Winston S. Churchill Archives - Page 14 of 43

Churchill and the Great London Smog, 1952

30 August 2022

Churchill took no part in subsequent debates over air pollution. Remarkably, the subject didn’t even come up during the December smog. Not until 12 February 1953 did Marcus Lipton MP raise the issue. The Churchill government assured him that “intensive inquiry” would occur. The Clean Air Act of 1956 eventually followed.

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Churchill, Orwell and “1984”

25 August 2022

Orwell on Churchill: "It is rumoured that after promising to fight in the streets he turned from the microphone and said: 'We'll throw bottles at the bastards; it's about all we've got left!' One may assume that this story is untrue, but at the time it was felt that it ought to be true. It was a fitting tribute from ordinary people to the tough and humorous old man whom they would not accept as a peacetime leader [in 1945] but whom in the moment of disaster they felt to be representative of themselves."

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Netflix on Operation Mincemeat: Did They Get It Right?

22 August 2022

Churchill believed Mincemeat had deceived Hitler, but he was always a fan of intelligence operations. Gilbert, Macintyre and Netflix say it did, and some German troops were sent to Greece. But German minefields and port defenses in Greece did not need resources from Sicily. Some motor torpedo boats were transferred, but they did not significantly weaken Sicily’s defenses.

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Mr. Gandhi — L-R: Muslim leader Mohammed Ali Jinnah, pro-unity theologian Abul Kalam Azad, Archibald Wavell and Mohandas Gandhi negotiating at Simla Bazaar, 1940s. (Indian copyright expired; public domain)

“Why Hasn’t Gandhi Died Yet?” Another Churchill Non-quotation

9 August 2022

Wavell did write this, but it was not a quote—and fairly peevish itself. Why don’t the critics publish what Churchill actually said? Here it is: "Surely Mr. Gandhi has made a most remarkable recovery, as he is already able to take an active part in politics. How does this square with the medical reports upon which his release on grounds of ill-health was agreed to by us? In one of these we were told that he would not be able to take any part in politics again."

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Great Churchillians: Antoine Capet

6 August 2022

Antoine Capet brought his quality of cheery pedantry to every subject under the sun, and we will vastly miss his skillful advice, always delivered in the politest terms without the slightest hint of rebuke. Combined with his comprehensive knowledge of the Churchill saga, those are rare qualities. We miss him already, for he has left an unfillable hole among the friends who loved him.

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Train-Spotting: Churchill’s Reputation in the First World War

30 July 2022

On 20 May 1915 Allies did silence the “Ace of Spades” and other Dardanelles Narrows forts. But the invasion languished with great losses for the ANZAC and British forces. Thus the cartoon: Churchill “promises” that fell short in execution. By October, Gallipoli was nearing evacuation. Churchill, his reputation shattered, would soon leave the cabinet and report to the front. We may understand why he saw events as snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

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Bring Boris Back? British Politicians, Churchillian Nicknames

26 July 2022

British politicians have such wonderful names. If your own isn't fun enough, your fellow MPs may provide a more amusing one. In the postwar Labour government, Attorney General Sir Hartley Shawcross began sounding more and more Conservative. So his fellow MPs dubbed him Sir Shortly Floorcross....

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Winston Churchill in “Peaky Blinders” and On the Art of Sleep

20 July 2022

Given the differences in ages, Maskell's makeup and mannerisms are excellent. Close-ups are better than full figure shots. Unfortunately the scriptwriter didn't consult the right experts. For example, Churchill wouldn't have lorded over Tommy Shelby for being lesser born than he. That simply was not Churchill's style. Nor did he regard Oswald Mosley as a serious a threat as "Peaky Blinders" makes him.

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now — To understand Churchill is to appreciate his respect for political opposites, as in the coalition he put together in the interests of the nation. In “All Behind You, Winston” (1940), cartoonist David Low emphasized this by placing Labour grandees Attlee, Bevan and Morrison in the front row with WSC. (Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

Churchill Now: A Life Worth Contemplating in the Digital Age

10 July 2022

Larry Arnn wrote: "Churchill's life is an object lesson in the art of statesmanship. Prudence, involving ‘calculating and ordering many things that shift and change,’ has from ancient times been held to be the defining virtue and art of the statesman.” Churchill's challenges were those of human nature and governance, relevant to his world and ours. “Churchill’s trial is also our trial.”

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“Twelve million feathers on his wings, 16,000 lenses in his eye, a mouthful for a bird.” Indian butterflies. (Kailash Kumbhkar, Creative Commons)

Churchillisms: Twelve Million Feathers on a Butterfly’s Wings

30 June 2022

Churchill was a keen collector of butterflies in India, but in later life he couldn't bear to kill them or even keep them captive in his chrysalis house at Chartwell. Strolling by the cage on one of his walks, he left the screening open. Secretary Grace Hamblin asked, did he do that on purpose. Churchill replied, "I can't bear this captivity any longer."

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