Month: September 2019

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

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

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”

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

"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”

The Language: Some Issues over “Issues”

 Trashing tradition

“Issues over Issues” is reprint­ed with revi­sions from an essay in 2007.

“I con­fess myself to be a great admir­er of tra­di­tion. The longer you can look back, the far­ther you can look forward….The wider the span, the longer the con­ti­nu­ity, the greater is the sense of duty in indi­vid­ual men and women, each con­tribut­ing their brief life’s work to the preser­va­tion and progress of the land in which they live, the soci­ety of which they are mem­bers, and the world of which they are the ser­vants.” —Win­ston S. Churchill, Roy­al Col­lege of Physi­cians, 2 March 1944

“The Car­di­nals’ bus from their hotel in mid­town Man­hat­tan was delayed by more than an hour as it made its way to the ball­park on Wednes­day.…

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