Category: In the News

Sria
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Desert Island Books: Charles Krauthammer’s “Things that Matter”

Desert Island Books: Charles Krauthammer’s “Things that Matter”

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Charles Krauthammer’s Things That Mat­ter: Three Decades of Pas­sions, Pas­times and Pol­i­tics (388 pages, Crown Forum, 2013). In remem­ber­ing Dr. Krautham­mer, I said this book was one of a score I’d take with me if con­fined to a desert island. Here’s why. 

The read­er will ask: why am I plug­ging to a Churchill audi­ence a set of essays by a polit­i­cal colum­nist? Answer: because many are not polit­i­cal, yet reflect Churchillian thought. More­over, Dr. Krauthammer’s essay about Churchill is one of the best sum­maries of the man I’ve ever read. By any­body. Anywhere.

Sig­nif­i­cant­ly, in a book of over near­ly nine­ty columns and essays, the Churchill arti­cle ranks second—in Part I (enti­tled “Personal”)—after a piece on the author’s beloved broth­er, Mar­cel, who also died young after an hero­ic strug­gle.…

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Krauthammer
Daniel and Charles Krauthamamer at Nationals Park. (Family photo / Washington Post)
“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster”: Charles Krauthammer 1950-2018

“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster”: Charles Krauthammer 1950-2018

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“CK,” Churchillian

The best edi­tor I ever had wrote: “There is noth­ing to be said when a friend dies, even among peo­ple whose trade is words.” Much nev­er­the­less is being said about Charles Krautham­mer. That is fit­ting, and it is what we have the Inter­net for. (Some of the most touch­ing trib­utes are linked below. Fox News pro­duced a very fine trib­ute, “Krautham­mer in His Own Words” click here.)

My edi­tor meant, rather, that for some, words are inad­e­quate against “a big, emp­ty hole where there was once some­one you loved. And all the talk in the world won’t change that.…

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motor
The Churchills’ 1911 Napier landaulette receiving chauffeur attention, with WSC and Clementine aboard, circa 1912.
Motor On: Churchill Thwarted (Or: For Once, the Authorities Prevailed)

Motor On: Churchill Thwarted (Or: For Once, the Authorities Prevailed)

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The dis­tin­guished his­to­ri­an Paul Addi­son sends along a minor but amus­ing tale of a Churchill motor car (prob­a­bly his new Napi­er). Churchill didn’t get his way, because he him­self wasn’t behind the wheel. Had he been dri­ving, he would like­ly have pro­ceed­ed to get round the obstruc­tion by dri­ving on the pave­ment (side­walk).  This per­ilous endeav­or was wit­nessed first­hand lat­er on by WSC’s body­guard, Detec­tive-Inspec­tor Wal­ter Thomp­son.

Turned Back: The Home Secretary and his Motor

Dai­ly Her­ald, 10 April 1911— Mr. Win­ston Churchill had a curi­ous expe­ri­ence on Sat­ur­day while motor­ing to Banstead.…

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learn
WSC to WSC: “Cheer up! they will forget you, but they will remember me always.” David Low in the Evening Standard, 31 July 1945. Churchill’s party had just been routed in the general election, and with it their prime minister.
Churchill 101: Three Reasons to Learn about Sir Winston

Churchill 101: Three Reasons to Learn about Sir Winston

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Orig­i­nal­ly writ­ten for and pub­lished by the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. This is one of sev­er­al forth­com­ing arti­cles intend­ed to encour­age younger read­ers to learn about Churchill. Read­er com­ment, sug­ges­tions of fur­ther points to make, and oth­er arti­cles on the same theme, would be appreciated.

_________

Learn …

Who was Win­ston Churchill? Why, half a cen­tu­ry since his death, is he the most quot­ed his­tor­i­cal fig­ure? Schol­ars know the answers. Do you? Why does it matter?

