May 2022 - Richard M. Langworth

When Did Churchill Become a Zionist?

31 May 2022

"A Jewish State in Palestine is an event in world history to be viewed in the perspective, not of a generation or a century, but in the perspective of a thousand, two thousand or even three thousand years. [But] British postwar policies “led to the winding up of our affairs in Palestine in such a way as to earn almost in equal degree the hatred of the Arabs and the Jews.”

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The Problem with Recorded Churchill Speeches

27 May 2022

Many who heard his original speeches said the subsequent broadcasts (and postwar recordings) lack the fire of the originals. Churchill did not particularly enjoy broadcasting, Harold Nicolson believed. Of his classic 18 June 1940 "Finest Hour" oration, Nicolson said: "He just sulked and read his House of Commons speech over again."

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On Time: Winston Churchill’s Pocket Watch and Wristwatch

24 May 2022

"'Prof, my father said to Lindemann, 'tell us in words of one syllable and in no longer than five minutes, what is the Quantum Theory.' My father then placed his large gold watch, known as 'The Turnip,' on the table. When you consider that Prof must have spent many years working on this subject, it was quite a tall order. However without any hesitation, like quicksilver, he explained the principle and held us all spell-bound. When he had finished we all spontaneously burst into applause." —Sarah Churchill

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Was Churchill a Closet Socialist?

20 May 2022

Churchill was no socialist if by socialist we mean someone who favors government control of all means of production. He instead promoted what he called a "Minimum Standard" to address the legitimate needs of the citizen without compromising constitutional liberties. That is a fine line to walk, but his aim was to forestall socialism, and thus to avoid its evils: the stifling of initiative, the concentration of power out of the hands of the people.

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The Queen 70 Years On: “A Sparkling Presence at its Summit”

15 May 2022

"Our Island no longer holds the same authority or power that it did in the days of Queen Victoria. A vast world towers up around it and after all our victories we could not claim the rank we hold were it not for the respect for our character and good sense...and I regard it as the most direct mark of God's favour we have ever received in my long life that the whole structure of our new-formed Commonwealth has been linked and illuminated by a sparkling presence at its summit." —WSC, 1955

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law — Statue of Moses at Kloster Raitenhaslach, Burghausen, Germany. (Schorle, Wikimedia Creative Commons)

Winston Churchill’s Great Law Givers of History

10 May 2022

Churchill's view never altered. Moses he was "the supreme Law Giver, who received from God that remarkable code upon which the religious, moral, and social life of the nation was so securely founded. Tradition lastly ascribed to him the authorship of the whole Pentateuch, and the mystery that surrounded his death added to his prestige."

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alcohol — “Drunken Weltanschauung: Churchill tries to find luck in drink, but the bottle distorts the view.” (Der Stürmer, Nuremberg, 26 February 1942)

“Drunk and Ugly”: The Perennial Quotation-Chase

5 May 2022

"Bessie, my dear, you are ugly, and what’s more, you are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober and you will still be disgustingly ugly." Lady Soames, who said her father was always gallant to women, doubted the exchange, but bodyguard Ronald Golding was present and heard it. Golding explained that WSC was not drunk, just tired and wobbly, which caused him to fire the W.C. Fields riposte.

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