September 2019 - Richard M. Langworth

Don Cline’s outstanding collection of Churchill press photos was given by Don and Lorraine to the Hillsdale College Churchill Project, where they live on in Churchill’s memory, and Don’s. This example was taken at Dover, 28 August 1940. “…we saw a smoldering aircraft in a field, and Churchill asked the driver to pull off the road and get as close to the wreckage as he could….though I warned Mr Churchill about the dangers of being out in the open during an air raid, he said that he must have a look, and when he saw the tangled mess he said ‘Dear God, I hope it isn’t a British plane.’ He was reassured that it was not.” —Detective Inspector Walter Thompason, in dark suit to WSC’s left. (Public domain, Crown copyright expired)

Don Cline 1949-2019: The Woof of Churchill and the Warp of Scotland

30 September 2019 Comments 2 Comments

Churchill: Walking with Destiny, Andrew Roberts’s outstanding biography was at Don Cline’s bedside, and he almost made it through. I opened his copy to where the last bookmark fell. It was January 1944, a scene redolent of the fascination we shared. The writer was Lady Diana Cooper: “There was our old baby in his rompers, ten-gallon cowboy hat and very ragged oriental dressing gown, health, vigour and excellent spirits. Never have I seen him spin more fantastic stuff, the woof of English and the warp of slang.”

That passage will now always remind me of Don, who himself spun fantastic stuff.…

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Churchill Red Herrings: On a Federal Europe and “Keep England White”

21 September 2019 Comments 3 Comments

"Keep England White" is not a direct quote, nor did the words ever appear in public. Also, Macmillan followed it with an exclamation mark, which could mean that Churchill said it in jest. Ask yourself: Would any astute politician, even then, seriously propose this as a campaign slogan?

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The Language: Some Issues over “Issues”

17 September 2019 Comments 3 Comments

When Churchill referred to "Christian civilisation" he did not mean to exclude Jews or Buddhists or Muslims. He meant those words in a broader sense. His allusions to Christianity referred to its universal ethics: the Ten Commandments (a "judgmental" set of rules now expunged from certain public places), the Sermon on the Mount, charity, forgiveness, courage.

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The Brendon Bestiary: Churchill’s Animal Friends and Analogies

12 September 2019 Comments 0 Comments

Piers Brendon, Churchill’s Bestiary: His Life Through Animals. London, Michael O’Mara Books, 2018, 320 pages, Amazon $18.96. Excerpted from a review for the Hillsdale College Churchill Project. For the full text, click here.

“An enormously agreeable side of his character was his attitude toward animals,” Sir Anthony Montague Browne, his last private secretary, said of Winston Churchill. “Although a Victorian—and they were not notably aware of animal suffering—he had a sensitivity well in advance of his time.” Ever since Sir Anthony said that we’ve been waiting for a good book on the subject, and historian Piers Brendon has obliged.…

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Secretarial Masterpiece: A Churchillian Reader by Cita Stelzer

8 September 2019 Comments 0 Comments

Cita Stelzer, Working with Winston: The Unsung Women Behind Britain’s Greatest Statesman. New York, Pegasus Books, 2019, 400 pages, $28.95, Amazon $19.35, Kindle $14.99. Excerpted from a review for the Hillsdale College Churchill Project. For the full text, click here.

Grace Hamblin came to Chartwell in 1932 and served as secretary to both Churchills. After Sir Winston’s death she became Chartwell’s first National Trust administrator. Through all those years she never “wrote.” Nor, with one exception, did his other office secretaries. The exception was Elizabeth Layton Nel. Her lovely book, originally Mr.…

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Churchillian Phrases: “Special Relationship” and “Iron Curtain”

4 September 2019 Comments 0 Comments

"Iron Curtain" has been tracked back to Martin Luther in a 1521 essay, “Concerning the Letter and the Spirit.” The relevant passage is as follows: “The letter [law] does not allow anyone to stand before his wrath. The Spirit does not allow anyone to perish before his grace. Oh, this is such an overwhelming affair that one could talk about it endlessly! But the pope and human law have hidden it from us and have put up an iron curtain in front of it."

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