Month: April 2019

butterflies
Gardener Stephen Humphrey at the butterfly house at Chartwell. Mr. Humphrey took charge of the reinvigorated butterflies in 2009 and reported they were soon flourishing. (BBC)
Churchill’s Butterflies Continue to Flourish at Chartwell

Churchill’s Butterflies Continue to Flourish at Chartwell

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But­ter­flies are back in force at Sir Win­ston Churchill’s Chartwell. In 2009, the Nation­al Trust rebuilt the but­ter­fly hut and gar­den­er Stephen Humphrey took charge of rais­ing but­ter­flies. Nigel Guest, a Chartwell vol­un­teer, imme­di­ate­ly report­ed “a ter­rif­ic year for but­ter­flies.” For his report and col­or pho­tos of Churchill’s favorite species see BBC Radio Kent, “Churchill’s But­ter­fly House at Chartwell.”

David Rid­dle, a Nation­al Trust vol­un­teer at Chartwell, gave me the back­ground of the “But­ter­fly House” Churchill estab­lished to prop­a­gate the insects on the grounds of his home:

The But­ter­fly House was first used as a game larder between 1869 and 1889 by the Colquhoun fam­i­ly, who owned Chartwell between 1830 and 1922, when Churchill bought the estate.…

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Trade
Fishing for a shilling: Churchill, President of the Board of Trade, the ardent free trader in 1908, when different countries produced vastly different stuff—like the taxi, which I think is a Renault.
Churchill and Free Trade: That was Then, This is Now

Churchill and Free Trade: That was Then, This is Now

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On Free Trade and tariffs

The Hud­son Insti­tute  econ­o­mist Irwin Stelz­er penned an inter­est­ing arti­cle on trade: “Trump girds for War with EU.” I sent it around to col­leagues, prais­ing it for prop­er­ly attribut­ing an alleged Churchill quote:

No one doubts that Trump is gear­ing up to launch a tar­iff bat­tle with the Euro­pean Union. For one thing, he is set to sign a deal end­ing the trade bat­tle with Chi­na, and would not be fight­ing a two-front war should he take on Europe which, he tweet­ed last week, “has tak­en advan­tage of the U.S.…

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jargon
Churchill at Chartwell, early 1950s.
Churchill on Jargon: The Language as We Mangle It

Churchill on Jargon: The Language as We Mangle It

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Jargon and Monkey Motion

A friend sends a let­ter from a plan­ning firm, “reach­ing out” to his home­own­ers asso­ci­a­tion. The plan­ners seek a con­sul­tant con­tract. They promise “awe­some” results. Their pro­pos­als are so full of jar­gon that my friend won­dered what Churchill would make of it. The let­ter con­tains many sen­tences Churchill would have deplored:

“The com­mit­tee tasked us with the plan­ning and com­ple­tion of an inclu­sive and pro­duc­tive process.”

“Gen­er­al under­stand­ing offers guid­ance for the imple­men­ta­tion committee.”

And: “An out­ward and hon­est mar­ket­ing posi­tion achieves awe­some goals…”

“Tasked,” of course, is a new verb, con­vert­ed from the noun “task” by mod­ern Newspeak.…

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Korda
“The Story of a Unique Collaboration” (January Pictures)
Churchill and Movie Mogul Alexander Korda, by John Fleet

Churchill and Movie Mogul Alexander Korda, by John Fleet

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John Fleet is a film­mak­er who has pro­duced an excel­lent doc­u­men­tary on Win­ston Churchill and Alexan­der Kor­da. Their col­lab­o­ra­tion in movie mak­ing, though not wide­ly known, was sub­stan­tial. A trail­er for “Churchill and the Movie Mogul” may viewed online. For the full lec­ture, includ­ing Q&A—or the option of read­ing a tran­script—click here.

A Treat Instead of a Treatment

We always begin watch­ing any new film about Churchill with trep­i­da­tion. After the skewed por­traits in the tele­vi­sion series The Crown, the fake his­to­ry about post­war India in Viceroy’s House, and the absur­di­ties of Churchill played by Bri­an Cox, we are fear­ful of hav­ing sit through anoth­er slap­dash, ill-researched por­trait.…

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Henry
“The Pool of England”: How Henry V Inspired Churchill’s Words

“The Pool of England”: How Henry V Inspired Churchill’s Words

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Excerpt­ed from “Churchill, Shake­speare and Hen­ry V.” Lec­ture at “Churchill and the Movies,” a sem­i­nar spon­sored by the Cen­ter for Con­struc­tive Alter­na­tives, Hills­dale Col­lege, 25 March 2019. For the com­plete video, click here.

Shakespeare’s Henry: Parallels and Inspirations

Above all and first, the impor­tance of Hen­ry V is what it teach­es about lead­er­ship. “True lead­er­ship,” writes Andrew Roberts, “stirs us in a way that is deeply embed­ded in our genes and psyche.…If the under­ly­ing fac­tors of lead­er­ship have remained the same for cen­turies, can­not these lessons be learned and applied in sit­u­a­tions far removed from ancient times?”…

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Brexit
Churchill at The Hague, 7 May 1948 (in a Packard, I am proud to say): “A high and solemn responsibility rests upon us here of a Europe striving to be reborn. If we allow ourselves to be rent and disordered by pettiness and small disputes, if we fail in clarity of view or courage in action, a priceless occasion may be cast away forever.”
Brexit: Leadership Failures Over Four Generations

Brexit: Leadership Failures Over Four Generations

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Quotation of the Season

So they go on in strange para­dox, decid­ed only to be unde­cid­ed, resolved to be irres­olute, adamant for drift, sol­id for flu­id­i­ty, all-pow­er­ful to be impo­tent. So we go on prepar­ing more months and years—precious, per­haps vital, to the great­ness of Britain—for the locusts to eat. —Churchill, House of Com­mons, 12 Novem­ber 1936

Brexit Bedlam

For me the most adroit analy­sis of Britain’s Brex­it Bed­lam we can read to date was by Andrew Roberts in the Sun­day Tele­graph. You can reg­is­ter for free to read the article.…

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Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality

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The Patriot’s Churchill

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