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.
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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.…
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…
"While men are gathering knowledge and power with ever-increasing and measureless speed, their virtues and their wisdom have not shown any notable improvement as the centuries have rolled. The brain of modern man does not differ in essentials from that of the human beings who fought and loved here millions of years ago. The nature of man has remained hitherto practically unchanged. Under sufficient stress—starvation, terror, warlike passion, or even cold intellectual frenzy—the modern man we know so well will do the most terrible deeds...." —WSC
Books produced by Richard M. Langworth. (Out-of-print titles can often be found by searching on Amazon or Bookfinder.) The count through 2018: seventy-two books, sixty-one automotive and eleven Churchill, of which five are books of Churchill quotations.
“Another damned thick book! Always scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh, Mr. Gibbon?” (Duke of Gloucester to Edward Gibbon, 1781)
“Dear Winston, Thank-you for your latest book. I have put it on the shelf with all the others.” (Duke of Windsor to WSC, 1938 (Clementine Churchill thought this hilarious, and dined out on it many times.)
On the first day of April, a spoof flashed around social media. In honor of Easter, all thirty Major League Baseball teams would be wearing jerseys in Easter egg pastel colors. April Fool! The day dawned, and the teams all wore their normal uniforms. The culprit, Chris Creamer of SportsLogos.net, said it was all in fun.
Chris’s joke gained credence thanks to MLB’s habit of commemorating everything from pet dogs to “our troops.” (“Pups in the Park,” who’s gonna clean up that mess?…
A colleague asks if there were any official tributes by the government of India following Churchill’s death in January 1965. He was curious to know if Indian attitudes half a century ago were as virulent as they are in some quarters today.
There were indeed tributes from India. Heidi Eggerton of the Churchill Archives Centre provided this coverage in The Times of 25 January 1965, page 8, under the heading:
“Leader with Magic Personality”
DELHI, 24 JANUARY 1965— The Indian tricolour flying on all public buildings in preparation for Republic Day on Tuesday, was lowered to half-mast today….…
So declare the authors of “Sir John Colville, Churchillian Networks, and the ‘Castlerosse Affair’”—unreservedly repeated by British television, multiple media, even a university: (“Winston Churchill’s affair revealed by forgotten testimony.”)…
Robert Hardy’s estate went under the hammer in Gloucestershire yesterday. It comprised an eclectic scrapbook of his grand life. There was even the brass plaque of Siegfried Farnon, the irascible Yorkshire vet. RH endeared himself as Siegfried for ninety episodes on “All Creatures Great and Small.”
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Alerted late, I tried for one of his Churchill rings, but the bidding went far beyond estimates. A friend and colleague came away with Churchill’s bow tie. It was given to RH by Grace Hamblin during the filming of Churchill: The Wilderness Years, in 1981.…
The success of the movie Darkest Hour has prompted many to look up other film and video presentations of the Churchill saga. One of these is the 2005 series on Walter Thompson, Churchill’s Bodyguard, which a colleague tells me is a useful documentary. It is. All thirteen episodes are on YouTube. I watched several without complaint—rare for me.
Walter Henry Thompson
…was Winston Churchill’s protection officer and detective, on and off between 1921 and 1945. They had many adventures together, and Thompson wrote four books about his experiences. The first, Guard from the Yard (1938, now very rare) involved Churchill and others whom Thompson protected.…
Unless the ghost of Abraham Lincoln was in the habit of switching rooms, he is unlikely to have appeared in Churchill's bedroom (which was not the famous Lincoln Bedroom). Even less likely did the apparition appear as Churchill was emerging from his bath.
