Mr. Daniel Knowles (“Time to scotch the myth of Winston Churchill’s infallibility,” (originally blogged on the Daily Telegraph but since pulled from all the websites where it appeared), wrote that the “national myth” of World War II and Churchill “is being used in an argument about the future of the House of Lords.”
Mr. Knowles quoted Liberal Party leader Nick Clegg, who cited Churchill’s 1910 hope that the Lords “would be fair to all parties.” Sir Winston’s grandson, Sir Nicholas Soames MP, replied that Churchill “dropped those views and had great reverence and respect for the institution of the House of Lords.”…
Brandy Banter: The Evening Standard described ArArAt Armenian brandy, once reserved for Communist party elite. It was “the brandy that Stalin served Churchill” according to consumer business editor Jonathan Prynn:
The prime minister enjoyed ArArAt brandy when it was served by Stalin at the Yalta conference in February 1945. After the Second World War, the Soviet leader arranged for Churchill to be sent 400 bottles every year.
This seems highly doubtful. If so, for how long, one wonders? By 1946, Churchill was saying things about the Russians that they probably didn’t think merited gifts.…
“He threw everything toward the plate but the ball.” —Ted Williams
Conrado Eugenio Marrero, the oldest living major league baseball player, celebrated his 102nd birthday in Havana on April 25, 2013 with one of his patented cigars. Connie passed away just short of his 103rd birthday on April 23, 2014.
Connie Marrero pitched 735 innings for the Washington Senators in 1950-54, compiling a W-L record of 39-40. He was named to the 1951 All-Star team but did not play. He left after being scratched from the 1955 roster.…
Richard M. Langworth, ed., Churchill by Himself (2008), Churchill in His Own Words (2012), ebook edition by Rosetta Books, 2015.
Heights of Sublimity: A Landmark in Churchill Studies
by Manfred Weidhorn
Dr. Weidhorn was Guterman Professor of English, Yeshiva University, author of four books on Churchill including the seminal Sword and Pen. His review, first published in 2009, is reprinted by kind permission. Readers may also be interested in a shorter review by R. Emmett Tyrrell.
The great man by himself
When one reads a book for the purposes of teaching or scholarship or rebuttal, the usual procedure is to highlight important passages.…
is the only Churchill quote book with each entry referenced with a date and source. There’s even an appendix on incorrect quotations (called “Red Herrings”), and why they are not Churchill’s. By Himself is the only Churchill quote book to undergo repeated reviews. The object is a text as close to Churchill’s original words as possible.
Just before the first publication in 2008, we found that a transcriber had made errors in copying out many quotations. Despite a mammoth last minute effort they were not all caught. Two devoted proofreaders, Dave Turrell and Barbara Langworth, were determined to get it right.…
I" know we have a tendency to be discouraged about how things are going—although in our time, you know, they haven't gone all that badly. Free market economics, which I wouldn't have given you a plugged nickel for at the end of World War II, is now so popular that even Red China calls its policy "Market Socialism," whatever that is. Still there is much that is worrisome. I'm sure Churchill, if he were here, would encourage us: Never Despair and Never Give In." —Bill Rusher
Self-trained, he had unorthodox techniques. On a steep hill, the standard tactic is to shift up two cogs and stand up, adding your body weight to the downstroke, using your arms to wiggle the bike from side to side to help the upstroke. We never saw Arrington stand. Instead he would hunker down in the saddle and simply power his way over the hill. And he always left us in the dust. I was hoping to watch this technique in the White Mountains when he and Hazel were to visit us in New Hampshire.
My friend Bruno Underwood called March 18th to ask if we were up to fish—his only opportunity to take us out since he’s working round the clock. We have been enjoying fishing charters with Bruno for five years. On March 19th he and his dad, Baron, met us at Gene’s Bay, north Eleuthera, at 9 and off we went to their favorite spots, plotted by GPS. We were in from 12 to 25 feet with 25 lb.-test spinning tackle and cut bait (goggle-eyes).
For the first half hour, only nibbles; Baron said these were yellowtail stealing our bait, but ”they’ll soon be full and will move on for the big boys.”…
Excerpted from “Hitler’s ‘Tet Offensive’: Churchill and the Austrian Anschluss, 1938″ for the Hillsdale College Churchill Project. If you wish to read the whole thing full-strength, with more illustrations and endnotes, click here.
Better yet, join 60,000 readers of Hillsdale essays by the world’s best Churchill historians by subscribing. You will receive regular notices (“Weekly Winstons”) of new articles as published. Simply visit https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/, scroll to bottom, and fill in your email in the box entitled “Stay in touch with us.” Your email remains strictly private and is never sold to purveyors, salespersons, auction houses, or Things that go Bump in the Night.…
I told the Baltic mayor how Churchill had hoped to force a "showdown" with Stalin over Poland if he got back to Potstam. What the result would have been is a matter for conjecture. “Much of Eastern Europe, given harsh reality, had no chance for liberty,” I said, “but we should not denounce the efforts Churchill made.” Mayor Teodors Enins listened politely, but then he just sadly shook his head. "No. You should have fought them anyway."
