May 2020 - Richard M. Langworth

“American Jennie” and Other Books on Lady Randolph Churchill

29 May 2020

A reader requests recommendations for good books about Sir Winston’s mother, Lady Randolph Churchill (1854-1921). The most rounded and thoroughly sourced is Anne Sebba’s American Jennie (2007). Barbara Langworth published a thorough review and analysis of Jennie’s many accomplishments, below. Scroll to the end for a Bibliography and commentary on other books about Lady Randolph. RML

Barbara F. Langworth: The Right Parent Survived

Jennie Churchill: Winston’s American Mother, by Anne Sebba (London, Murray, 2007). American Jennie: The Remarkable Life of Lady Randolph Churchill), (New York: Norton, 2007).

It may seem a new story to many readers, since the previous biographies of Lady Randolph Churchill date back up to eight decades.…

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Churchill on the Egyptians: “Set the Jews on them.” Or so it is alleged.

25 May 2020

Egyptians and all that A.M. in India follows Churchill issues and strives to understand the truth. He questions what Winston Churchill said about the Egyptians….

Good afternoon, I’ve emailed you before. If it’s not too much trouble could you please verify whether Sir Winston actually said this? “If we have any more of [Egyptian] cheek we will set the Jews on them and drive them into the gutter from which they should never have emerged.”

* * * We may accept this as likely. It is hearsay and the source was not pro-Churchill.…

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Churchill Memories of the Mount Washington and Bretton Woods

20 May 2020

Readers reacted kindly to my essay on Alistair Cooke. I venture to add some private Churchillian moments at the Mount Washington Hotel at Bretton Woods. I sent these to still-living participants, who urged I publish them—with strategic edits to protect the innocent.

“I’ve been using microphones before you were born”

Commander Larry Kryske USN was our toastmaster for the 1988 Mount Washington Churchill dinners. I remember particularly his naval declaration after dinner: “The smoking lamp is lighted.” (How odd that sounds now! In my experience, group smoking stopped almost dead around 1990.) Larry sends this amusing memory of that night, 27 August:

During his address, Sir Alistair appeared to be having trouble with the mic.…

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May — WSC in the Cabinet Room, 10 Downing Street, 1940. Photo by Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) for the Ministry of Information. (Crown copyright expired, Wikimedia Commons)

80 Years On: Winston Churchill Prime Minister, 10 May 1940

10 May 2020

The 10th of May…

In the splintering crash of this vast battle the quiet conversations we had had in Downing Street faded or fell back in one’s mind. However, I remember being told that Mr. Chamberlain had gone, or was going, to see the King, and this was naturally to be expected. Presently a message arrived summoning me to the Palace at six o’clock. It only takes two minutes to drive there from the Admiralty along the Mall. Although I suppose the evening newspapers must have been full of the terrific news from the Continent, nothing had been mentioned about the Cabinet crisis.…

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Alistair Cooke: An Introduction and an Appreciation

6 May 2020

My previous note was about Alistair Cooke on Churchill in the 1930s. I here reprise my introduction to his 1988 speech, and a personal epilogue. Sir Alistair’s remarks, at the Mount Washington Hotel, Bretton Woods, 27 August 1988, are available by email. RML

Sir Alistair Cooke KBE

When, in what we must regard as a stroke of brilliance, we thought to invite Sir Alistair Cooke to talk about Winston Churchill, we wrote him with trepidation. We were told he had a reputation for being very hard to get.

To our delight, he defied the odds.…

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Alistair Cooke: Why didn’t They Listen to Churchill?

2 May 2020

Alistair Cooke addressed this question over thirty years ago. I’ve quoted his words repeatedly over the years. A recent comment (reprised below), encouraged this revision from 2011. Mr. Cooke’s full speech is available by email. RML

Back in the 1930s, who all denounced and criticized Churchill for his beliefs in the radical Nazi Germany? Who specifically mocked him? Obviously Churchill was right about Hitler and his plans but who in the political, intellectual, or entertainment arenas vilified him? —A.H.

The answer to your question, I think, is “just about everybody,” from the Royal Family to ordinary citizens, most of the media, his own party, the Labour and Liberal parties, and certainly most intellectuals and entertainment personalities.…

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