A Love of the Hot-Water Bottle: Wartime Anecdotes
“Rascals, Rogues and Freebooters”: Churchill and India
“Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues, freebooters; all Indian leaders will be of low calibre & men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight amongst themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles.”
The statement above is attributed to Churchill. I cannot find it, as a speech or in a book. Although it is widely and increasingly quoted in the Indian press and, given what is happening, he seems to have been prophetic! —K.P., India
This post has the distinction of engendering the most comment among the 500 on my website.…
Churchill Myth and Reality at Nashville, Oct. 14th
The Churchill Society of Tennessee held its autumn banquet program in Nashville on the evening of Saturday October 14th. Our guest speaker, Richard M. Langworth, CBE discussed “Winston Churchill: Current Contentions.” Some 200 members and friends attended.
Residing in Moultonborough, New Hampshire and Eleuthera, Bahamas, Langworth is a writer and publisher of works on Winston S. Churchill and automotive history. His newest book is Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality: What He Actually Did and Said (McFarland, August).
Churchill WorksLangworth is also author or editor of A Connoisseur’s Guide to the Books of Sir Winston Churchill, Churchill in His Own Words, Churchill By Himself and nine other books about Churchill.…
Is the Movie “Dunkirk” Dumbed Down?
Reviews of Christopher Nolan’s new film on Dunkirk, which take quite opposite points of view.
Dunkirk without ContextDorothy Rabinowitz, in The Wall Street Journal, proclaims “the dumbing down of Dunkirk.” Mr. Nolan, she writes:
…considers Dunkirk “a universal story…about communal heroism.” Which explains why this is—despite its impressive cinematography, its moving portrait of suffering troops and their rescuers—a Dunkirk flattened out, disconnected from the spirit of its time, from any sense even of the particular mighty enemy with which England was at war.
When an event in history has become, in the mind of a writer, “universal” it’s a tip-off.…
Lady Randolph & Winston Churchill on Blenheim
Churchill’s 1943 Speech to Congress
A friend writes asking for the audio of Churchill’s second of three speeches to Congress, and poses a question: “Roosevelt attended neither the 1941 nor 1943 speeches. Why not?”
Click here for clear audio of the 50-minute speech.
Presidents never attend speeches to Congress by foreign heads of state or government. Part of this is certainly courtesy, so as not to steal focus from the guest. In a deeper sense, it is an assertion of the separation of powers between Congress and the Executive. A similar tradition in Britain is when the House of Commons slams the door on Black Rod, when he summons Members to the House of Lords to hear the Queen’s Speech.…
Korea, an Old Conundrum, and Mr. Churchill’s Wisdom
Korea was a problem in 1952—as it is today. “Is the Prime Minister aware of the deep concern felt by the people of this country at the whole question of the Korean conflict?” an opposition Member of Parliament asked the-then Mr. Churchill.
“I am fully aware of the deep concern felt by the honorable member in many matters above his comprehension,” Churchill quipped. Which avoided responding to an unanswerable question.
Self-Preservation’s Jarring GongHow do you answer the Korean question? There are no good choices. The Sino-Russian proposal for the U.S. to abandon joint military exercises in exchange for another promise by the North to stop building missiles and testing nukes is a non-starter.…
Churchill Myth and Reality: Antwerp. Shocking Folly?
Churchill’s role in the defense of Antwerp, in October 1914, has been called one of his “characteristically piratical” adventures. An eminent historian described it as “a shocking folly by a minister who abused his powers and betrayed his responsibilities. It is astonishing that [his] cabinet colleagues so readily forgave him for a lapse of judgment that would have destroyed most men’s careers.”1
As the Germans closed in around Antwerp, Max Hastings writes, Churchill “assembled a hotchpotch of Royal Marines and surplus naval personnel… his own private army.” Then he “abandoned his post at the Admiralty.”…
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