Richard M. Langworth

Michael Shelden, author of Young Titan, a new biog­ra­phy of Churchill, set Lon­don media buzzing with spec­u­la­tion that young Vio­let Asquith attempt­ed sui­cide after Churchill decid­ed to mar­ry Clemen­tine Hozi­er (Finest Hour 158: 6). Not only that, reports the Dai­ly Mail, “He caroused with West End call girls and pro­posed to THREE soci­ety beauties—who turned him down.”

The soci­ety beau­ties were Pamela Plow­den, Muriel Wil­son and the actress Ethel Bar­ry­more. But the most rak­ish thing Mr. Shelden reports Churchill doing is show­er­ing Miss Bar­ry­more with “arm­fuls of flow­ers” and show­ing up at Claridge’s each night after her West End play end­ed, where he would “insist she have din­ner with him.”

The rest of the media’s lurid headline—“He caroused with West End call girls”—has main­ly to do with the 83-year-old sto­ry of Churchill as a Sand­hurst cadet, stand­ing up for the show­girls of the Empire The­atre when “prudes on the prowl” attempt­ed to erect bar­ri­ers shel­ter­ing their lair from more upright soci­ety.…

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