Year: 2019

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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novelist
Novelist and Statesman: The Two Winston Churchills

Novelist and Statesman: The Two Winston Churchills

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The two Churchills became aware of each other in 1900 when books by the English author began to appear alongside those of the already-well-established American. Indeed, so prominent was the American novelist at the time that English Winston wrote him a polite letter promising to use his middle name "Spencer" to distinguish himself from the far better-known American. The novelist replied that if he had a middle name he would have been pleased to return the compliment.

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Welsh
Welsh National Eisteddfod, Cardiff, 2018.
The Whole Welsh Works of Winston

The Whole Welsh Works of Winston

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Mr. Emrys Hughes: “Owing to the popularity the Government has gained by the reduction of their salaries, is not the Prime Minister prepared to apply the principle to the big item of more than £500,000 spent on the Civil List?” Mr. Churchill replied “Dim o gwbl," meaning "At any time." Which was a nice Welsh way of saying "I'm really not going to tell you anything."

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movies
Olivier as Henry V, 1944.
“Churchill and the Movies”: Hillsdale Lecture Series, March 24-28th

“Churchill and the Movies”: Hillsdale Lecture Series, March 24-28th

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The Movies

In 1927, Win­ston Churchill wrote to his wife Clemen­tine, “I am becom­ing a film fan.” He had pro­jec­tion equip­ment installed at Che­quers, the coun­try home of British prime min­is­ters, in 1943, and at his fam­i­ly home Chartwell in 1946. “Churchill and the Movies” is the fourth and final event of the Cen­ter for Con­struc­tive Alter­na­tives in the 2018-19 aca­d­e­m­ic year. We will view and dis­cuss two films wide­ly regard­ed as Churchill’s favorites, and two Churchill bio­graph­ic movies in their his­tor­i­cal context.

Hillsdale’s Cen­ter for Con­struc­tive Alter­na­tives (CCA) is the spon­sor of one of the largest col­lege lec­ture series in Amer­i­ca.…

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Cohen
A corner of Ron’s massive collection: a treasure trove for Churchill scholars of the future.
Hillsdale Acquires Cohen Collection of Churchill’s Writings

Hillsdale Acquires Cohen Collection of Churchill’s Writings

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The Cohen Trove

Hills­dale Col­lege has announced acqui­si­tion of an impor­tant part of the Ronald Cohen col­lec­tion of the writ­ings of Sir Win­ston Churchill. It num­bers almost 2000 indi­vid­ual items. They com­prise six cat­e­gories: fore­words, pref­aces, and intro­duc­tions by Churchill; peri­od­i­cal arti­cles; works and peri­od­i­cals con­tain­ing Churchill speech­es; let­ters, mem­o­ran­da, state­ments and let­ters to the edi­tor. Some 15% of these writ­ings have not seen print since their orig­i­nal, lim­it­ed edi­tions, and there­fore com­prise a “sub­merged canon,” because they open a fresh field of Churchill scholarship.

Hills­dale Col­lege also has a tem­po­rary, exclu­sive pur­chase option for the bal­ance of the col­lec­tion, books writ­ten by Win­ston Churchill.…

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Recordings
Ron Cohen in his massive Churchill library, from which the recordings are drawn.
Hillsdale College Acquires Cohen Churchill Recordings Collection

Hillsdale College Acquires Cohen Churchill Recordings Collection

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Hills­dale Col­lege has acquired the world’s most com­pre­hen­sive col­lec­tion of Churchill record­ings. Many are very rare because they reach back over a century.

The col­lec­tion was gen­er­ous­ly donat­ed by col­lec­tor and bib­li­og­ra­ph­er Ronald I. Cohen of Ottawa, Ontario. Among the 300 record­ings are 100 speech­es and 24 read­ings from Churchill’s war memoirs.

