Category: Fake Quotes

Himself
Campaigning with his wife in Epping, 1924.
Churchill By Himself: Errata and Future Editions

Churchill By Himself: Errata and Future Editions

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Churchill by Himself

…is the only Churchill quo­ta­tions book with each entry ref­er­enced with a date and source. There’s even an appen­dix on incor­rect quo­ta­tions (called “Red Her­rings”), stat­ing why they are not Churchill’s. By Him­self is also the only Churchill quote book that has under­gone repeat­ed reviews to pro­duce a text as close to Churchill’s orig­i­nal words as pos­si­ble. For­tu­nate­ly, it’s been con­tin­u­ous­ly in print for over ten years, mak­ing con­stant revi­sion possible.

Just before the first pub­li­ca­tion in 2008, we found that a tran­scriber had made many errors in copy­ing out quo­ta­tions.…

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Tonypandy
Troops fire at Llanelli rioters who had stopped a train and attacked the engine driver. Painting by Stephen Meyler, from John Edwards’ book, “Remembrance of a Riot,” 1988.
Churchill, Tonypandy and “Poundland Lenin”

Churchill, Tonypandy and “Poundland Lenin”

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Tony­pandy, Wales is in the news again with fuzzy pur­vey­ors of his­to­ry. On 13 Feb­ru­ary the Guardian head­lined, “Win­ston Churchill was a vil­lain, says John McDon­nell.” (Mr. Don­nell is Labour’s shad­ow Chan­cel­lor of the Exche­quer in the House of Commons.)

“Villain — Tonypandy”

Mr. McDonnell’s swipe at Churchill was brief. Asked if he saw Churchill as a hero or vil­lain, he replied: “Villain—Tonypandy.” The Guardian com­plet­ed the dri­ve-by assas­si­na­tion, not only by head­lin­ing the remark, but with an inac­cu­rate rehash of the Tony­pandy riots in 1910.

Sir Winston’s grand­son, Sir Nicholas Soames, focused on McDon­nell, call­ing him a “Pound­land Lenin.”…

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Quotes
Teheran, 1943: Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill. Contrary to persistent rumors, WSC issued no encomiums when Stalin died in 1953.
All the “Quotes” Churchill Never Said (4: Sexism to Ypres)

All the “Quotes” Churchill Never Said (4: Sexism to Ypres)

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Fake Quotes, concluded

Red Her­rings: Quotes not by Churchill (or things he said quot­ing some­one else), con­tin­ued from Part 3.  Com­piled for the next expand­ed edi­tion of Churchill by Him­self. Chap­ter ref­er­ences are to present edi­tions of that book.

Earthy or sex­ist gags were not real­ly Win­ston Churchill’s méti­er. His daugh­ter Mary doubt­ed an alleged crack to Bessie Brad­dock MP, who accused him of being drunk: “And you, my dear…are dis­gust­ing­ly ugly, but tomor­row I’ll be sober….” But I pro­duced the Scot­land Yard body­guard who was stand­ing next to him dur­ing the Brad­dock encounter.…

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Quotes
So far an unproven quote, re Montgomery: “In defeat, indomitable; in victory, insufferable.” With Monty at the Rhine, 1945 (Brooke is between them). At left, the Daily Mail’s Rhona Churchill (no relation), first female correspondent during the invasion of Europe.
All the “Quotes” Churchill Never Said (3: Lies to Sex)

All the “Quotes” Churchill Never Said (3: Lies to Sex)

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A reader suggests that these fake Churchill quotes be subdivided. We should separate quotes he actually said, but borrowed from someone else, from quotes simply invented out of whole cloth. Not sure we have much to learn from that. First, while I try to name the originator of a quotation not by Sir Winston, I don't always succeed. Second, my brief extends only to disproving that the words originated with Churchill.

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quotes
Kindle edition of CHURCHILL BY HIMSELF contains the most recent updates and corrections. Order at: amzn.to/2DHqD99
All the “Quotes” Churchill Never Said (2: Fanatic to Liberty)

All the “Quotes” Churchill Never Said (2: Fanatic to Liberty)

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“Red Her­rings”: Fake Churchill Quotes (or things he said quot­ing some­one else), con­tin­ued from Part 1.…  Com­piled for the next expand­ed edi­tion of Churchill by Him­self. Chap­ter ref­er­ences are to cur­rent edi­tions of that book.

“If you’re going through hell, keep going” is the most com­mon coun­ter­feit. Heard by every­one from pres­i­dents to comics, it is sheer fantasy—Churchill wasn’t giv­en to such redun­dan­cy. What’s your favorite among these Red Her­rings? Mine is the one about golf, which I expe­ri­enced per­son­al­ly before I wise­ly gave the game up.

