Tag: Darkest Hour

Annexe
Almost unnoticed today, Downing Street Annexe occupied the ground floor offices on Horse Guards Road, facing St. James’s Park. Here is where Churchill ran most of the war when in London. One may still see the filled-in square holes which once held hinges for the steel air raid shutters. Today this is expensive commercial real estate. (Photo by Don Greater)
Downing Street Annexe and Churchill Secretary Ellizabeth Layton Nel

Downing Street Annexe and Churchill Secretary Ellizabeth Layton Nel

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Excerpt­ed from “Down­ing Street Annexe and War Rooms,” answered in full on the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project.

Who were John Evans and Tom Leonard?:

Ques­tion: In the 2017 film Dark­est Hour, on Churchill in May 1940. I am puz­zled by two char­ac­ters. There is a young man who is seen near Churchill at Chartwell and the under­ground War Rooms. The Dark­est Hour cast names him “John Evans.” The name of anoth­er man in the cast, “Tom Leonard,” sug­gests noth­ing. He is the dri­ver of Churchill’s car when the PM abrupt­ly bolts and heads for the Under­ground.…

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Marcus Peters
The Underground Scene: Marcus Peters (Adé Dee Haastrup) with Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman). (Focus Features)
“Darkest Hour” Myth-Making? Don’t Mess with Marcus Peters

“Darkest Hour” Myth-Making? Don’t Mess with Marcus Peters

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Cue Left: Marcus Peters, May 1940

Mar­cus Peters (Adé Dee Haas­trup) is a neat­ly dressed West Indi­an rid­ing the Lon­don Under­ground on 28 May 1940. Whom should he meet but Prime Min­is­ter Churchill (Gary Old­man)! The scene (fic­tion) forms a dra­mat­ic moment in Dark­est Hour, Joe Wright’s great film on Churchill in 1940.

Churchill, per the movie, has entered the Under­ground for the sec­ond time in his life. (The first was in the 1920s, when he couldn’t find his way out and had to be res­cued.) He goes there as the Ger­mans are rolling up Europe.…

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Assault
Lustige Blätter, Berlin, January 1941: similar sentiments.
Assault on Winston Churchill, 2018: A Reader’s Guide

Assault on Winston Churchill, 2018: A Reader’s Guide

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Assault count: Since I am los­ing track, I thought it would be con­ve­nient to cre­ate an index to smears of Win­ston Churchill fol­low­ing the film Dark­est Hour. Note the sim­i­lar­i­ty of top­ics. Many writ­ers feed off each oth­er, repeat­ing the same dis­proven argu­ments. Nev­er do they check Churchill quotes or The Churchill Doc­u­ments —which prove them irre­triev­ably wrong. The order is most recent first. . Update for 2019 Assault of 29 March: The Ezine Scroll-in report­ed that Churchill’s poli­cies caused the drought that caused the Ben­gal Famine. (Not enough to be Prime Min­is­ter, he must also be a farmer, since he need­ed to know Irri­ga­tion.)…

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Hour
The Prime Minister at work, with secretary Elizabeth Layton (who actually didn’t join Churchill until 1941, but nicely played by Lily James). (Focus Features)
“Then out spake brave Horatius…” A Review of “Darkest Hour”

“Then out spake brave Horatius…” A Review of “Darkest Hour”

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This review was first pub­lished by the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. For remarks on Dark­est Hour by Hills­dale Pres­i­dent Lar­ry Arnn, and excerpts from Gary Oldman’s appear­ance at the Col­lege, click here.

Hour of Trial, and Triumph

Dark­est Hour, a film by Focus Fea­tures, direct­ed by Joe Wright, star­ring Gary Old­man as Win­ston Churchill, and Kristin Scott Thomas as Clemen­tine Churchill, 2hrs 5 min, Decem­ber 2017. 

