Category: Research Topics

Lawrence
Colonel T.E. Lawrence, 1919, painted by Augustus John OM 1878-1961, presented to the Tate Gallery by the Duke of Westminster, 1920. (Wikimedia Commons, public domain). Modestly priced posters of his famous painting are offered by redbubble.com, https://rdbl.co/2GUrHJQ
Churchill and Lawrence of Arabia: A Conjunction of Two Bright Stars

Churchill and Lawrence of Arabia: A Conjunction of Two Bright Stars

Excerpt­ed from “Great Con­tem­po­raries: T.E. Lawrence,” writ­ten for the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. For the com­plete text and more illus­tra­tions, please click here.

Churchill and Lawrence

If the Almighty dab­bles in the cre­ation of indi­vid­u­als, He must have chor­tled when He con­jured up Lawrence of Ara­bia. For here was the ide­al advis­er, foil and friend of Win­ston Spencer Churchill. To para­phrase WSC’s apoc­ryphal quip, Lawrence pos­sessed none of the virtues Churchill despised, an all the vices he admired.

He was “untram­meled by con­ven­tion,” Churchill wrote, “inde­pen­dent of the ordi­nary cur­rents of human action.”…

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lipstick
Pre-WW2 lipstick production at Colgate-Palmolive, Australia. (State Library of New South Wales, Creative Commons)
Lipstick and the Churchills: No Subject Too Obscure, None Too Trivial.

Lipstick and the Churchills: No Subject Too Obscure, None Too Trivial.

Q: “The power of lippy”

I’m Blan­ca Bueno, a jour­nal­ist work­ing in Barcelona for a cul­tur­al quiz show for Ante­na 3, Span­ish tele­vi­sion. (It is the equiv­a­lent of NBC’s “Who’s still Stand­ing?“)

My work con­sists in writ­ing the ques­tions and check­ing if they are cor­rect and well for­mu­lat­ed, in order to be as pre­cise as pos­si­ble. We try not to spread wrong infor­ma­tion to our con­tes­tants and our audi­ence. Some­times, to do this work, I need to con­tact to some experts, such as you, in this case. I need help ver­i­fy­ing a ques­tion about Win­ston Churchill and lipstick.…

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Apartheid
South Africa in 1885 showing the array of contending jurisdictions. The four provinces of Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal and Orange Free State were united in 1910. German Southwest Africa was seized in 1915 and administered by South Africa as a nominal fifth province until 1990, when it became Namibia. The British Protectorates, Basutoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland, achieved independence in 1966-68 as Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (now Eswatini). Griqualand East and West were annexed by Cape Colony in 1878-80. Stella Land was annexed by the Transvaal (South African Republic) in 1884. Zululand was a British protectorate from 1887 to 1897, when it was absorbed by Natal. (Wikimedia Commons)
The Art of the Possible (2): Churchill, South Africa, Apartheid, Mandela

The Art of the Possible (2): Churchill, South Africa, Apartheid, Mandela

 Excerpt­ed from “Churchill, South Africa, Apartheid,” part 2 of an arti­cle for the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project, June 2020. For the com­plete text with end­notes, please click here. 

This arti­cle is ded­i­cat­ed to the mem­o­ry of Nel­son Man­dela (1918-2013), below with François Pien­aar after the Spring­boks won the 1995 Rug­by World Cup. (See videos at end of arti­cle.) Not only did he sup­port and inte­grate the nation­al sport; he com­bined Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfri­ka and Die Stem van Suid-Afri­ka as a joint nation­al anthem. His Churchillian mag­na­nim­i­ty was a mod­el for his time.…

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Jagan
Presidential Standard of Cheddi Jagan. I’m always a little leery of those flat-winged eagle symbols, not to mention smoking ovens, but the veggies look innocent enough. (Wikimedia Creative Commons)
Churchill Haters’ Feast of Jagan (Or: The Cheddi Gorge)

Churchill Haters’ Feast of Jagan (Or: The Cheddi Gorge)

Ched­di Jagan?! France’s fore­most Churchill his­to­ri­an, Pro­fes­sor Antoine Capet of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Rouen, sends along a brand new Fake Churchill Calum­ny. (If the FCC didn’t have copy­right, I’d reg­is­ter the initials.)

