FAQs Archives - Page 11 of 14 - Richard M. Langworth

“Churchill: The End of Glory” by John Charmley

11 September 2018 Comments 0 Comments

Q: I have just been given a copy of Churchill: The End of Glory, A Political Biography by John Charmley (1993) and am obliged to say that it has the most confused index I have ever come across. It may be idle scholarship on my part but when I open a book that is new to me the first thing that I do is look through the index to see if it contains matters that I consider it should and the next thing I check is the bibliography. I looked for Singapore and its British commander, Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival but could not find any mentions. …

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Roosevelt and Churchill: Don Quixote and Sancho Panza?

19 June 2018 Comments 2 Comments

A colleague asks whether Winston and Clementine Churchill’s private name for President Roosevelt was “Don Quixote.” Also, who compared Roosevelt and Churchill to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza? This offers an interesting trawl through the sources.

So far as I can learn, the Quixote – Panza analogy for Roosevelt and Churchill (also FDR and his devoted adviser Harry Hopkins) occurred only during the 1943 Casablanca Conference (SYMBOL). Roosevelt proposed those code names, and I rather think Churchill had different image of them than FDR. (Oxford English Dictionary: “Quixote: Enthusiastic visionary, pursuer of lofty but impracticable ideals.”)…

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Churchill, Arthur Harris and Decisions to Bomb Germany

31 May 2018 Comments 9 Comments

Churchill wrote of a visit to blitzed London: "When we got back into the car, a harsher mood swept over this haggard crowd. 'Give it ’em back,' they cried, and, 'Let them have it too.' I undertook forthwith to see that their wishes were carried out; and this promise was certainly kept." On the other hand, alone among Allied leaders, Churchill said, after being shown the results of one particularly gruesome raid, “Are we beasts? Are we taking this too far?” He said the decision to bomb Dresden was "a serious query against the conduct of Allied bombing."

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Tributes to Churchill: What They Said Back Then

31 March 2018 Comments 2 Comments

A colleague asks if there were any official tributes by the government of India following Churchill’s death in January 1965. He was curious to know if Indian attitudes half a century ago were as virulent as they are in some quarters today.

There were indeed tributes from India. Heidi Eggerton of the Churchill Archives Centre provided this coverage in The Times of 25 January 1965, page 8, under the heading:

“Leader with Magic Personality”

DELHI, 24 JANUARY 1965— The Indian tricolour flying on all public buildings in preparation for Republic Day on Tuesday, was lowered to half-mast today….…

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Churchill’s Ersatz Meeting with Lincoln’s Ghost

31 January 2018 Comments 5 Comments

Unless the ghost of Abraham Lincoln was in the habit of switching rooms, he is unlikely to have appeared in Churchill's bedroom (which was not the famous Lincoln Bedroom). Even less likely did the apparition appear as Churchill was emerging from his bath.

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“Darkest Hour,” the movie: an interview with The Australian

28 December 2017 Comments 14 Comments

For The Australian …

Troy Bramston of The Australian newspaper had pertinent questions about the new movie Darkest Hour, starring Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill. With the thought that Troy’s queries might be of interest, I append the text of the interview.

The Australian : Of all the things Winston Churchill is purported to have said and done, the myths and misconceptions, which are the most prevalent and frustrating for scholars? None of these appear in the film, but there are three things that rankle: 1) The lies—that he was anxious to use poison gas; that he firebombed Dresden in revenge for Coventry; that he exacerbated the Bengal famine, etc.…

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Hyde Park Gate: Churchill’s London Home, 1945-1965

21 December 2017 Comments 0 Comments

Question: “Churchill owned both 27 and 28 Hyde Park Gate. Which one did he live in?” Answer: both.

1945-51

The Churchills purchased 28 Hyde Park Gate in September 1945. The fine attached brick house stands in a quiet cul-de-sac, close to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. They acquired the abutting number 27 in March 1946. According to Stefan Buczacki’s excellent book, Churchill and Chartwell, the garden wall between the two residences was knocked out to provide a single garden. Number 27 was initially acquired for needed office space, though Clementine Churchill thought it an extravagance.…

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Hitler essays — Churchill’s perceptive article about Hitler in The Strand Magazine, November 1935. (Ronald I. Cohen collection)

Nashville (5). The Myth that Churchill Admired Hitler

4 November 2017 Comments 0 Comments

Part 5 of Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality examines multiplying fables between the two World Wars. Churchill was an alcoholic, we are often assured. He flip-flopped over Bolshevism. All Jews were communists, he said. He despised Gandhi. A closet fascist, he supported Mussolini. But one tall tale perhaps eclipses all the others. It is the idea that Churchill admired Hitler. Remarks to the Churchill Society of Tennessee, Nashville, 14 October 2017. Continued from Part 4…

Judging Hitler

It is important to understand just how right Churchill was about Hitler. In May 1935 the Führer wrote a revealing letter to the British newspaper magnate Esmond Harmsworth, Lord Rothermere, one of his promoters.…

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Nashville (4). Churchill as Warmonger in World War I

28 October 2017 Comments 0 Comments

“Winston…has got on all his war-paint” (Asquith)

In 1914, the Great War arrives, and fables about Churchill multiply. A popular one, kept alive by pundits and historians, alike, is that Churchill led the warmonger party into World War I. Remarks to the Churchill Society of Tennessee, Nashville, 14 October 2017. Continued from Part 3...

Patrick J. Buchanan is an affable tory who wrote speeches for Nixon and ran quixotic campaigns for President of the U.S. three times in 1992-2000. (I voted for him once!) He’s an effective contrarian, and his debating skills are renowned.…

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Nashville (2). Joyful Humbug: Churchill’s “Indian Forebears”

20 October 2017 Comments 0 Comments

Many of the Churchill family down at least through Sir Winston’s grandson believed that American Indian blood ran in their veins. Remarks to the Churchill Society of Tennessee, Nashville, 14 October 2017. Continued from part 1….

“Mama is part red Indian…”

No exception to the family belief (until she saw contrary evidence) was Churchill’s daughter Mary. “I remember my daughter Emma, playing with her friends,” Lady Soames recalled. “Suddenly she warned them not to misbehave. ‘Mama, you know, is part red Indian, and if we are naughty she will go on the warpath.’”…

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