English-Speaking Union Archives - Richard M. Langworth

Secondhand but Valid: “If you can speak in this country…”

31 January 2020 Comments 2 Comments

The English-Speaking Union posed a question which illustrates the problem of secondhand quotes. That is, something Churchill said which is not in his published canon. The quote is: “If you can speak in this country [Britain], you can do anything.” It was a concise celebration of the British right to free speech. The ESU has it on their website. But is it verifiable?

In 1966, the ESU Philadelphia Branch hosted an exhibit of my Churchill biographical stamp collection at the Philadelphia National Bank. It was the first public appearance of whatever limited Churchill knowledge I then had, my “awakening” as a Churchillian.…

Lecture and Book Signing Events 1999-2017

18 March 2009 Comments 0 Comments

Churchill in 1932 was a lecture specialist. He especially liked Nashville, Atlanta, New Orleans, Cincinnati, and Ann Arbor: “And who would miss Chattanooga,” he wrote, “lying in its cup between the Blue Ridge and Lookout Mountain?” East, west, north, and south he rode the rails, “living all day on my back in a railway compartment and addressing in the evening large audiences.”