Here is one from those fair and bal­anced enti­ties, “Crimes of Britain” and the “Mal­colm X Move­ment.” In the back­ground, snide­ly, they play “Land of Hope and Glo­ry.” It takes only 57 sec­onds to recite sev­en* long-dis­proven, shop­worn Churchill sins—plus one new one: “Churchill oust­ed demo­c­ra­t­i­cal­ly elect­ed Ched­di Jagan in British Guiana, 1953.” Con­grat­u­la­tions. That’s real­ly original!

*See list below.…

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South Africa
South Africa, 1899. Gandhi (circled) with stretcher-bearers of the Indian Ambulance Corps, which he organized to support the British during the Boer War. Standing: H. Kitchen, L. Panday, R. Panday, J. Royeppen, R.K. Khan, L. Gabriel, M.K. Kotharee, E. Peters, D. Vinden, V. Madanjit. Middle Row: W. Jonathan, V. Lawrence, M.H. Nazar, Dr. L.P. Booth, M.K. Gandhi, P.K. Naidoo, M. Royeppen. Front Row: S. Shadrach, “Professor” Dhundee, S.D. Moddley, A. David, A.A. Gandhi. (South African photo, public domain, Wikimedia Commons)
“The Art of the Possible” (1): Churchill, South Africa, Apartheid

“The Art of the Possible” (1): Churchill, South Africa, Apartheid

Excerpts from “Churchill, South Africa, Apartheid” an arti­cle for the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project, June 2020. For the com­plete text with end­notes, please click here. This arti­cle is ded­i­cat­ed to the mem­o­ry of Nel­son Man­dela (1918-2013), whose Churchillian mag­na­nim­i­ty was a mod­el for his time—and even more for ours.

Part 1: 1902-1909

In “Apartheid: Made in Britain,” Richard Dow­den argued that Britain not South Africa cost black South Africans their rights. His account is fac­tu­al as far as it goes, but there is more to say about Churchill’s effort to achieve jus­tice in South Africa.…

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Alistair Cooke
AC and the author, Bretton Woods, 1988. A hotel guest stopped him: “Did anyone ever tell you you look just like Alistair Cooke?” AC, who didn’t like being accosted, replied frostily: “My mother—often.”
Alistair Cooke: An Introduction and an Appreciation

Alistair Cooke: An Introduction and an Appreciation

My pre­vi­ous note was about Alis­tair Cooke on Churchill in the 1930s. I here reprise my intro­duc­tion to his 1988 speech, and a per­son­al epi­logue. Sir Alistair’s remarks, at the Mount Wash­ing­ton Hotel, Bret­ton Woods, 27 August 1988, are avail­able by email. RML

Sir Alistair Cooke KBE

When, in what we must regard as a stroke of bril­liance, we thought to invite Sir Alis­tair Cooke to talk about Win­ston Churchill, we wrote him with trep­i­da­tion. We were told he had a rep­u­ta­tion for being very hard to get.

To our delight, he defied the odds.…

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Cooke
It is sobering to reflect that British deaths from the Coronavirus only recently surpassed those on the first day of the Somme battle. Above: the road to Pozières, 1 August 1916, looking toward Contalmaison, which was being shelled. Australian troops from the I Anzac Corps passed along this route to the fighting at Pozières and Mouquet Farm between July and September 1916. (Australian War Memorial, Crown copyright expired, public domain)
Alistair Cooke: Why didn’t They Listen to Churchill?

Alistair Cooke: Why didn’t They Listen to Churchill?

Alis­tair Cooke addressed this ques­tion over thir­ty years ago. I’ve quot­ed his words repeat­ed­ly over the years. A recent com­ment (reprised below), encour­aged this revi­sion from 2011. Mr. Cooke’s full speech is avail­able by email. RML

Back in the 1930s, who all denounced and crit­i­cized Churchill for his beliefs in the rad­i­cal Nazi Ger­many? Who specif­i­cal­ly mocked him? Obvi­ous­ly Churchill was right about Hitler and his plans but who in the polit­i­cal, intel­lec­tu­al, or enter­tain­ment are­nas vil­i­fied him? —A.H.

