The Proliferating of the One-man Churchill Play: One Review
Why do so many Churchill plays misquote Churchill and mangle the facts? Counterfactuals and misquotes spoil even decent impersonations.
Category: Reviews
Book, media, audio and video reviews by Richard M. Langworth
Robert Hardy’s “Wilderness Years”
5 October 2015: Turning 90 this month and as vivacious as ever, Timothy Robert Hardy spoke tonight on “My Life with Churchill” at a Hillsdale College Churchill seminar, attended by over 500 registrants and 200 students, sponsored by Hillsdale’s Center for Constructive Alternatives. That afternoon I had the privilege to play Alistair Cooke, and introduce four excerpts from Tim’s inimitable portrayal in the documentary, “Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years.” Here is the introduction to the first excerpt, which may be viewed on YouTube (first 12 minutes). All four excerpts will be published later by The Churchill Project for the Study of Statesmanship.…
A Fresh Look at the Churchills and Kennedys by Thomas Maier
When Lions Roar: The Churchills and the Kennedys, by Thomas Maier. New York: Crown Publishers, 784 pages, $30, Kindle Edition $11.99. Written for The Churchillian, Spring 2015.
The most touching and durable vision left by Mr. Maier comes toward the end of this long book: the famous White House ceremony in April 1963, as President Kennedy presents Sir Winston Churchill (in absentia) with Honorary American Citizenship—while from an upstairs window his stroke-silenced father, Joseph P. Kennedy, watches closely, with heaven knows what reflections:
Whatever thoughts raced through the mind of Joe Kennedy—the rancor of the past, the lost opportunities of his own political goals, and the tragic forgotten dreams he had once had for his oldest son, could not be expressed.…
Churchill and Professor Lindemann, Lord Cherwell
I reviewed the 1940-45 visitors books at Chequers. I was struck by how often Lord Cherwell (Frederick Lindemann) was there—far more than family and staff. He visited more than Bracken and Beaverbrook, or the Chiefs of Staff. What do you make of him? What’s best to read on him? —A.R., London
Most frequent visitorAfter the death of the F.E. Smith, the first Lord Birkenhead, Frederick Lindemann, Lord Cherwell (1886-1957) was probably Churchill’s closest friend. His signature is also the most frequent in the visitors book at Chartwell, where it appears 86 times, more than anyone else (Brendan Bracken only 31, although visitors usually signed only when staying overnight, and Bracken frequently returned to London).…
Curt Zoller, A Churchill Bibliographer of Distinction
R.I.P. Curt
Laguna Hills, Calif., October 6th— Curt Zoller, a Churchill scholar for a third of a century, passed away a week short of his 94th birthday. “Over the last two years his health had been rapidly declining,” writes his daughter Marsha, “but he tried so hard to ‘Never give in.'”
A serious book collector, Curt was a longtime columnist for Finest Hour, the Churchill quarterly I edited from 1982 to 2014. There he wrote “Churchilltrivia,” the Quiz column. In 2004 he published an invaluable reference, The Annotated Bibliography of Works About Sir Winston S. Churchill. In it, Curt logged thousands of books, articles and dissertations.…
Murder (“The West”) Incorporated
“Is World War II Still ‘the Good War’?” by Adam Kirsch. The New York Times Sunday Book Review, 27 May 2011. Adam Kirsch, a senior editor at The New Republic, offers a thoughtful piece of deconstruction which dredges up every major Churchill critic of the past five years, all in one handy if verbose article. As a sampling of the Churchill fever swamps, it is unsurpassed.
The question we are asked to consider is whether World War II was really a “good war.” War is hell, which is why western democracies like Britain and France spent six years trying to avoid it.…
Robert Hardy at 85: The Greatest “Churchill”
Written for a birthday tribute in October 2010….
We have all heard about the art of Timothy Robert Hardy, even though we don’t need to do so, since it is self-evident. But that really doesn’t matter, does it? His three-decade involvement with the Churchill saga provides a balsamic reiteration of what we know, are glad that we know, pity those who do not know, and are proud to be associated with.
It began with his peerless portrayals of Sir Winston in the 1981 “Wilderness Years” TV documentary; David Susskind’s 1986 “Leaders” series; a London stage play; the mini-series “War and Remembrance”; and—just this August 20th—a brilliant reading from Churchill’s tribute to “The Few” on its 70th annniversary.…
Jack Le Vien’s “The Valiant Years”
Would you happen to have any inside information on when, if ever, the BBC will release “The Valiant Years” documentary in DVD format? Various rumors continue to circulate on the Internet but there doesn’t appear to be any source with definitive information. —H.A.
It has been in the thoughts of many to reproduce Jack Le Vien’s famous documentary. Although a shorter production, “The Finest Hours,” narrated by Orson Welles, has been reproduced on a commercial CD (left), the multiple-part “Valiant Years” was not until just recently. It is now available on DVD from MediaOutlet.com.…
The Un-great Non-debate Neither Buries nor Lionizes Churchill
The Great Debate: “Resolved, that Winston Churchill was more a liability than an asset to the free world.” Sponsored by Intelligence Squared, viewable on C-Span.
LONDON, 3 SEPT 1999— It was avidly awaited but fell flat. Tabling a truly ridiculous motion, Intelligence Squared (“the only institution in town aside from Parliament to provide a forum for debate on the crucial issues of the day”) combined with C-Span to bring us this spectacle. It would have been more interesting to debate whether Hitler or Churchill was the better painter.
I will spare you wisecracks about Intelligence Squared.…
Vonage: Don’t Let This Happen to You
In May 2009, we signed up with Vonage in order to escape the greedy clutches of our local telephone provider, Fair Point Communications, which charges outrageous prices for turning our phones on and off while we are away, and a large premium for “wide area” dialing anywhere outside one sliver of Carroll County, New Hampshire. My advice is: the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.
It seemed so easy. Vonage quickly signed us up for $9.95 a month for three months and then only $25 a month for free calls to everywhere but Mars, and sent a $25 modem which they wanted us to plug into our system.…