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…”
—Thomas Babing­ton Macaulay

 I final­ly saw Dark­est Hour on Feb­ru­ary 16th.…

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Indians
Women queuing for rice during the Bengal Famine, Lake Market, Calcutta, 1943 (South Magazine).
Indians Again: No Oscars for Movies about War Criminals

Indians Again: No Oscars for Movies about War Criminals

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"But all this is only the background upon which the glorious heroism and martial qualities of the Indian troops who fought in the Middle East, who defended Egypt, who liberated Abyssinia, who played a grand part in Italy, and who, side by side with their British comrades, expelled the Japanese from Burma…. The loyalty of the Indian Army to the King-Emperor, the proud fidelity to their treaties of the Indian Princes, the unsurpassed bravery of Indian soldiers and officers, both Moslem and Hindu, shine for ever in the annals of war…." -Churchill

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Thompson
Thompson with Churchill for the Harvard Speech, 6 September 1943. (Harvard/Wikimedia)
“Churchill’s Bodyguard” Mini-series: Walter H. Thompson

“Churchill’s Bodyguard” Mini-series: Walter H. Thompson

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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.…

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Darkest
With the dockworkers, 1 August 1940. “I never gave them courage. I was able to focus theirs.”
Darkest Hour: Queries and Comments with “Total Film” Magazine

Darkest Hour: Queries and Comments with “Total Film” Magazine

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Jane Crowther, edi­tor-in-chief of Britain’s Total Film mag­a­zine, had per­ti­nent ques­tions about the new film Dark­est Hour. They were for­ward­ed by Lady Gilbert from the web­site of offi­cial biog­ra­ph­er Sir Mar­tin Gilbert. Alas he is gone, but Sir Martin’s inspi­ra­tion con­tin­ues to guide every­one, as he said, “who labours in the Churchill vineyard.”

Q: Did Win­ston Churchill ever use pub­lic trans­port while PM, par­tic­u­lar­ly the tube?

​Not to my knowl­edge. His daugh­ter Lady Soames told me he only used the Under­ground once, and became so lost that he had to be res­cued.…

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Indian
Churchill harangues Halifax, London, 1938.
“I don’t want [my views] disturbed by any bloody Indian”: Was it Churchill?

“I don’t want [my views] disturbed by any bloody Indian”: Was it Churchill?

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“I am quite sat­is­fied with my views of India. I don’t want them dis­turbed by any bloody Indi­an.” Thus Win­ston Churchill said (or is alleged to have said) to Lord Hal­i­fax née Lord Irwin née Edward Wood, in 1929.

“Bludgeon of choice”

A his­to­ri­an friend says the Indi­an Ben­gal Famine (1943) “is on its way to sur­pass­ing the Dar­d­anelles (1915) as the blud­geon of choice for Churchill’s detrac­tors.” He was com­ment­ing on the lat­est out­burst of Ben­gal Famine nonsense—contested by a thought­ful Indi­an, as well as myself: scroll to comments.

“Bloody Indi­an” tracks to Ben Pim­lott, edi­tor, The Sec­ond World War Diary of Hugh Dal­ton 1940-45 (Jonathan Cape 1986), 126.…

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Australian
(Focus Features)
“Darkest Hour,” the movie: an interview with The Australian

“Darkest Hour,” the movie: an interview with The Australian

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For The Australian …

Troy Bram­ston of The Aus­tralian news­pa­per had per­ti­nent ques­tions about the new movie Dark­est Hour, star­ring Gary Old­man as Win­ston Churchill. With the thought that Troy’s queries might be of inter­est, I append the text of the interview.

The Aus­tralian : Of all the things Win­ston Churchill is pur­port­ed to have said and done, the myths and mis­con­cep­tions, which are the most preva­lent and frus­trat­ing for scholars? None of these appear in the film, but there are three things that ran­kle: 1) The lies—that he was anx­ious to use poi­son gas; that he fire­bombed Dres­den in revenge for Coven­try; that he exac­er­bat­ed the Ben­gal famine, etc.…

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Trump
Kristin Scott Thomas and Gary Oldman in the film “Darkest Hour.” (Focus Features)
Mr. Stern, Mr. Trump, Churchill Quotes and Misquotes

Mr. Stern, Mr. Trump, Churchill Quotes and Misquotes

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Novem­ber 27th— Writ­ing in the Dai­ly Beast, Mr. Mar­low Stern prais­es Kristin Scott Thomas (“Clemen­tine Churchill” in the new movie Dark­est Hour) and announces: “Don­ald Trump is No Win­ston Churchill.” (Past doubt, but who is?)

Mr. Stern him­self offers only one Churchill quote and gets it right: “A free press is the unsleep­ing guardian of every oth­er right that free men prize; it is the most dan­ger­ous foe of tyran­ny.” (Col­liers, 28 Decem­ber 1935.)

Bin­go! That’s an obscure one. For­give him for vast­ly exag­ger­at­ing Churchill’s alco­hol intake. (WSC’s “six whisky sodas” were described by his pri­vate sec­re­tary as “scotch-fla­vored mouth­wash.”…

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