Category: Research Topics

polo
A chukka with the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, 1924. (UPI)
Winston Churchill and Polo, Part 2, by Barbara Langworth

Winston Churchill and Polo, Part 2, by Barbara Langworth

“Win­ston Churchill and Polo” was first pub­lished in 1991. It is now updat­ed and amend­ed, thanks to the rich store of mate­r­i­al avail­able in The Churchill Doc­u­ments pub­lished by Hills­dale Col­lege Press. This arti­cle is abridged with­out foot­notes from the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. For the com­plete text and foot­notes, click here.

============== Con­tin­ued from Part 1…

Part 2: Dislocations

On 18 Decem­ber 1898 Win­ston Churchill wrote to his friend Aylmer Hal­dane. “I am leav­ing the army in April. I have come back mere­ly for the Polo Tour­na­ments.”  He told his moth­er he would stay at Gov­ern­ment House.…

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Coote
Sketch by a member, 1917: “The Attorney General [F.E. Smith], a great Captain [unknown], a risen Minister [Churchill] and two insignificant members of The Other Club leave the Savoy unobserved by the general public. N.B. —> A and —> B are intended to draw attention to the duration of the virgin glance of an insignificant member.” —From Colin Coote, The Other Club (1971)
Recorders of Churchill’s Canon: Colin R. Coote DSO

Recorders of Churchill’s Canon: Colin R. Coote DSO

A read­er asks: “Who pub­lished the first com­pi­la­tion of Win­ston Churchill’s wit and wis­dom, and when?” It was Col­in Coote, in 1947—a dear man devot­ed to the hero­ic mem­o­ry. My quo­ta­tions book Churchill by Him­self  is ded­i­cat­ed in part to him.

Colin Reith Coote

Sir Col­in (1893-1979) was a British jour­nal­ist and Lib­er­al politi­cian. For four­teen years he was edi­tor of the Dai­ly Tele­graph. There he came to know and admire Churchill. Short­ly after World War II, he thought to com­pile a book of Churchillisms, anno­tat­ed to val­i­date each entry. He wrote for per­mis­sion, and received a kind and rev­e­la­to­ry reply, which pro­vid­ed Churchill’s view of his lit­er­ary assigns:

28 Hyde Park Gate, 21 July 1946

My dear Colin,

Thank you for your let­ter of July 15.…

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Wilson
Harold Wilson and Aneurin Bevan around the time of their resignation. (History Today)
Hillsdale’s Churchill Documents: Harold Wilson, 1951

Hillsdale’s Churchill Documents: Harold Wilson, 1951

“Two days ear­li­er I had been a Min­is­ter of the Crown, red box and all. Now I was reduced to the posi­tion of a mes­sen­ger between my wife and Win­ston Churchill, each of whom burst into tears on receipt of a mes­sage from the oth­er.” —Harold Wilson 

___________

The Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project is rapid­ly com­plet­ing final vol­umes of Win­ston S. Churchill, the offi­cial biog­ra­phy. (The name is some­what of a mis­nomer; no one has ever cen­sored any mate­r­i­al.) Suit­ably, all thir­ty-one vol­umes will be com­plete by June 2019: the 75th Anniver­sary of D-Day. It will be fifty-six years since Ran­dolph Churchill and his “Young Gen­tle­men” includ­ing Mar­tin Gilbert began their work.…

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polo
Winston Churchill and Polo, Part 1, by Barbara Langworth

Winston Churchill and Polo, Part 1, by Barbara Langworth

“Win­ston Churchill and Polo” was first pub­lished in 1991. It is now updat­ed and amend­ed, thanks to the rich store of mate­r­i­al avail­able in The Churchill Doc­u­ments pub­lished by Hills­dale Col­lege Press. This arti­cle is abridged with­out foot­notes from the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. For the com­plete text and foot­notes, click here.

