Tag: Lord Birkenhead

Churchill and Professor Lindemann, Lord Cherwell

Churchill and Professor Lindemann, Lord Cherwell

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

Lin­de­mann, Air Mar­shal Por­tal, Admi­ral of the Fleet Sir Dud­ley Pound and Churchill watch­ing an anti-air­craft gun­nery exhi­bi­tion, June 1941. (Impe­r­i­al War Muse­um) 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.…

Read More Read More

“OMG”: Churchillian Origins of the Texters’ Phrase

“OMG”: Churchillian Origins of the Texters’ Phrase

Comments 0 Comments
Admi­ral of the Fleet Lord Fish­er (1841-1920)

“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.…

Read More Read More

drift
“I didn’t say that. I wish I had.” —WSC in old age. (Actually at that occasion, research proved he did say it; his prodigious memory was fading.) For a partial ID of this photo, see text.
Churchillian (or Yogi Berra) Drift: How Quotations are Invented

Churchillian (or Yogi Berra) Drift: How Quotations are Invented

Comments 4 Comments

Above: Drift into Trinidad, March 1961. Churchill, 87, at the Governor’s res­i­dence, Port of Spain, dur­ing a cruise aboard the Onas­sis yacht Christi­na. A sim­i­lar (unsigned) pho­to was sold at auc­tion in 2010. Low­er right: Dr. Eric Williams, who in August 1962 became the first prime min­is­ter of inde­pen­dent Trinidad and Toba­go. I would wel­come iden­ti­ties for the oth­ers in the pho­to.

=========

Churchillian Drift is just the tick­et. I have been look­ing for a term to describe the numer­ous pot­ted, inac­cu­rate Churchill quotes. “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth puts its trousers on.” That is big right now on Twit­ter.…

Read More Read More