Lord Birkenhead Archives | Richard M. Langworth

All the “Quotes” Winston Churchill Never Said (3)

23 November 2018 Comments 3 Comments

Fake Quotes continue…

Red Herrings: Quotes not by Churchill (or things he said quoting someone else), continued from Part 2. Compiled for the next expanded edition of Churchill by Himself.

A reader suggests that the list of “Red Herring” fake Churchill quotes be subdivided. We should separate quotes he actually said, but borrowed from someone else, from quotes simply invented out of whole cloth. Not sure we have much to learn from that. First, while I try to name the originator of a quotation not by Sir Winston, I don’t always succeed. Second, my brief extends only to disproving that the words originated with Churchill.…

Churchill and Professor Lindemann, Lord Cherwell

4 May 2015 Comments 2 Comments

I reviewed the 1940-45 visitors books at Chequers. I was struck by how often Lord Cherwell (Frederick Lindemann) was there—far more than family and staff. He visited more than Bracken and Beaverbrook, or the Chiefs of Staff. What do you make of him? What’s best to read on him? —A.R., London

Most frequent visitor

After the death of the F.E. Smith, the first Lord Birkenhead, Frederick Lindemann, Lord Cherwell (1886-1957) was probably Churchill’s closest friend. His signature is also the most frequent in the visitors book at Chartwell, where it appears 86 times, more than anyone else (Brendan Bracken only 31, although visitors usually signed only when staying overnight, and Bracken frequently returned to London).…

“OMG”: Churchillian Origins of the Texters’ Phrase

10 August 2013 Comments 0 Comments

“I work for the New York Times Upfront, a magazine run by Scholastic Inc. and the New York Times for high school students. We hope you can verify a recent piece of news. The Daily Mail has published a letter written September 9, 1917, by Britain’s First Sea Lord, Admiral John Fisher, to First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, where he first used the acronym O.M.G., for “Oh My God.” As you know, “OMG” is a phrase often used by texters, especially teenagers! Is Fisher the originator, and is there a handwritten version of his letter to Churchill?” —A.P., New York, N.Y.…