Hills­dale Col­lege has a long-stand­ing com­mit­ment to lead­er­ship stud­ies through The Churchill Project. We encour­age schol­ar­ship in, and com­ple­tion of, the remain­ing vol­umes of The Churchill Doc­u­ments, a series in Churchill’s offi­cial biog­ra­phy. The final vol­ume 23 arrives in 2019, and so com­pletes a 31-vol­ume epic Ran­dolph Churchill began in 1962.…

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Himself
Campaigning with his wife in Epping, 1924.
Churchill By Himself: Errata and Future Editions

Churchill By Himself: Errata and Future Editions

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Churchill by Himself

…is the only Churchill quo­ta­tions book with each entry ref­er­enced with a date and source. There’s even an appen­dix on incor­rect quo­ta­tions (called “Red Her­rings”), stat­ing why they are not Churchill’s. By Him­self is also the only Churchill quote book that has under­gone repeat­ed reviews to pro­duce a text as close to Churchill’s orig­i­nal words as pos­si­ble. For­tu­nate­ly, it’s been con­tin­u­ous­ly in print for over ten years, mak­ing con­stant revi­sion possible.

Just before the first pub­li­ca­tion in 2008, we found that a tran­scriber had made many errors in copy­ing out quo­ta­tions.…

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Tonypandy
Troops fire at Llanelli rioters who had stopped a train and attacked the engine driver. Painting by Stephen Meyler, from John Edwards’ book, “Remembrance of a Riot,” 1988.
Churchill, Tonypandy and “Poundland Lenin”

Churchill, Tonypandy and “Poundland Lenin”

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Tony­pandy, Wales is in the news again with fuzzy pur­vey­ors of his­to­ry. On 13 Feb­ru­ary the Guardian head­lined, “Win­ston Churchill was a vil­lain, says John McDon­nell.” (Mr. Don­nell is Labour’s shad­ow Chan­cel­lor of the Exche­quer in the House of Commons.)

“Villain — Tonypandy”

Mr. McDonnell’s swipe at Churchill was brief. Asked if he saw Churchill as a hero or vil­lain, he replied: “Villain—Tonypandy.” The Guardian com­plet­ed the dri­ve-by assas­si­na­tion, not only by head­lin­ing the remark, but with an inac­cu­rate rehash of the Tony­pandy riots in 1910.

Sir Winston’s grand­son, Sir Nicholas Soames, focused on McDon­nell, call­ing him a “Pound­land Lenin.”…

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Oslo
Winston Churchill (with King Haakon, right) receives a bouquet from a girl at Bygdøy, Oslo, May 1948. (Photo: Sverre Heiberg / Dagbladet}
Churchill in Oslo, 1948: Stray Gems from a Distant Past

Churchill in Oslo, 1948: Stray Gems from a Distant Past

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On 11-13 May 1948, Win­ston Churchill was in Nor­way to accept an hon­orary degree from Oslo Uni­ver­si­ty. He gave five speeches—University, City Hall, Stort­ing (Nor­we­gian Par­lia­ment) and two din­ners. All five can be found in Churchill’s speech vol­ume Europe Unite, or Win­ston S. Churchill: His Com­plete Speech­es 1897-1963. They offer six gems of Churchillian wis­dom. I plan to add them to the upcom­ing new edi­tion of Churchill by Him­self, my book of quotations.

Oslo Variations

A read­er reminds us of these obscure ora­tions by send­ing one: Churchill’s din­ner speech on May 12th. His source is Churchill’s Vis­it to Nor­way (Oslo: Cap­pe­lens, 1949).…

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Manchester
Martin Gilbert’s spontaneity was part of his charm. Here he is with good friend Jacqueline Dean Witter on our 1996 Churchill’s England tour, where he led fifty people on a fast-paced walkabout in London. The venue is Horse Guards Parade, with Churchill’s Admiralty in the background.
Churchill’s Biographers: Manchester vs. Gilbert

Churchill’s Biographers: Manchester vs. Gilbert

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Manchester in the 1980s brought more people to Churchill than anyone then. Accomplished scholars, who took great issue with his conclusions, were often careful to credit him with that. Gilbert's work "rises with the tempo of accumulating disasters and Churchill’s presence, too, rises above the panic, like a great granite cliff."

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RML Books

Richard Langworth’s Most Popular Books & eBooks


Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality

Churchill by Himself

Churchill in His Own Words

Churchill and the Avoidable War

The Definitive Wit of Winston Churchill

The Patriot’s Churchill

Triumph Cars - The Complete Story
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