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Himself
Campaigning with his wife in Epping, 1924.
Churchill By Himself: Errata and Future Editions

Churchill By Himself: Errata and Future Editions

Churchill by Himself

…is the only Churchill quo­ta­tions book with each entry ref­er­enced with a date and source. There’s even an appen­dix on incor­rect quo­ta­tions (called “Red Her­rings”), stat­ing why they are not Churchill’s. By Him­self is also the only Churchill quote book that has under­gone repeat­ed reviews to pro­duce a text as close to Churchill’s orig­i­nal words as pos­si­ble. For­tu­nate­ly, it’s been con­tin­u­ous­ly in print for over ten years, mak­ing con­stant revi­sion possible.

Just before the first pub­li­ca­tion in 2008, we found that a tran­scriber had made many errors in copy­ing out quo­ta­tions.…

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Oslo
Winston Churchill (with King Haakon, right) receives a bouquet from a girl at Bygdøy, Oslo, May 1948. (Photo: Sverre Heiberg / Dagbladet}
Churchill in Oslo, 1948: Stray Gems from a Distant Past

Churchill in Oslo, 1948: Stray Gems from a Distant Past

On 11-13 May 1948, Win­ston Churchill was in Nor­way to accept an hon­orary degree from Oslo Uni­ver­si­ty. He gave five speeches—University, City Hall, Stort­ing (Nor­we­gian Par­lia­ment) and two din­ners. All five can be found in Churchill’s speech vol­ume Europe Unite, or Win­ston S. Churchill: His Com­plete Speech­es 1897-1963. They offer six gems of Churchillian wis­dom. I plan to add them to the upcom­ing new edi­tion of Churchill by Him­self, my book of quotations.

Oslo Variations

A read­er reminds us of these obscure ora­tions by send­ing one: Churchill’s din­ner speech on May 12th. His source is Churchill’s Vis­it to Nor­way (Oslo: Cap­pe­lens, 1949).…

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Manchester
Martin Gilbert’s spontaneity was part of his charm. Here he is with good friend Jacqueline Dean Witter on our 1996 Churchill’s England tour, where he led fifty people on a fast-paced walkabout in London. The venue is Horse Guards Parade, with Churchill’s Admiralty in the background.
Churchill’s Biographers: Manchester vs. Gilbert

Churchill’s Biographers: Manchester vs. Gilbert

Manchester in the 1980s brought more people to Churchill than anyone then. Accomplished scholars, who took great issue with his conclusions, were often careful to credit him with that. Gilbert's work "rises with the tempo of accumulating disasters and Churchill’s presence, too, rises above the panic, like a great granite cliff."

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Texas
Press conference with FDR, post-Pearl Harbor. Texas Reporter: “Can you tell us when you think we may lick these boys?” Churchill: “If we manage it well, it will take only half as long as if we manage it badly.”
Churchill and Texas: The Complete History

Churchill and Texas: The Complete History

Washington, after Pearl Harbor. Texas Reporter: "Mr. Minister [sic], can you tell us when you think we may lick these boys?" [Pause while someone explained to Churchill the meaning of the American slang, “lick.”] WSC: "If we manage it well, it will take only half as long as if we manage it badly." Texas reporter: "In one of your speeches you mentioned three or four of the [war’s] great climacterics. Would you now agree that our entry into the war is one of these, sir?" WSC: I think I may almost say [affecting a Texas drawl] Ah sho’ do!"

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Athens
Negotiations by lamplight: Churchill in Athens, December 1944, assured the survival of Greek democracy by installing Archbishop Damaskinos (to WSC’s left) as regent in a coalition government. (Hillsdale College)
Athens 1944: Not Churchill’s Finest Hour? Hmm….

Athens 1944: Not Churchill’s Finest Hour? Hmm….

Question:

A r ead­er writes: “Rather late in the day, I have been read­ing The Spec­ta­tor (UK) Christ­mas Spe­cial dat­ed 15/21/29 Decem­ber 2018. Page 28 refers to one Ron­nie Boyd, who had been a teenage Ordi­nary Sea­man aboard HMS Ajax in Decem­ber 1944, when Win­ston Churchill arrived in Athens to try to end the ongo­ing civ­il war.

 “British forces ‘helped put down, with con­sid­er­able force of arms, a per­ceived partisan/communist uprising—the so-called Bat­tle of Athens, or the Dekemvri­ana in Greece,’ the arti­cle states. There fol­lows the extra­or­di­nary state­ment ‘Not Win­ston Churchill’s Finest Hour, it has to be said.’…

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chicken
Addressing the Canadian Parliament, 30 December 1941. (Wikimedia Commons)
Churchill, Canada and the Perspective of History (Part 3)

Churchill, Canada and the Perspective of History (Part 3)

Per­spec­tive of His­to­ry: Address to the Churchill Soci­ety of Ottawa, Ontario, Cana­da, on Sir Winston’s 144th birth­day, 30 Novem­ber 2018 (Part 3). We were kind­ly host­ed at Earn­scliffe by the British High Com­mis­sion­er, Susan le Jeune d’Allegeershecque.

Perspective, 144 Years On

Con­clud­ed from Part 2…. “The great move­ments that under­lie history—the devel­op­ment of sci­ence, indus­try, cul­ture, social and polit­i­cal structures—are pow­er­ful, almost deter­mi­nant,” wrote Charles Krautham­mer.

Yet every once in a while, a sin­gle per­son aris­es with­out whom every­thing would be dif­fer­ent. In recent times, only Churchill car­ries that absolute­ly required cri­te­ri­on: indis­pens­abil­i­ty… Take away Churchill in 1940 [and] Hitler would have achieved what no oth­er tyrant, not even Napoleon, had ever achieved: mas­tery of Europe.…

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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?…

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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.…

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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.…

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Goldwater
Goldwater and Kennedy in the Blue Room of the White House, 1961, when the Senator probably snapped the photograph below.
Memories: Goldwater and Kennedy: 20 and 55 Years On

Memories: Goldwater and Kennedy: 20 and 55 Years On

A Goldwater Inscription

22 Novem­ber 2018— A pho­tog­ra­ph­er friend sends along praise of Bar­ry Gold­wa­ter (1909-1998). The Sen­a­tor was not­ed por­tray­er of his beloved South­west: “I am read­ing an issue of Ari­zona High­ways devot­ed to his work. The only thing he was more pas­sion­ate about than pol­i­tics was his pho­tog­ra­phy. And he was a great cam­era­man.” Praise of one pho­tog­ra­ph­er for anoth­er is high recommendation.

His note remind­ed me of Peo­ple and Places, Goldwater’s fine book of pho­tographs, from canyons to Hopi. The depth of feel­ing for Arizona’s native peo­ples and nat­ur­al vis­tas in those pho­tos belies the pic­ture his ene­mies tried to paint of Gold­wa­ter when he ran for Pres­i­dent in 1964.…

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