Fanatic – France

Fanat­ic: A fanat­ic is some­one who won’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.…

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Quotes
How they’d laugh at some of these non-quotes! WSC and daughter Mary, yukking out loud, Bertram Mills Circus, Olympia, London, 2 December 1933.
All the “Quotes” Churchill Never Said (1: Accept Change-European Union)

All the “Quotes” Churchill Never Said (1: Accept Change-European Union)

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Fake Quotes: A-E

In 1686 the Oxford Eng­lish Dic­tio­nary described “red her­ring,” a metaphor to draw pur­suers off a track, as “the trail­ing or drag­ging of a dead Cat or Fox (and in case of neces­si­ty a Red-Her­ring) three or four miles…and then lay­ing the Dogs on the scent…to attempt to divert atten­tion from the real ques­tion.” I apply the term to quotes, alleged­ly by Churchill, which he nev­er said—or if he did, was quot­ing some­body else.

Hence my Red Her­rings Appen­dix, updat­ed here­with, for the new, expand­ed edi­tion of my quotes book Churchill by Him­self.…

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AZ
Before the microphones, 1940. (Library of Congress)
AZ Quotes: A Cornucopia of Things Churchill Never Said

AZ Quotes: A Cornucopia of Things Churchill Never Said

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Much of my labor in the Churchill Vine­yard involves research­ing quo­ta­tions “AZ.” My 650-page books and ebooks, Churchill by Him­self and Churchill in His Own Words, are the largest sources of Churchill’s phi­los­o­phy, max­ims, reflec­tions and ripostes accom­pa­nied by a valid source for each entry. There are 4,150 entries, but a new, expand­ed and revised edi­tion is com­ing. It will include a much larg­er appen­dix of “Red Herrings”—oft-repeated pas­sages he nev­er said but con­stant­ly ascribed to him.

“Red Her­rings” are part of what quotemas­ter Nigel Rees calls “Churchillian Drift.” (Click here for the full descrip­tion.)…

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suffrage
WSC addressing suffragists, Dundee, 1909.
Churchill, Women’s Suffrage and “Black Friday,” November 1910

Churchill, Women’s Suffrage and “Black Friday,” November 1910

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“Churchill, Suf­frage and Black Fri­day”: excerpt­ed from my arti­cle for the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. For the full text, includ­ing Churchill’s let­ters to the head of the Met­ro­pol­i­tan Police (22 Novem­ber 1910) and to Prime Min­is­ter Asquith (21 Decem­ber 1911), click here.

A Lon­don Uni­ver­si­ty stu­dent writes for help with his dis­ser­ta­tion. Its top­ic is the rela­tion­ship between Home Sec­re­tary Win­ston Churchill, the Met­ro­pol­i­tan Police, and their han­dling of women’s suf­frage demon­stra­tors in Novem­ber 1910. His ques­tions illus­trate Churchill’s domes­tic states­man­ship. Our answers refute the belief that Churchill stri­dent­ly opposed women’s suf­frage except on iso­lat­ed occa­sions in polit­i­cal tactics.…

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Castlerosse
Churchill’s painting, “Viscountess Castlerosse on the Terrace at the Chateau de l’Horizon, 1933″ (Coombs 158). The reader may judge just how “sultry” this is. (Churchill Heritage Ltd., reprinted by kind permission)
“Too Easy to Be Good”: The Churchill Marriage and Lady Castlerosse

“Too Easy to Be Good”: The Churchill Marriage and Lady Castlerosse

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My arti­cle, “The Churchill Mar­riage and Lady Castlerosse” was first pub­lished by The Amer­i­can Spec­ta­tor on 13 March 2018.

“Here Firm, Though All Be Drifting” —WSC

It’s all over the Inter­net, so it must be true. Not only did Win­ston Churchill oppose women’s rights, gas tribes­men, starve Indi­ans, fire­bomb Dres­den, nurse anti-Semi­tism and wish to nuke Moscow. He even cheat­ed on his wife—in a four-year affair with Doris Delev­ingne, Vis­count­ess Castlerosse.

So declare the authors of “Sir John Colville, Churchillian Net­works, and the ‘Castlerosse Affair’”—unre­served­ly repeat­ed by British tele­vi­sion, mul­ti­ple media, even a uni­ver­si­ty: (“Win­ston Churchill’s affair revealed by for­got­ten testimony.”)…

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Indian
Churchill harangues Halifax, London, 1938.
“I don’t want [my views] disturbed by any bloody Indian”: Was it Churchill?

“I don’t want [my views] disturbed by any bloody Indian”: Was it Churchill?

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“I am quite sat­is­fied with my views of India. I don’t want them dis­turbed by any bloody Indi­an.” Thus Win­ston Churchill said (or is alleged to have said) to Lord Hal­i­fax née Lord Irwin née Edward Wood, in 1929.

“Bludgeon of choice”

A his­to­ri­an friend says the Indi­an Ben­gal Famine (1943) “is on its way to sur­pass­ing the Dar­d­anelles (1915) as the blud­geon of choice for Churchill’s detrac­tors.” He was com­ment­ing on the lat­est out­burst of Ben­gal Famine nonsense—contested by a thought­ful Indi­an, as well as myself: scroll to comments.

“Bloody Indi­an” tracks to Ben Pim­lott, edi­tor, The Sec­ond World War Diary of Hugh Dal­ton 1940-45 (Jonathan Cape 1986), 126.…

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