Month: May 2023

OMG: Churchillian Origins of the Popular Texters’ Phrase

OMG: Churchillian Origins of the Popular Texters’ Phrase

Yes, credit OMG to Admiral Fisher. He had a flamboyant writing style, often signing his letters to Churchill, “Yours till a cinder” or "Yours till Hell freezes over." Many other other loquacious salutations made his lexicon of salubrious sign-offs. Given his  sudden resignation and disappearance from the Admiralty in May 1915, they were rather less than sincere.

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Chequered Past: Of England and the Automobile

Chequered Past: Of England and the Automobile

It sounds irreligious, but I’ve never been able to relate to Ferraris. Give me a quirky English rig with an interesting pedigree and a shape you don’t see every day. There’s something about the smell of leather, the way the rain beads on the bonnet, that reminds you of the day when almost anybody in England could build a sports car, and most of them did. A worker in Coventry once said to me about the Triumph TR6: "It rides hard and smells of oil, mate. They just don't make cars like that any more!"

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Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher: Two Meetings

Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher: Two Meetings

Margaret Thatcher's biographer and Churchill’s bodyguard each knew of one Churchill-Thatcher meeting but not the other. The story of their two encounters demonstrates Lady Thatcher’s lifelong respect, and Churchill’s words on the regulatory state could have been her own words, 30 years later. When it came to liberty, neither were for turning.

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Churchill Quotations: The Best Telegram He Ever Sent

Churchill Quotations: The Best Telegram He Ever Sent

"I warned the Americans before Potsdam not to withdraw from any of the part of Germany we occupied until we had a satisfactory understanding. They would not listen. And they will not listen now when I warn them about Germany. At Potsdam I wanted Prussia isolated and Germany divided horizontally and not vertically." —Churchill according to Moran

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Churchill’s Word Play: “Notability or Notoriety”

Churchill’s Word Play: “Notability or Notoriety”

Manfred Weidhorn: "The law of averages dictates that some of these dreamers succeed. Churchill was one of them. Hence he is the hero of our hypothetical non-realistic novel. As a young man, Churchill put the world on notice with his memorably declared resolve to be an achiever by either notability or notoriety."

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“A Nation Cannot Tax Itself into Prosperity”: Churchill’s Quote?

“A Nation Cannot Tax Itself into Prosperity”: Churchill’s Quote?

Question: "Did Churchill say this? 'For a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.' I can't find it in your 'Churchill by Himself.'" Answer: Indeed he did—and he liked that “bucket” gag so much that he used it at least five times. Someone with courage should pick it up again today.

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