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Winston S. Churchill 1940-2010

Winston S. Churchill 1940-2010

You can read about Win­ston Churchill’s career else­where. I’d like rather to indulge in the remem­brance of a friend.

We met through the post forty-two years ago, when he became the third hon­orary mem­ber of the Churchill Study Unit, after his grand­moth­er and his father. The lat­ter had only just sent a let­ter of encour­age­ment to our lit­tle group of stamp col­lec­tors when he him­self died. It was June, 1968. In send­ing con­do­lences, I asked Win­ston to take his father’s place. He accept­ed, adding, “It is con­sol­ing to know so many share my loss.”…

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Religion
Making a deposit: The christening of Charlotte Soames at Westerham Parish Church, 6 November 1954. L-R: Godparents Fitzroy Maclean and Diana Churchill, unknown (nurse?), Clementine and Winston Churchill, Christopher and Mary Soames. Far right, at a guess, Chartwell’s cook Georgina Landemare. Foreground: Nicholas, Jeremy and Emma, the Soames’s first three children. (Photo presented by Sir Fitzroy Maclean of Dunconnel KT, 1994)
Churchill on Religion: “The Bank of Observance”

Churchill on Religion: “The Bank of Observance”

On Religion: "I accumulated in those years so fine a surplus in the Bank of Observance that I have been drawing confidently upon it ever since. Weddings, christenings, and funerals have brought in a steady annual income, and I have never made too close enquiries about the state of my account. It might well even be that I should find an overdraft." —WSC

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Errata & Addenda to “Churchill by Himself,” First American and English Editions

Errata & Addenda to “Churchill by Himself,” First American and English Editions

Churchill by Him­self is dif­fer­ent from all oth­er Churchill quote books through “cor­rectibil­i­ty.” It offers a ref­er­ence to each quo­ta­tion, and a method by which cor­rec­tions may be sent in, ver­i­fied, and made avail­able dig­i­tal­ly to readers.

Pro­duc­ing any work as com­pli­cat­ed as this is a con­stant run­ning bat­tle between con­flict­ing sources, experts who dis­agree with each oth­er, and inex­orable dead­lines. For instance, one expert offered cor­rec­tions based on the 1974 Com­plete Speech­es (not com­plete and scarce­ly free of errors) that con­tra­dict the texts of ear­li­er vol­umes by Churchill himself—which to me take pri­or­i­ty.…

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debate
Pat Buchanan leads off for the Affirmative (C-Span)
The Un-great Non-debate Neither Buries nor Lionizes Churchill

The Un-great Non-debate Neither Buries nor Lionizes Churchill

The Great Debate: “Resolved, that Win­ston Churchill was more a lia­bil­i­ty than an asset to the free world.” Spon­sored by Intel­li­gence Squared, view­able on C-Span.

LONDON, 3 SEPT 1999— It was avid­ly await­ed but fell flat. Tabling a tru­ly ridicu­lous motion, Intel­li­gence Squared (“the only insti­tu­tion in town aside from Par­lia­ment to pro­vide a forum for debate on the cru­cial issues of the day”) com­bined with C-Span to bring us this spec­ta­cle. It would have been more inter­est­ing to debate whether Hitler or Churchill was the bet­ter painter.

I will spare you wise­cracks about Intel­li­gence Squared.…

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Vonage: Don’t Let This Happen to You

Vonage: Don’t Let This Happen to You

In May 2009, we signed up with Von­age in order to escape the greedy clutch­es of our local tele­phone provider, Fair Point Com­mu­ni­ca­tions, which charges out­ra­geous prices for turn­ing our phones on and off while we are away, and a large pre­mi­um for “wide area” dial­ing any­where out­side one sliv­er of Car­roll Coun­ty, New Hamp­shire. My advice is: the dev­il you know is bet­ter than the dev­il you don’t.

It seemed so easy. Von­age quick­ly signed us up for $9.95 a month for three months and then only $25 a month for free calls to every­where but Mars, and sent a $25 modem which they want­ed us to plug into our sys­tem.…

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Gleeson
Brendan Gleeson as WSC. (Photo by Susan Allnutt for HBO.)
End of Glory: “Into the Storm” with Brendan Gleeson and Janet McTeer (2009)

End of Glory: “Into the Storm” with Brendan Gleeson and Janet McTeer (2009)

Into the Storm, a tele­vi­sion dra­ma broad­cast by the BBC and HBO. Pro­duced by Rid­ley Scott, direct­ed by Thad­deus O’Sullivan. Bren­dan Glee­son as Win­ston Churchill and Janet McTeer as Clemen­tine Churchill. Screen­play by Hugh Whitemore.

Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Cap­tain of the Gate:
“To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than fac­ing fear­ful odds,
For the ash­es of his fathers,
And the tem­ples of his gods…”
—“Hor­atius,” stan­za XXVII in Lays of Ancient Rome, by Thomas Bab­bing­ton Macaulay. Recit­ed at the begin­ning and at the end of “Into the Storm.”…

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Baseball: The Summer of 1960

Baseball: The Summer of 1960

As a sequel to 1960, let’s take 2019. See “Nats Win!”

Until 2019 I was a frus­trat­ed fan of the Wash­ing­ton Nation­als, as I was the old Wash­ing­ton Sen­a­tors. As a New York school­boy in the Fifties, I’d go up to Yan­kee Sta­di­um to root for the Sen­a­tors when they were in town. Always wore my navy blue cap with the white block “W.” Big, scary Bronx voic­es would shout: “Hey, kid—the Wash­ing­ton section’s in the bleachers.”

The Sen­a­tors were peren­ni­al heart­break­ers, although in mid-1952 they were only five games out of first place and con­sid­ered to be pen­nant con­tenders.…

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Kemp
HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson with Former Secretary Jack Kemp in front of Jack’s portrait, HUD Headquarters, 12 March 2008. (Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, public domain)
Jack French Kemp 1935-2009

Jack French Kemp 1935-2009

“Dash of greyhound, slipping thongs…”

On Eleuthera, where we spent many win­ters, there was fas­ci­na­tion with U.S. Pres­i­den­tial elec­tions. A virtue of island is that racism, in the sense we all know it, doesn’t real­ly exist. Our easy-going trop­i­cal strand fea­tures smiles of wel­com­ing locals and friends who have known each oth­er for years. It just doesn’t seem to mat­ter whether the face in front of you is black or white.

So it was per­fect­ly nat­ur­al for the wife of our local gro­cer to ask me in 2008: “Is it pos­si­ble for a non-white to be elect­ed President?”……

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