Month: September 2022

Sybarite
Churchill’s Laurania: “It was the first rain after the summer heats, and it marked the beginning of that delightful autumn climate which has made the Lauranian capital the home of the artist, the invalid, and the sybarite.” (Woodcut by André Collot from the 1950 Monaco edition)
Churchill Quotations: “The Artist, the Invalid, and the Sybarite”

Churchill Quotations: “The Artist, the Invalid, and the Sybarite”

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Churchill only used "artist - invalid - sybarite" twice, and very early on. Evidently it didn't "stick" as well as others he repeated decades apart. If it had, he might have applied it to Morocco or the South of France, where he was all three of those things from time to time. He found both to be perfect for convalescing, painting, or enjoying the luxuries of life. (Of course, he knew where to stay!)

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West
Fourth Hussars Regimental Polo Team, India 1898-99. WSC is third from left. (Hillsdale College Press)
Algernon West and Churchill’s Disdain for “Superfluous Millions”

Algernon West and Churchill’s Disdain for “Superfluous Millions”

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The reader now has the context, and may decide whether Churchill's remark was an expression of imperialist racism, or the fashionable Darwin-Reade philosophy prevalent at that time. In the words of Mark Twain and several showmen before him: "You pays your money and you takes your choice."

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Soames
“Mr. Winston Churchill presents his compliments to Mr. Winston Churchill, and begs to draw his attention to a matter which concerns them both.” Reading the correspondence between the two Winstons, Baker Library, Dartmouth, with Barbara Langworth and librarian Philip Cronenwett. (Photo by the author)
Mary Soames Centenary 1922-2022: A Remembrance by a Friend

Mary Soames Centenary 1922-2022: A Remembrance by a Friend

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Mary Soames taught us all the most important rules any Churchill scholar must follow: never to proclaim what her father would do today; and strive to “keep the memory green and the record accurate.” She also taught us magnanimity—that what really matters is friendship, and trust. She was our guiding light—the person we sought to please with word committed to print on behalf of her great father.

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Queen
Churchill bids good-night to The Queen after a final dinner at Downing Street, 4 April 1955, before retiring as Prime Minister. In the doorway are Lady Churchill and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. (Hillsdale College Press)
Valedictory: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Valedictory: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

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It fell to Winston Churchill to define “this fair and youthful figure…heir to all our traditions and glories... Gazing at her photo “in a white dress and with long white gloves, displaying that enchanting smile which lights up her face as if a blind had suddenly been raised,” he mused: “Lovely, inspiring. All the film people in the world, if they had scoured the globe, could not have found anyone so suited to the part.” Admiration grew to attachment, attachment to adoration. Every week during their meetings her private secretary reported “gales of laughter” coming from the audience room: “Winston generally came out wiping his eyes.”

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Command the Moment
“Ah Clemmie, don’t go. It is so nice. Let us command the moment to remain.” Statue by Oscar Nemon at Chartwell. (Gaius Cornelius, Creative Commons)
Churchill Quoting Others: “Command the Moment to Remain”

Churchill Quoting Others: “Command the Moment to Remain”

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"Mealtimes sometimes prolonged themselves into three-hour sessions, often to my mother's despair. And so eventually she would make to move. And I so well remember my father looking at her down the table, lovingly and ruefully, and saying, 'Oh, Clemmie, don't go. It is so nice. Let us command the moment to remain.' Of course, one never can. But today I've tried to command some precious moments that I remember to remain." —Mary Soames

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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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