Category: Winston S. Churchill

History
One of seven photographs by Yousuf Karsh after Churchill’s speech to the Canadian Parliament, 30 Decembler 1941, this one with Prime Minister Mackenzie King. (Karsh, Ottawa)
Churchill, Canada and the Perspective of History (Part 2)

Churchill, Canada and the Perspective of History (Part 2)

His­to­ry and mem­o­ry: Address to the Churchill Soci­ety of Ottawa, Ontario, Cana­da, on Sir Winston’s 144th birth­day, 30 Novem­ber 2018 (Part 2). We were kind­ly host­ed at Earn­scliffe by the British High Com­mis­sion­er, Susan le Jeune d’Allegeershecque.

Churchill and the Perspective of History 144 Years On

Con­tin­ued from Part 1…. Do you want the good news or the bad news on Churchill today? The bad news is the high lev­el of igno­rance, as mea­sured by that elec­tron­ic Hyde Park Speaker’s Cor­ner, the Internet.

Churchill’s name elic­its 100 mil­lion Google hits, a col­league says, “Some are ques­tions, many of which sim­ply require the answer ‘No’—such as: ‘Was Churchill anti-Semit­ic?…

Read More Read More

Canada
With Churchill Society board members at the Library of Parliament, Ottawa. L-R President Ronald Cohen, Treasurer Stephen Adler, Richard Langworth, Secretary Ian Smillie, Barbara Langworth, Hon. David Collenette, Bob Plamondon, Kyle McRobie, Ambassador Chris Westdal, Membership co-chair Pamela Reynolds, Colin Smith, Ambassador Bob Fowler. Absent board members are Andrew Cohen, Colin Robertson and Charlotte Gray, who were with us at other times on the day. The Library was the sole survivor of a devastating fire in 1916.
Churchill, Canada and the Perspective of History (Part 1)

Churchill, Canada and the Perspective of History (Part 1)

Address to the Sir Win­ston Churchill Soci­ety of Ottawa, Ontario, Cana­da, on Churchill’s 144th birth­day, 30 Novem­ber 2018 (Part 1). We were kind­ly host­ed at Earn­scliffe by the British High Com­mis­sion­er, Susan le Jeune d’Allegeershecque.

Churchill and Canada, 144 Years On

I thank Ron Cohen. And return his com­pli­ments. I thank him for his scholarship—especially his great Bib­li­og­ra­phy of the Writ­ings of Sir Win­ston Churchill, which is one of the eight or ten stan­dard works on Win­ston Churchill. And for his prowess as bag man, help­ing me emp­ty the book­shops of Hay-on-Wye, which he has just described to you.…

Read More Read More

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)

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.…

Read More Read More

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)

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.

Read More Read More

Hooper
Drawings from the Curtis Hooper prints exhibit at HIllsdale College. (Photo by Austin Gergens)
Churchill’s “Visual Philosophy”: All the Curtis Hooper Prints

Churchill’s “Visual Philosophy”: All the Curtis Hooper Prints

Read­ers please note, Jason Hoop­er, the late Cur­tis Hooper’s son (see his note in com­ments below) is inter­est­ing in sell­ing some of his father’s fine pieces.  He asks me to pass this along to any­one who may be inter­est­ed. He may be reached by email: [email protected]. RML

Exhibited at Hillsdale College

In the 1970s, Sarah Churchill was involved in the com­mer­cial pub­li­ca­tion of a series of twen­ty-eight intaglio draw­ings by Cur­tis Hoop­er enti­tled, “A Visu­al Phi­los­o­phy of Sir Win­ston Churchill.”  The draw­ings were based upon famous Churchill pho­tographs and Sarah sup­plied suit­able quo­ta­tions for each.…

Read More Read More

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)

“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.…

Read More Read More

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)

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.…

Read More Read More

Roberts
Admiring but not uncritical, Roberts’ book is a masterpiece. To paraphrase Simon Schama, it is a Churchilliad, and Andrew Roberts is its Bard. (Cartoon by David Low on WSC’s 80th birthday.)
“No Cutlet Uncooked”: Andrew Roberts’s Superb Churchill Biography

“No Cutlet Uncooked”: Andrew Roberts’s Superb Churchill Biography

Andrew Roberts, Churchill: Walk­ing with Des­tiny. New York, Viking, 2018, 1152 pages, $40, Ama­zon $25.47, Kin­dle $17.99. Also pub­lished by the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. For Hills­dale reviews of Churchill works since 2014, click here. For a list of and notes on books about Churchill from 1905 cur­rent­ly through 1995, vis­it Hillsdale’s anno­tat­ed bibliography.

“No Cutlet Uncooked”

He lies at Bladon in Eng­lish earth, “which in his finest hour he held invi­o­late.” He would enjoy the con­tro­ver­sy he still stirs today, in media he nev­er dreamed of. And he would rev­el in the assaults of his detrac­tors, the ripostes of his defend­ers.…

Read More Read More

biography
Since this photo was taken seven more Document Volumes were added, bringing the final total to 23.
Hillsdale’s Superb Churchill Biography Nears the Finish

Hillsdale’s Superb Churchill Biography Nears the Finish

Biog­ra­phy update: The warm reac­tions received to this post prompt­ed me to add the car­toon at the end. Thanks for the kind words. I am so pleased and proud to be asso­ci­at­ed with my Hills­dale col­leagues in this grand enter­prise. RML

“Give us the Tools….

Every stu­dent of Win­ston Churchill knows of Hills­dale College’s Churchill Project and the “offi­cial biog­ra­phy.” (The term is mis­lead­ing, because noth­ing was ever cen­sored.) Read more on this effort on the Project website

Sir Mar­tin Gilbert com­plet­ed the eighth and final bio­graph­ic vol­ume in 1988. But the accom­pa­ny­ing vol­umes of doc­u­ments (aka “Com­pan­ion Vol­umes”) ceased in the 1990s.…

Read More Read More

snipe
Gertrude Bell and friends at Giza, 12 March 1921. Camel riders, L-R: Clementine and Winston Churchill, Bell, Lawrence, bodyguard Walter Thompson. The snipe that Bell later committed suicide because of Churchill is far-fetched. (Wikimedia Commons)
Churchill: Scattershot Snipe and the Answers to It

Churchill: Scattershot Snipe and the Answers to It

My broth­er Andrew Roberts, author of the new and vital Churchill: Walk­ing with Des­tiny, pass­es along a read­er snipe which nails rick­ety new planks on the creepy ship Churchill Snipes. Incred­i­ble as it may seem, the writer man­ages to cre­ate a few we’ve nev­er heard before. They will be added to my “Assault on Churchill: A Reader’s Guide.” As will anoth­er far­ra­go by a loopy astro­naut, about which you’ve prob­a­bly already heard.

Snipe synopsis

Snipe 1) “Why doesn’t Andrew Roberts spell out Churchill’s mis­takes? They were not all that innocent.”

Whole sem­i­nars could be devot­ed to whether Churchill’s mistakes—in fact exhaus­tive­ly cat­a­logued by Roberts—were inno­cent and well intend­ed, or mali­cious­ly cal­cu­lat­ed.…

Read More Read More

RML Books

Richard Langworth’s Most Popular Books & eBooks


Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality

Churchill by Himself

Churchill in His Own Words

Churchill and the Avoidable War

The Definitive Wit of Winston Churchill

The Patriot’s Churchill

Triumph Cars - The Complete Story
Links on this page may earn commissions.