December 2019 - Richard M. Langworth

Churchill’s Christmas, 1882-1947: Halcyon and Sterner Days

24 December 2019 Comments 0 Comments

“Churchill’s Christmas” is excerpted from a two-part article for the Hillsdale College Churchill Project. For the complete text with footnotes, please click here.

To Churchillian colleagues, and most of all those who have encouraged and supported our Churchill work at Hillsdale College so many years: thank-you for being our friends.

Washington, 24 December 1941

“Let the children have their night of fun and laughter… Let us grown-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures before we turn again to the stern task and the formidable years that lie before us, resolved that, by our sacrifice and daring, these same children shall not be robbed of their inheritance or denied their right to live in a free and decent world.…

How Churchill Polished and Improved His Writing by Constant Revision

19 December 2019 Comments 0 Comments

Condensed from “Constant Revision,” an article under my pen name for the Hillsdale College Churchill Project. For the complete text click here.

Revision and redraft

We are asked: “As I recall Churchill labeled his manuscripts something like “draft,” “almost final draft” and “final draft.” Do you recall what those categories were?”

We cannot establish that he routinely used those labels. Instead he tended to use “revise” or “revision.” Frequently his finished draft was marked “final revise.” It often took a long time before, with a sigh of relief, his private office staff reached that point.…

British Election for Dummies: Churchillian Reflections from Afar

13 December 2019 Comments 5 Comments

…In which an ignorant Yank with a slight remembrance of history ponders the implications. (Friends in Hertfordshire write: “What an election. Let’s hope now we can move on and sort this country out and become Great Britain again.🇬🇧“) Electoral map image reproduced under the Creative Commons -Share Alike 4.0 International license. For a detailed map with results by name or constituency, see Bloomberg News. Piers Morgan on ardent anti-Brexit actor Hugh Grant: “Hugh’s sorry now. Corbyn’s celebrity fans weep into their almond milk lattes.” Note: Even Grant approved Johnson’s campaign ad, spun off of Hugh’s charming film “Love Actually.”…