Tag: Mary Soames

Mary Soames Centenary 1922-2022: A Remembrance by a Friend

Mary Soames Centenary 1922-2022: A Remembrance by a Friend

Mary Soames taught us all the most important rules any Churchill scholar must follow: never to proclaim what her father would do today; and strive to “keep the memory green and the record accurate.” She also taught us magnanimity—that what really matters is friendship, and trust. She was our guiding light—the person we sought to please with word committed to print on behalf of her great father.

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Paintatious – Paintaceous – Paintacious: What Was Churchill’s Word?

Paintatious – Paintaceous – Paintacious: What Was Churchill’s Word?

Paul Rafferty’s mag­nif­i­cent Win­ston Churchill: Paint­ing on the French Riv­iera is being trans­lat­ed for a French edi­tion by Dr. Antoine Capet. The author and trans­la­tor posed an inter­est­ing ques­tion. How did Win­ston Churchill spell “painta­tious”?

(Any read­er bored by pedan­tic, picayune, obscure mean­der­ings about noth­ing of impor­tance should stop read­ing now. For my review of Paul’s book see: “Book of the Year.”)

“Painta­tious” was artist Churchill’s word for a scene wor­thy of his brush. He found many such venues on the French Riv­iera, which Paul explores so well. But this is a tricky ques­tion because “painta­tioius” not a real word.…

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Fake Churchill Quotes: Lady Astor and Other Women Nemeses

Fake Churchill Quotes: Lady Astor and Other Women Nemeses

Pure nonsense

Mak­ing the rounds again is an off-col­or piece of “Churchillian Drift.” Years ago, colum­nist Jon­ah Gold­berg greet­ed its last appear­ance by call­ing it “A Thorny Porn-y Issue.” Porn-y maybe, Thorny not. Win­ston Churchill nev­er said any­thing like it.

For con­nois­seurs of made-up Churchill quo­ta­tions, here’s the alleged exchange. Sir Win­ston says to a woman at a social event: “Madam, would you sleep with me for a mil­lion pounds?” The lady stam­mers: “My good­ness, Mr. Churchill. Well, I suppose….”

Churchill inter­rupts: “Would you sleep with me for a fiv­er?” She responds hot­ly: “What kind of woman do you think I am?!”…

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