Tag: Lord Randolph Churchill

monarchy
Buckingham Palace, VE Day, 1945: Princess Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth, WSC, George VI, Princess Margaret. (Wikimedia Creative Commons)
What Good’s a Monarchy? “To Separate Pomp from Power” -Churchill

What Good’s a Monarchy? “To Separate Pomp from Power” -Churchill

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Excerpt­ed from “What Good’s a Monar­chy? Churchill’s Case for an Anachro­nism,” for the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. For the orig­i­nal text includ­ing end­notes please click here.

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On Monarchy

“It is wise in human affairs, and in the gov­ern­ment of men, to sep­a­rate pomp from pow­er.” —Win­ston S. Churchill1

In an age of lam­poon­ing any­thing which smacks of tra­di­tion, the ques­tion aris­es: what good is monar­chy?…

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Churchill's Britain
Churchill Barrier #2, linking Lamb Holm and Glimps Holm, Scapa Flow. On 14 October 1939, in a daring feat of seamanship, Günther Prien navigated U-47 into Scapa to torpedo HMS Royal Oak. On Churchill Tour VII Lord Jellicoe, son of the great Admiral, accompanied our visit to Scapa, including a view of Royal Oak on the bottom, reverently preserved as a war memorial . (BillC, Wikimedia Creative Commons)
“Churchill’s Britain”: Good Try, But More is Needed

“Churchill’s Britain”: Good Try, But More is Needed

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Peter Clark, Churchill’s Britain: From the Antrim Coast to the Isle of Wight. Lon­don: Haus Pub­lish­ing, 2020, 240 pp., no illus­tra­tions, $29.95, Ama­zon $27.48, Kin­dle $22.49. Excerpt­ed from a review for the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. To read the orig­i­nal, click here.

N.B. March 2021: The orig­i­nal post con­tains author Clark’s response, which is about the most cor­dial reply to a grumpy review I’ve ever read. He kind­ly takes heed of my crit­i­cisms and says he will attend to them in the paper­back in due course. RML

Churchill’s Britain abridged

I did want to like this book.…

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John Churchill First Duke of Marlborough (mounted in red coat) at the Battle of Blenheim, 1704. (Painting by John Wootton, 1682-1764, National Army Museum, public domain)
Churchill’s Inspirations Bedizen the Pages of History

Churchill’s Inspirations Bedizen the Pages of History

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Excerpt­ed from “Which His­tor­i­cal and Con­tem­po­rary Fig­ures were Churchill’s Inspi­ra­tions?” Writ­ten for the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project, Feb­ru­ary 2020. For Hillsdale’s com­plete text and illus­tra­tions, please click here.

We are often asked which his­tor­i­cal and con­tem­po­rary per­son­ages most influ­enced Win­ston Churchill’s thought and states­man­ship. One is right to start with Lord Ran­dolph Churchill, Napoleon, Clemenceau and Marl­bor­ough. The clas­sics open anoth­er avenue. Read­ers can find pithy remarks by Churchill on many of the fol­low­ing fig­ures in Churchill by Him­self.

Lord Randolph Churchill

His father was the first of young Winston’s polit­i­cal inspi­ra­tions, and the sub­ject of his first biog­ra­phy.…

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words
A collection of Churchill’s books in various editions easily fills a wall. (Author photo)
Update: How Many Words did Winston Churchill Produce?

Update: How Many Words did Winston Churchill Produce?

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How many words, how many speeches?

“How many speech­es did Churchill make, and in how many words? Also, how many words did he write in his books and arti­cles? [Updat­ed from 2014.]

Word counts

Through the won­ders of com­put­er sci­ence (Ian Lang­worth and the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project), we know that the present cor­pus of works by and about Win­ston S. Churchill exceeds 80 mil­lion words (380 megabytes). This includes 20 mil­lion (120 megabytes) by Churchill him­self (count­ing his let­ters, mem­os and papers in the 23 vol­umes of Churchill Doc­u­ments. Here are his the top word counts among his books:

The Churchill Doc­u­ments: 10,000,000*

Win­ston S.…

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Fleming
Professor Alexander Fleming, who first discovered the mold Penicillin Notatum, in his laboratory at St Mary’s, Paddington, London, 1943. (Imperial War Museum – public domain)
Urban Myths: “Alexander Fleming Twice Saved Churchill’s Life”

Urban Myths: “Alexander Fleming Twice Saved Churchill’s Life”

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Fleming as rescuer…

The Flem­ing myth is updat­ed from an arti­cle orig­i­nal­ly pub­lished in 1998.

Is it true that Lord Ran­dolph Churchill financed the edu­ca­tion of Alexan­der Flem­ing, the dis­cov­er­er of peni­cillin, as a result of Flem­ing (or his father) res­cu­ing Churchill from drown­ing in a swamp when young Win­ston was a youth—and a Flem­ing dis­cov­ery, peni­cillin, saved Churchill’s life years lat­er in 1943? A friend of mine has sent me this email regard­ing it and I want­ed to ver­i­fy . —L.M.