==============

Churchill loved polo, which he called “The Emper­or of Games.” A con­tem­po­rary writer’s descrip­tion of his polo tac­tics is remind­ful of much else in the statesmen’s approach to life and politics:

He rides in the game like heavy cav­al­ry get­ting into posi­tion for the assault.…

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poker
Around this table, Harry and Winston played poker, March 1946. Dining car of the “Ferdinand Magellan,” President Truman’s special railcar. (Wikimedia Commons)
Churchill, Truman and Poker on the Train to Fulton, March 1946

Churchill, Truman and Poker on the Train to Fulton, March 1946

How Harry fleeced Winston at poker, and the PM wished to be born again…

The Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project is clos­ing in on fin­ish­ing Win­ston S. Churchill, the offi­cial biog­ra­phy. At thir­ty-one vol­umes, it is the longest on record and will have tak­en fifty-six years to com­plete. It is an hon­or to be part of the team now review­ing proofs for the penul­ti­mate doc­u­ment (com­pan­ion) vol­ume. This runs from August 1945, after Churchill was turned out of office, through Sep­tem­ber 1951, when he was about to regain it. The last vol­ume (1951-65) will be pub­lished next year, with suit­able celebrations.…

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Israel
HRH Prince William disembarks at Ben Gurion International Airport, 25 June 2018. (Reuters/Amir Cohen)
How Winston Churchill Preserved the Dream of Israel: July, 1922

How Winston Churchill Preserved the Dream of Israel: July, 1922

The Dream of Israel : An ear­li­er ver­sion of this arti­cle appeared in The Amer­i­can Spec­ta­tor on June 30th. There were some inter­est­ing com­ments. Click the link to read. 

Here­in, some edits of the edits, which diverged slight­ly from the draft. The pub­lished sub­ti­tle was, “Here’s bet­ting he would have loved America’s new embassy.” (Nev­er bet on what Churchill might love or not love.) It’s worth not­ing that the U.S. Embassy is in West Jerusalem. In a set­tle­ment, there could also be an Arab seat of gov­ern­ment in East Jerusalem. RML

Britain and Israel

Prince William land­ed in Israel June 25th for the first roy­al vis­it to the coun­try.…

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bomb
“It seems to me that the moment has come when the question of bombing of German cities simply for the sake of increasing the terror, though under other pretexts, should be reviewed….The destruction of Dresden remains a serious query against the conduct of Allied bombing.” —Churchill, 28 March 1945
Churchill, Arthur Harris and Decisions to Bomb Germany

Churchill, Arthur Harris and Decisions to Bomb Germany

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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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

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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baseba;;
“Managed by Churchill”: The 1935 Bismarck, North Dakota team, manager Neil Churchill front and center. Future Hall of Fame pitching great Satchel Paige is standing behind him. Bismarck broke baseball’s color barrier twelve years before Jackie Robinson did it with Brooklyn in the major leagues. Sir Winston, who deplored segregation in the U.S. Army during World War II, would have approved. (National Public Radio)
Sir Winston Churchill spoke about baseball? Yes, that too…

Sir Winston Churchill spoke about baseball? Yes, that too…

A cor­re­spon­dent and fel­low devo­tee of the game asks if Sir Win­ston had any­thing to say about Amer­i­can base­ball. Out of fif­teen mil­lion words over nine­ty years? Of course he did!

It may seem odd, since base­ball is not an Eng­lish sport, and its clos­est coun­ter­part over there is rounders. But—ever obe­di­ent to the whims of Churchillians—I offer what he had to say on the matter.

The inter­est­ing pho­to above accom­pa­nied a nice arti­cle, “Churchill on Base­ball,” by Christo­pher Schwarz, which I pub­lished  a few years ago in Finest Hour 163. I sup­plied the fol­low­ing Churchill quotes as a side­bar to Mr.…

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Blood
Churchill’s famous phrase began its long evolution when he was captured during the Boer War in 1899. (WSC is at right.)
Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat: Origins of a Famous Phrase

Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat: Origins of a Famous Phrase

Though he gave per­ma­nent life to blood, toil, tears and sweat, Churchill’s best-remem­bered words did not orig­i­nate with him. Sim­i­lar expres­sions date very far back. (Excerpt­ed from my essay for the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. To read the full arti­cle, click here.)

Quo­ta­tions schol­ar Ralph Keyes writes:

Cicero and Livy wrote of  “sweat and blood.” A 1611 John Donne poem includ­ed the lines “That ‘tis in vaine to dew, or mol­li­fie / It with thy Tear­es, or Sweat, or Bloud.” More than two cen­turies lat­er, Byron wrote, “Year after year they vot­ed cent per cent / Blood, sweat, and tear-wrung millions—why?—for…

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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
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