s Superb Churchill Biography Nears the Finish

Hillsdale’s Superb Churchill Biography Nears the Finish

Biog­ra­phy update: The warm reac­tions received to this post prompt­ed me to add the car­toon at the end. Thanks for the kind words. I am so pleased and proud to be asso­ci­at­ed with my Hills­dale col­leagues in this grand enter­prise. RML

“Give us the Tools….

Every stu­dent of Win­ston Churchill knows of Hills­dale College’s Churchill Project and the “offi­cial biog­ra­phy.” (The term is mis­lead­ing, because noth­ing was ever cen­sored.) Read more on this effort on the Project website

Sir Mar­tin Gilbert com­plet­ed the eighth and final bio­graph­ic vol­ume in 1988. But the accom­pa­ny­ing vol­umes of doc­u­ments (aka “Com­pan­ion Vol­umes”) ceased in the 1990s.…

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Just Published! “Triumph Cars”: Tribute to a famous British marque

Just Published! “Triumph Cars”: Tribute to a famous British marque

A True Triumph

We are bowled over by the sheer vol­ume of col­or, beau­ty and depth of pho­tographs in the lat­est and great­est edi­tion of Tri­umph Cars: The Com­plete Sto­ry. Large­ly this was the effort of my co-author Gra­ham Rob­son, but I nev­er expect­ed such a high qual­i­ty treat­ment by the pub­lish­ers. A big, square for­mat, 10×10 inch­es, it’s chock-a-block with lav­ish illus­tra­tions from the first spindly Tri­umph 10/20 of 1923 to the last, badge-engi­neered Tri­umph Acclaim of 1984. There are even appen­dices on Tri­umph-derived cars like the Bond Equipe, Amphicar, Peer­less and Swal­low Doret­ti.…

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Churchill: Scattershot Snipe and the Answers to It

Churchill: Scattershot Snipe and the Answers to It

My broth­er Andrew Roberts, author of the new and vital Churchill: Walk­ing with Des­tiny, pass­es along a read­er snipe which nails rick­ety new planks on the creepy ship Churchill Snipes. Incred­i­ble as it may seem, the writer man­ages to cre­ate a few we’ve nev­er heard before. They will be added to my “Assault on Churchill: A Reader’s Guide.” As will anoth­er far­ra­go by a loopy astro­naut, about which you’ve prob­a­bly already heard.

Snipe synopsis

Snipe 1) “Why doesn’t Andrew Roberts spell out Churchill’s mis­takes? They were not all that innocent.”

Whole sem­i­nars could be devot­ed to whether Churchill’s mistakes—in fact exhaus­tive­ly cat­a­logued by Roberts—were inno­cent and well intend­ed, or mali­cious­ly cal­cu­lat­ed.…

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“Advise and Consent” by Allen Drury: Mandatory Viewing by Senators?

“Advise and Consent” by Allen Drury: Mandatory Viewing by Senators?

“And now for something completely different”

Apro­pos, of course, no cur­rent events in par­tic­u­lar, I pass along a rec­om­men­da­tion. It’s from a friend and fel­low polit­i­cal junkie. “The entire Unit­ed States Sen­ate should be required to sit through an end­less looped show­ing of Advise and Con­sent.” The 1962 film is based on Allen Drury’s  Pulitzer-prize win­ning  1959 nov­el. In the unlike­ly event you do not remem­ber the film, click here.

I agree utter­ly. I must watch it again. It is not a light­heart­ed flick….

The Plot (excerpt from Wikipedia)

The Pres­i­dent of the Unit­ed States nom­i­nates Robert A. Leff­in­g­well as Sec­re­tary of State.…

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His Mother’s Son: “My Darling Winston,” David Lough, Ed.

His Mother’s Son: “My Darling Winston,” David Lough, Ed.

David Lough, edi­tor, My Dar­ling Win­ston: The Let­ters Between Win­ston Churchill and His Moth­er. Lon­don: Pega­sus, 610 pages, $35, Ama­zon $33.25, Kin­dle $15.49. Reprint­ed from a review for the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. For Hills­dale reviews of Churchill works since 2014, click here. For a list and syn­opses of books about Churchill since 1905, vis­it Hillsdale’s anno­tat­ed bibliography.

See also my trib­ute to Lee Remick as “Jen­nie.” and Part 1 of the film. 

David Lough…

…added sig­nif­i­cant­ly to our knowl­edge with No More Cham­pagne (2015), his study of Churchill’s finances. Now he fills anoth­er gap in the saga with this com­pre­hen­sive col­lec­tion of Churchill’s exchanges with his moth­er Jen­nie, Lady Ran­dolph Churchill.…

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Hillsdale UK Cruise & Churchill Tours, May 31-June16

Hillsdale UK Cruise & Churchill Tours, May 31-June16

Last Call: almost sold out Few­er than 60 cab­ins remain on the Churchill cruise of a life­time. Many of our old Churchillian friends are com­ing, and this tru­ly will be an event you will nev­er for­get.  CLICK HERE for com­plete descrip­tions of the voy­age (June 1-31) plus option­al pre- and post-cruise Churchill events (May 31-June 1, June 13-16). I can­not answer ques­tions about book­ings, cab­ins and avail­abil­i­ty. Please con­tact Glob­al Tracks, who I know from expe­ri­ence are very pro­fes­sion­al: (877) 242-6397, email hillsdalecollegecruise.com. A cruise to remember

The Hills­dale Col­lege Cruise in June 2019 is a spec­tac­u­lar jour­ney around Britain.…

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Dewey, Hoover, Churchill, and Grand Strategy, 1950-53

Dewey, Hoover, Churchill, and Grand Strategy, 1950-53

“Dewey, Hoover and Churchill” is excerpt­ed from an arti­cle for the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. For the com­plete text, click here. The lat­est vol­ume 20 of The Churchill Doc­u­ments, Nomandy and Beyond: May-Decem­ber 1944, is avail­able for $60 from the Hills­dale Col­lege Bookstore.

A great joy of read­ing The Churchill Doc­u­ments is their trove of his­tor­i­cal side­lights. Vol­ume 22 (August 1945—September 1951, due late 2018) cov­ers the ear­ly Cold War: the “Iron Cur­tain,” the Mar­shall Plan, Berlin Air­lift and Kore­an War. It reminds us of the polit­i­cal bat­tles swirling around the Anglo-Amer­i­can “spe­cial rela­tion­ship.”…

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“Churchill: The End of Glory” by John Charmley

“Churchill: The End of Glory” by John Charmley

Q: I have just been giv­en a copy of Churchill: The End of Glo­ry, A Polit­i­cal Biog­ra­phy by John Charm­ley (1993) and am oblig­ed to say that it has the most con­fused index I have ever come across.  It may be idle schol­ar­ship on my part but when I open a book that is new to me the first thing that I do is look through the index to see if it con­tains mat­ters that I con­sid­er it should and the next thing I check is the bib­li­og­ra­phy.  I looked for Sin­ga­pore and its British com­man­der, Lieu­tenant-Gen­er­al Arthur Ernest Per­ci­val but could not find any mentions. …

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