This ques­tion comes up reg­u­lar­ly, but both parts of the sto­ry are untrue. Nei­ther Alexan­der Flem­ing nor his father were with Churchill at the times sug­gest­ed.…

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Read Ian Jack’s thoughtful piece in “The Guardian,” http://bit.ly/2SLDPi5. (Illustration by Matt Kenyon)
Boris, Racism, Imperialism, and “The Road to Mandalay”

Boris, Racism, Imperialism, and “The Road to Mandalay”

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If we want to be fair, isn't "The Road to Mandalay" a remarkably progressive 1890 endorsement of interracial harmony? Interpreting it as mere lust after "an exotic object and someone to be 'civilized'" only displays ignorance. Clearly the writer didn't read it well. It contains no expressions of lust, only loneliness. That is what Kipling's soldier is saying. He wants to go back to a land and a girl he loves, and both are Asian.

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Quotes
Teheran, 1943: Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill. Contrary to persistent rumors, WSC issued no encomiums when Stalin died in 1953.
All the “Quotes” Churchill Never Said (4: Sexism to Ypres)

All the “Quotes” Churchill Never Said (4: Sexism to Ypres)

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Fake Quotes, concluded

Red Her­rings: Quotes not by Churchill (or things he said quot­ing some­one else), con­tin­ued from Part 3.  Com­piled for the next expand­ed edi­tion of Churchill by Him­self. Chap­ter ref­er­ences are to present edi­tions of that book.

Earthy or sex­ist gags were not real­ly Win­ston Churchill’s méti­er. His daugh­ter Mary doubt­ed an alleged crack to Bessie Brad­dock MP, who accused him of being drunk: “And you, my dear…are dis­gust­ing­ly ugly, but tomor­row I’ll be sober….” But I pro­duced the Scot­land Yard body­guard who was stand­ing next to him dur­ing the Brad­dock encounter.…

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Roberts
Admiring but not uncritical, Roberts’ book is a masterpiece. To paraphrase Simon Schama, it is a Churchilliad, and Andrew Roberts is its Bard. (Cartoon by David Low on WSC’s 80th birthday.)
“No Cutlet Uncooked”: Andrew Roberts’ Superb Churchill Biography

“No Cutlet Uncooked”: Andrew Roberts’ Superb Churchill Biography

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Andrew Roberts, Churchill: Walk­ing with Des­tiny. New York, Viking, 2018, 1152 pages, $40, Ama­zon $25.47, Kin­dle $17.99. Also pub­lished by the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. For Hills­dale reviews of Churchill works since 2014, click here. For a list of and notes on books about Churchill from 1905 cur­rent­ly through 1995, vis­it Hillsdale’s anno­tat­ed bibliography.

“No Cutlet Uncooked”

He lies at Bladon in Eng­lish earth, “which in his finest hour he held invi­o­late.” He would enjoy the con­tro­ver­sy he still stirs today, in media he nev­er dreamed of. He would rev­el in the assaults of his detrac­tors, the ripostes of his defend­ers.…

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Lough
“Jennie,” the TV series, with the magnificent and immortal Lee Remick in the title role, Ronald Pickup as Lord Randolph, Warren Clarke as Winston. The series is online. Part I is at: bit.ly/2OXdx9L
His Mother’s Son: “My Darling Winston,” David Lough, Ed.

His Mother’s Son: “My Darling Winston,” David Lough, Ed.

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David Lough, edi­tor, My Dar­ling Win­ston: The Let­ters Between Win­ston Churchill and His Moth­er. Lon­don: Pega­sus, 610 pages, $35, Ama­zon $33.25, Kin­dle $15.49. Reprint­ed from a review for the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. For Hills­dale reviews of Churchill works since 2014, click here. For a list and syn­opses of books about Churchill since 1905, vis­it Hillsdale’s anno­tat­ed bibliography.

See also my trib­ute to Lee Remick as “Jen­nie.” and Part 1 of the film. 

David Lough…

…added sig­nif­i­cant­ly to our knowl­edge with No More Cham­pagne (2015), his study of Churchill’s finances. Now he fills anoth­er gap in the saga with this com­pre­hen­sive col­lec­tion of Churchill’s exchanges with his moth­er Jen­nie, Lady Ran­dolph Churchill.…

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Scott
“I asked him what he had thought during his celebrated cavalry charge at Omdurman, when the 21st Lancers had gone headlong into a gully filled with quite unexpected and extremely bad-tempered dervishes. He said, ‘It was very stimulating, but I did think, Suppose there is a spoil-sport in the hole with a machine gun?'” —Anthony Montague Browne. (I commissioned this fine painting by Ben Bradshaw, 1992; prints may still be available.)
“Churchill at the Gallop: Winston’s Life in the Saddle,” by Brough Scott

“Churchill at the Gallop: Winston’s Life in the Saddle,” by Brough Scott

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Brough Scott, Churchill at the Gal­lop. New­bury, Berk­shire: Rac­ing Post Books, 2018, 230 pages, $34.95, Ama­zon $25.77, Kin­dle $9.99. Reprint­ed from a review for the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. For Hills­dale reviews of the hun­dred Churchill works pub­lished since 2014, click here. For a list and descrip­tion of books about Churchill since 1905, vis­it Hillsdale’s anno­tat­ed bibliography.

This book is both delight­ful and edu­ca­tion­al, a lux­u­ri­ous pro­duc­tion for a mod­est price. Print­ed on thick, coat­ed paper with many illus­tra­tions, it weighs over two pounds. The only tech­ni­cal com­plaint is that, with lots of white space avail­able, the type could be larger.…

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RML Books

Richard Langworth’s Most Popular Books & eBooks


Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality

Churchill by Himself

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