Richard M. Langworth, Author at Richard M. Langworth

Great Churchillians: Antoine Capet

6 August 2022

Antoine Capet brought his quality of cheery pedantry to every subject under the sun, and we will vastly miss his skillful advice, always delivered in the politest terms without the slightest hint of rebuke. Combined with his comprehensive knowledge of the Churchill saga, those are rare qualities. We miss him already, for he has left an unfillable hole among the friends who loved him.

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Train-Spotting: Churchill’s Reputation in the First World War

30 July 2022

On 20 May 1915 Allies did silence the “Ace of Spades” and other Dardanelles Narrows forts. But the invasion languished with great losses for the ANZAC and British forces. Thus the cartoon: Churchill “promises” that fell short in execution. By October, Gallipoli was nearing evacuation. Churchill, his reputation shattered, would soon leave the cabinet and report to the front. We may understand why he saw events as snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

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Bring Boris Back? British Politicians, Churchillian Nicknames

26 July 2022

British politicians have such wonderful names. If your own isn't fun enough, your fellow MPs may provide a more amusing one. In the postwar Labour government, Attorney General Sir Hartley Shawcross began sounding more and more Conservative. So his fellow MPs dubbed him Sir Shortly Floorcross....

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Winston Churchill in “Peaky Blinders” and On the Art of Sleep

20 July 2022

Given the differences in ages, Maskell's makeup and mannerisms are excellent. Close-ups are better than full figure shots. Unfortunately the scriptwriter didn't consult the right experts. For example, Churchill wouldn't have lorded over Tommy Shelby for being lesser born than he. That simply was not Churchill's style. Nor did he regard Oswald Mosley as a serious a threat as "Peaky Blinders" makes him.

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Catherine Zoë Spencer Churchill, 1968-2022: A Remembrance

15 July 2022

Catherine’s particular interest was Sir Winston’s paintings. She had studied art history at the British Institute in Florence, worked in the Victorian paintings department of Sotheby’s and the Director’s Office of the National Arts Collection, now the Art Fund. She brought these credentials to the research and cataloguing of Churchill's art.

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now — To understand Churchill is to appreciate his respect for political opposites, as in the coalition he put together in the interests of the nation. In “All Behind You, Winston” (1940), cartoonist David Low emphasized this by placing Labour grandees Attlee, Bevan and Morrison in the front row with WSC. (Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

Churchill Now: A Life Worth Contemplating in the Digital Age

10 July 2022

Larry Arnn wrote: "Churchill's life is an object lesson in the art of statesmanship. Prudence, involving ‘calculating and ordering many things that shift and change,’ has from ancient times been held to be the defining virtue and art of the statesman.” Churchill's challenges were those of human nature and governance, relevant to his world and ours. “Churchill’s trial is also our trial.”

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Absent Friends: Dave Brownell, Randy Mason, Don Peterson

5 July 2022

Parry Thomas was buried in the graveyard of Byfleet, near Brooklands, the great oval racetrack where he built his fame. His marker reads: “Life is eternal and love is immortal, and death, which is only the horizon, is nothing save the limit of our sight.” A wreath of violets, anonymously sent, carried the legend, “Ride On, Ride On, in Majesty.” Ride On, Don, Dave and Randy.

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“Twelve million feathers on his wings, 16,000 lenses in his eye, a mouthful for a bird.” Indian butterflies. (Kailash Kumbhkar, Creative Commons)

Churchillisms: Twelve Million Feathers on a Butterfly’s Wings

30 June 2022

Churchill was a keen collector of butterflies in India, but in later life he couldn't bear to kill them or even keep them captive in his chrysalis house at Chartwell. Strolling by the cage on one of his walks, he left the screening open. Secretary Grace Hamblin asked, did he do that on purpose. Churchill replied, "I can't bear this captivity any longer."

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Echoes and Memories: Foreword to “Churchill in Punch” by Gary Stiles

25 June 2022

Gary Stiles's new book, "Churchill and Punch," captures their long relationship during an unprecedented career. The best artists of their time represented Punch’s often querulous, at times hilarious, sometimes wry, yet almost always respectful attitude toward Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill. In these pages, Gary Stiles and those artists renew those echoes and memories for future generations.

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Churchill’s “Democracy is the Worst Form of Government…”

20 June 2022

"At the bottom of all the tributes paid to democracy is the little man, walking into the little booth, with a little pencil, making a little cross on a little bit of paper—no amount of rhetoric or voluminous discussion can possibly diminish the overwhelming importance of that point."

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