The answer to your ques­tion, I think, is “just about every­body,” from the Roy­al Fam­i­ly to ordi­nary cit­i­zens, most of the media, his own par­ty, the Labour and Lib­er­al par­ties, and cer­tain­ly most intel­lec­tu­als and enter­tain­ment personalities.…

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1931
Ample time was always set aside for distinguished Americans at Chartwell. On 19 September 1931, L-R: Mr. Punch, Mary Churchill’s naughty pug; The Hon. Tom Mitford (Clementine’s cousin, friend of Diana and Randolph and only brother of the Mitford sisters, killed in Burma in 1945); WSC; Freddie Birkenhead (Second Earl of Birkenhead, who had succeeded his father the previous year and became a historian and biographer of his father); Clementine, Diana and Randolph Churchill; Charlie Chaplin. (Wikimedia Commons, public domain)
Churchill’s Daily Routine (Or: You Can’t Get Good Help Anymore…)

Churchill’s Daily Routine (Or: You Can’t Get Good Help Anymore…)

Q: When help was cheap

Mov­ing right along, the 1911 Cen­sus was recent­ly released in Eng­land. No address was “ex-direc­to­ry” in those days. Win­ston Churchill is list­ed at 33 Eccle­ston Square, Lon­don (sev­en­teen rooms) with wife Clemen­tine, daugh­ter Diana and eight ser­vants. The help com­prised a cook, nurse, lady’s maid, house­maid, par­lor maid, under-par­lor maid, kitchen maid and hall boy). Can this be so? —A.J., NSW, Australia

A: Absolutely.

By the 1920s and 1930s, when the Churchills were ensconced at Chartwell, the help had grown to fif­teen or more, count­ing gar­den­ers, handy­men, sec­re­taries and house­hold staff.…

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John Churchill First Duke of Marlborough (mounted in red coat) at the Battle of Blenheim, 1704. (Painting by John Wootton, 1682-1764, National Army Museum, public domain)
Churchill’s Inspirations Bedizen the Pages of History

Churchill’s Inspirations Bedizen the Pages of History

Excerpt­ed from “Which His­tor­i­cal and Con­tem­po­rary Fig­ures were Churchill’s Inspi­ra­tions?” Writ­ten for the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project, Feb­ru­ary 2020. For Hillsdale’s com­plete text and illus­tra­tions, please click here.

We are often asked which his­tor­i­cal and con­tem­po­rary per­son­ages most influ­enced Win­ston Churchill’s thought and states­man­ship. One is right to start with Lord Ran­dolph Churchill, Napoleon, Clemenceau and Marl­bor­ough. The clas­sics open anoth­er avenue. Read­ers can find pithy remarks by Churchill on many of the fol­low­ing fig­ures in Churchill by Him­self.

Lord Randolph Churchill

His father was the first of young Winston’s polit­i­cal inspi­ra­tions, and the sub­ject of his first biog­ra­phy.…

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Low
Churchill by Low for the New Statesman, 1 May 1926 (Wikimedia Commons)
“The Charlie Chaplin of Caricature”: Churchill on Low

“The Charlie Chaplin of Caricature”: Churchill on Low

“Churchill on Low” is excerpt­ed from “David Low” for the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. Click here for the orig­i­nal text. To sub­scribe for reg­u­lar Hills­dale updates, click here, scroll to bot­tom and fill in your email.

“Master of invective”

“Low is the great­est of our mod­ern car­toon­ists,” wrote Win­ston Churchill in his delight­ful essay “Car­toons and Car­toon­ists.” He praised “the vivid­ness of his polit­i­cal con­cep­tions,” declar­ing Low a sin­gu­lar tal­ent: “He pos­sess­es what few car­toon­ists have—a grand tech­nique of draughts­man­ship. Low is a mas­ter of black and white. He is the Char­lie Chap­lin of car­i­ca­ture, and tragedy and com­e­dy are the same to him.”…

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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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