Search Results for: EU

Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin entertaining the sailors aboard USS Arkansaas, 25 July 1944. (Wikimedia Commons)
Irving Berlin, Isaiah Berlin: Churchill’s Mistaken Identity

Irving Berlin, Isaiah Berlin: Churchill’s Mistaken Identity

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Enthralled by his accounts of American politics from the British Embassy in Washington, Churchill invited a "Mr. I. Berlin" to lunch. The invitee turned out to be Irving Berlin, not Isaiah, which produced a confusing dialogue around the table. ("Tell me, Mr. Berlin, what is your greatest work?" ... "White Christmas.") Later, meeting the real Isaiah Berlin, WSC acknowledged "the grave solipsism I was so unfortunate to have perpetrated."

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Stories
“Eliza warned Uncle Tom of his peril, and, seizing her child, plunged out into the night.” —Churchill retelling “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” (Lithograph from the 1852 first edition, public domain)
“The World’s Great Stories” Retold by Winston Churchill

“The World’s Great Stories” Retold by Winston Churchill

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Why would Churchill wish to retell such classics as "Uncle Tom’s Cabin," "The Count of Monte Cristo," "Don Quixote," or "A Tale of Two Cities"? Because he was paid well to do so. Never independently wealthy, he worked hard to maintain his luxurious lifestyle—and the heavy entertainment and travel overhead of an active political career. “I earned my livelihood by dictating articles which had a wide circulation not only in Great Britain and the United States,” he wrote, “but also, before Hitler's shadow fell upon them, in the most famous newspapers of 16 European countries. I lived in fact from mouth to hand.”

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Cooper Union
Churchill at the Albert Hall, 23 November 1944, celebrating American Thanksgiving Day. (Hillsdale College Press)
Churchill and Lincoln: Scholars Consider the Cooper Union Speech

Churchill and Lincoln: Scholars Consider the Cooper Union Speech

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In June 1860, Lincoln wrote that “when I came of age I did not know much.... The little advance I now have upon this store of education, I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity.” Churchill in March 1949 would echo these remarks: “I frankly confess that I feel somewhat overawed in addressing this vast scientific and learned audience.… I have no technical and no university education, and have just had to pick up a few things as I went along.” Their observations undervalued the immense effort both had put into self-improvement.

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Humber
A new, owner-driver Imperial came out just before Churchill died. Rootes’ London showrooms placed a photo and floral “V” near their display model. WSC never rode in one of these, of course. (But I owned one! A lovely old baroche.)
Cars & Churchill: Blood, Sweat & Gears (3): Humber…

Cars & Churchill: Blood, Sweat & Gears (3): Humber…

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Churchill’s staff remembered the sense of urgency so characteristic of the man. In the old Humber, “Murray, the detective, would sit at [the chauffeur’s] side, quietly murmuring, ‘slow down here’ or ‘pull in to the left a little more,’” wrote Roy Howells, a male nurse. “At the back Sir Winston would be…tapping on the glass partition and calling out, ‘Go on!’ Whenever he felt Bullock was slow in overtaking he would lean forward and bellow, ‘Now!’ It does Bullock great credit that he never really took the chances his passenger would have liked….”

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Netanyahu
Too many of all faiths have died there already. Winston Churchill with Bishop MacInnes of Jerusalem at a memorial service in the Military Cemetery on Mt. Scopus, northeast Jerusalem, 26 March 1921. (Library of Congress, public domain)
“Jarring Gong”: Benjamin Netanyahu on Winston Churchill

“Jarring Gong”: Benjamin Netanyahu on Winston Churchill

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"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, and his modern woman will back him up.... We have the spectacle of the powers and weapons of man far outstripping the march of his intelligence; we have the march of his intelligence proceeding far more rapidly than the development of his nobility." —Winston S. Churchill, 1931

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World Crisis
Churchill around the time of writing “The World Crisis.” (Painting by James Guthrie, Scottish National Gallery, public domain)
Hillsdale Dialogues Explore Churchill’s “The World Crisis”

Hillsdale Dialogues Explore Churchill’s “The World Crisis”

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"It was the custom in the palmy days of Queen Victoria for statesmen to expatiate upon the glories of the British Empire, and to rejoice in that protecting Providence which had preserved us through so many dangers and brought us at length into a secure and prosperous age. Little did they know that the worst perils had still to be encountered and that the greatest triumphs were yet to be won…."

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novels
Among Churchill’s favorites: Rod Taylor fends off the Morlocks in the MGM film version of “The Time Machine.” (Artwork by Reynold Brown, Wikimedia Commons)
Churchill’s Novels: Escape Valves or Reality Checks?

Churchill’s Novels: Escape Valves or Reality Checks?

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Churchill was motivated by Wells’s views of military science: “The irresistible Juggernaut, driving through towns and villages as through a field of standing corn—a type which Armageddon itself could not achieve….” That was an accurate description of France in 1940. Churchill himself called it “a remarkable combination of air bombing and heavily armoured tanks.” He then admonished Britons: “Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour."

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Long Island
Eleuthera Long Riders, 2009: John Birtzen, Cecil McCardy Jr., Arrington McCardy, Richard Langworth
Clicking Into High: Arrington McCardy 1947-2011

Clicking Into High: Arrington McCardy 1947-2011

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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.

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Morley
John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn. (Painting by Walter William Ouless, public domain in USA)
John Morley, Victorian Eminence: “Such Men Are Not Found Today”

John Morley, Victorian Eminence: “Such Men Are Not Found Today”

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Morley pronounced the epitaph for his age in May 1923, four months before he died. His words sound more like 2023.  "Present party designations have become empty of all contents…. Vastly extended State expenditure, vastly increased demands from the taxpayer who has to provide the money, social reform regardless of expense, cash exacted from the taxpayer already at his wits’ end—when were the problems of plus and minus more desperate?"  

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Jock
“I’m not as influenced by scenic beauty. I am more curious about what tasty creatures live among the bushes.” (National Trust, Chartwell)
Jock: Churchill’s Cat, by Larry Kryske

Jock: Churchill’s Cat, by Larry Kryske

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Here Kryske captures what most reporters ignore: the great man’s sadness in twilight. Clementine reminds him of all the good he had accomplished. Winston Churchill feels only remorse. “I have profound misgivings about the future. Our leaders are more concerned with appearance than substance. Grave dangers lie before us. Who will be the voice in the wilderness now?” Does that say anything to us in 2023? I fear so.

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