It mat­ters because Churchill con­tin­ues to offer guid­ance and exam­ple today. His indomitable courage, his abil­i­ty to com­mu­ni­cate, his knowl­edge of his­to­ry, his polit­i­cal pre­cepts, are as valu­able now as they were in his time.…

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future
Artwork from the cover of “Reflexions et Aventures,” the 1939 first French edition of “Thoughts and Adventures.” (Composite by Barbara Langworth)
How Churchill Saw the Future: Prescient Essays, 1924-1931

How Churchill Saw the Future: Prescient Essays, 1924-1931

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"While men are gathering knowledge and power with ever-increasing and measureless speed, their virtues and their wisdom have not shown any notable improvement as the centuries have rolled. The brain of modern man does not differ in essentials from that of the human beings who fought and loved here millions of years ago. The nature of man has remained hitherto practically unchanged. Under sufficient stress—starvation, terror, warlike passion, or even cold intellectual frenzy—the modern man we know so well will do the most terrible deeds...." —WSC

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tributes
The Lying-in-State, Westminster Hall, January 1965. (ITV)
Tributes to Churchill: What They Said Back Then

Tributes to Churchill: What They Said Back Then

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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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Schama
Photograph by Walter Stoneman, 1940.
“Unswerving Moral Decency”: Churchill Remembered by Simon Schama

“Unswerving Moral Decency”: Churchill Remembered by Simon Schama

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At a time when Churchill is under vio­lent and irra­tional attack, it is time for a ton­ic. One good anti­dote to it all  is an elo­quent essay by Simon Schama.

Years ago the Colum­bia his­to­ri­an reviewed, for The New Repub­lic, Mar­tin Gilbert‘s offi­cial biog­ra­phy Vol­ume VI, Finest Hour 1939-1941. It was, inci­den­tal­ly a fine trib­ute to Sir Mar­tin, whose epic biog­ra­phy Pro­fes­sor Schama chris­tened “The Churchilliad.”

What we should con­sid­er right now, though, are Schama’s ever­green words about Churchill. Mar­tin Gilbert’s vol­ume VI reach­es its apogee in May 1940—the very time com­mem­o­rat­ed by the movie Dark­est Hour.…

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Assault
Lustige Blätter, Berlin, January 1941: similar sentiments.
Assault on Winston Churchill, 2018: A Reader’s Guide

Assault on Winston Churchill, 2018: A Reader’s Guide

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Assault count: Since I am los­ing track, I thought it would be con­ve­nient to cre­ate an index to smears of Win­ston Churchill fol­low­ing the film Dark­est Hour. Note the sim­i­lar­i­ty of top­ics. Many writ­ers feed off each oth­er, repeat­ing the same dis­proven argu­ments. Nev­er do they check Churchill quotes or The Churchill Doc­u­ments —which prove them irre­triev­ably wrong. The order is most recent first. . Update for 2019 Assault of 29 March: The Ezine Scroll-in report­ed that Churchill’s poli­cies caused the drought that caused the Ben­gal Famine. (Not enough to be Prime Min­is­ter, he must also be a farmer, since he need­ed to know Irri­ga­tion.)…

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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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Long
“Striped piglet historian” Andrew Roberts.
Long View: “Churchill’s Secret Affair,” Gary Oldman and the Oscars

Long View: “Churchill’s Secret Affair,” Gary Oldman and the Oscars

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Ms. Camil­la Long (“TV Review, Sun­day Times, March 11th)* has a way with words. Nev­er mind that some of them are so ultra-camp that she could be accused of gra­tu­itous­ly inflict­ing them on the rest of us pro­les with mal­nour­ished intellects.

“Hoorays,” “lilo,” “naff,” “pro­to-Wal­lis” and “pan­tomime horse-named” may be dai­ly ver­nac­u­lar in the rar­i­fied atmos­phere of the Sun­day Times Cul­ture Sec­tion. But they’re like­ly to con­fuse any­one who prefers com­mu­ni­ca­tion to obfus­ca­tion. How­ev­er, the Long View of my col­league Andrew Roberts as a “striped-piglet his­to­ri­an” makes me for­give her every­thing. I will dine out on that one many times, not least with the Striped Piglet himself.…

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Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality

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