Month: March 2022

Martin
Jock Colville’s farewell to join the RAF, Downing Street garden, September 1941. Front row L-R: Colville, Churchill, John Martin, Tony Bevir. Back row L-R: Leslie Rowan, John Peck, Miss Watson, Commander “Tommy” Thompson, Charles Barker. (Detail from the dust jacket of Michael Jackson, “A Scottish Life,” 1999.)
Martin on Churchill: No One Left Without Feeling a Braver Man

Martin on Churchill: No One Left Without Feeling a Braver Man

In May 1940 Stanley Bruce argued for a peace settlement with Hitler. Churchill struck out this paragraph, and wrote in the margin: “No.” Next, Bruce wrote that “the further shedding of blood and the continuance of hideous suffering is unnecessary.” Churchill wrote: “Rot."

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Packard
There was no faulting the glamorous 1955 Caribbean, but Packard should have been building such all-out luxury cars a decade earlier. (Richmond AACA, Creative Commons)
Why Packard Failed (2): The End of the Road, 1954-56

Why Packard Failed (2): The End of the Road, 1954-56

In reality, Packard’s crucial mistakes were made years before. After the war, when a company could sell anything on wheels, Packard could have reverted to type, rebuilding its reputation as a luxury automaker. Instead it pursued the lower-priced markets that had saved it in the Depression. Stemming from this marketing mistake was a series of product decisions that flew in the face of Packard’s proud heritage.

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baths
Churchill’s habits (and the occasional experiences of his secretaries) were well known to the Nazis, who lampooned him in “Illustrerter Beobachter” for June 1941. Translation: “Take this down: In my current situation, I fear German U-boats even less than before.”
“Lousy”: Winston S. Churchill on Baths and Bathtubs

“Lousy”: Winston S. Churchill on Baths and Bathtubs

"When Ministers of the Crown speak like this [there is] no need to wonder why they are getting increasingly into bad odour. I had even asked myself whether you, Mr. Speaker, would admit the word LOUSY as a Parliamentary expression in referring to the Administration, provided, of course, it was not intended in a contemptuous sense but purely as one of factual narration."

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crodociles
Crocodile analogies weren’t new to Churchill. In 1798 after the Battle of the Nile at Aboukir Bay, cartoonist James Gillray depicted Nelson (with a club of “British oak”) slaying “Revolutionary Crocodiles” colored with the French Tricolor. The original caption read: “The British hero cleansing the mouth of the Nile.” (Wikimedia Commons)
Crocodiles: Churchill’s Animal Analogies

Crocodiles: Churchill’s Animal Analogies

"[The Bolshevik] crocodiles with master minds entered upon their responsibilities upon November 8 [1917]. Many tears and guttural purrings were employed in inditing the decree of peace.… But the Petrograd wireless stirred the ether in vain. The crocodiles listened attentively for the response; but there was only silence."

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voters
Broadcasting on VE Day, 8 May 1945. (War Office, public domain)
Churchill on Representative Government, and the Voters It Represents

Churchill on Representative Government, and the Voters It Represents

"I see the [Parliament] a living and ruling entity; the swift vehicle of public opinion; the arena—perhaps fortunately the padded arena—of the inevitable class and social conflict; the College from which the Ministers of State are chosen, and hitherto the solid and unfailing foundation of the executive power."

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evacuate
Operation Sea Lion invasion routes. (Italian Wikimedia Commons)
Would the Royal Family and Churchill Had Left if the Germans Invaded?

Would the Royal Family and Churchill Had Left if the Germans Invaded?

“Would the Roy­al Fam­i­ly and Chrchill Evac­u­ate?” is excerpt­ed from an arti­cle for the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. For the orig­i­nal text with end­notes, please click here.

Q: Evacuate the Royals?

I am argu­ing with a per­son in anoth­er forum that there was a plan in the Sec­ond World War to evac­u­ate Churchill and the Roy­al Fam­i­ly to Cana­da if the Nazis invad­ed.  I believe it was called Oper­a­tion Coates, but the ref­er­ence I found doesn’t men­tion Churchill.

Churchill doesn’t seem like the sort of per­son to evac­u­ate. At Sid­ney Street he was in the front line.…

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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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