Tag: Winston S. Churchill

National Debt
Budget Day, 15 April 1929. The Chancellor of the Exchequer en route Parliament to present his fifth budget. His task: to reduce the £8 billion National Debt. L-R: Detective Walter Thompson; Parliamentary Private Secretary Bob Boothby; Winston, Clementine, Sarah and Randolph Churchill. (Crown copyright expired, public domain)
Churchill on the Annual Crisis of the National Debt

Churchill on the Annual Crisis of the National Debt

"There are two ways in which a gigantic debt may be spread over new decades and future generations. There is the right and healthy way; and there is the wrong and morbid way. The wrong way is to fail to make the utmost provision for amortisation which prudence allows, to aggravate the burden of the debts by fresh borrowings, to live from hand to mouth and from year to year, and to exclaim with Louis XV: 'After me, the deluge!'” —WSC, 1927

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My Visit
The Prime Minister presents an Aid to Russia flag to his wife Clementine, 9 December 1941. (Photo by Capt. Horton, Imperial War Museum, public domain)
“My Visit to Russia”: Clementine Churchill’s Wartime Travelogue

“My Visit to Russia”: Clementine Churchill’s Wartime Travelogue

Clementine Churchill dramatic word-picture of Russia’s devastation remind us of Winston’s words to her about war: “I feel more deeply every year—and can measure the feeling here in the midst of arms—what vile and wicked folly and barbarism it all is.”

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Leaming
WSC visiting the German Reichstag in Berlin, 16 July 1945. Behind him in the Jeep is Anthony Eden. (Photo by Capts. W.T. Lockeyear and E.G. Malindine, No. 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit, Imperial War Museum, public domain)
“Churchill Defiant,” by Barbara Leaming: Still the Best on Churchill Postwar

“Churchill Defiant,” by Barbara Leaming: Still the Best on Churchill Postwar

Barbara Leaming: “Others Heard Taps, Churchill Heard Reveille”

Churchill Defi­ant: Fight­ing On 1945-1955, by Bar­bara Leam­ing. Lon­don: Harp­er Press, 394 pages.

“Great cap­tains must take their chance with the rest. Cae­sar was assas­si­nat­ed by his dear­est friend. Han­ni­bal was cut off by poi­son. Fred­er­ick the Great lin­gered out years of lone­li­ness in body and soul. Napoleon rot­ted at St. Hele­na. Com­pared with these, Marl­bor­ough had a good and fair end to his life.” —Win­ston S. Churchill, Marl­bor­ough: His Life and Times, 1936, Book Two.

A decade on, still a book to read

Read­ers some­times ask for the best books to read on Churchill’s career after the Sec­ond World War.…

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January 245h
Port Royal Street after the Kingston earthquake of January 1907. (Posted by Mike, Creative Commons)
What Winston Churchill was Doing on January 24th

What Winston Churchill was Doing on January 24th

It seems something was always going on in Churchill's life on January 24th. It is best known as day his father died (1895), the day he predicted he would die too (1953)--and when he did (1965). A synopsis of each January 24th in his life would be interesting—as it would be for September 11th, that day of infamy.

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Great War
“With the grenadiers”: Churchill (seated, center) and fellow officers of the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers, Ploegsteert, Belgium, 1916. At WSC’s right is his longtime colleague in war and peace, Archibald Sinclair. (Creative Commons, Samleighton87)
Wikipedia: Churchill’s World War Accounts, History or Memoirs?

Wikipedia: Churchill’s World War Accounts, History or Memoirs?

It is important to get this right, because Churchill's accounts of the two world wars are often incorrectly described as histories. He was adamant that this was a job for later historians.

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law giver
Italo Balbo, Benito Mussolini, Cesare Maria de Vecchi and Michele Bianchi reviewing 40,000 Fascisti in Naples, 24 October 1922. (Illustrazione Italiana, 1922, public domain)
“Greatest Law Giver”: The Truth behind Churchill’s Mussolini Bouquets

“Greatest Law Giver”: The Truth behind Churchill’s Mussolini Bouquets

It has been observed that politicians often say nice things about foreign leaders when they owe them lots of money. As Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1927, Churchill negotiated Italy’s payment of her war debt to Britain, which Mussolini was still honoring in 1933. But this is too flippant, and there is more to the question. 

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Wolseley
“You can come back up now—we’ve parked.” Churchill with his third Wolseley, a 1925 Model 11/22 two-seat deluxe tourer (serial no. 45126), owned 1925-26. (Hillsdale College Press)
Driving Miss Nancy: Churchill, Wolseley and Lady Astor

Driving Miss Nancy: Churchill, Wolseley and Lady Astor

Churchill opted to drive himself...a bad sign, Thompson said: “It either means that he is cross and subconsciously wants to smash up something, or that he is dangerously elated and things will get smashed up anyhow through careless exuberance.”

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enemy
British tommies of the Machine Gun Corps fire at German aircraft during the Battle of Arras, 1917. (Photo by John Warwick Brooke, 1886-1929, public domain)
Churchillian Maxims: “Take the Enemy into Consideration”

Churchillian Maxims: “Take the Enemy into Consideration”

"The German General Staff called this long-prepared operation by the code name Alberich, after the malicious dwarf of the Nibelungen legend. They left their opponents in the crater fields of the Somme,"

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death
Oscar Nemon’s sculpture of Clementine and Winston at Chartwell. (Photo by Gaius Cornelius, Creative Commons)
“To be opened in the event of my death…” Winston Churchill to his Wife, 1915

“To be opened in the event of my death…” Winston Churchill to his Wife, 1915

Q: The goodbye letter

I am doing some work for my Eng­lish AS course and  need a com­par­a­tive piece to go with a poem I am study­ing. I have tried look­ing  for Win­ston Churchill’s good­bye let­ter to his wife but have been unsuc­cess­ful. Is there any way I could even have a part of the text of the let­ter for my stud­ies? —A.S., UK

A: “In the event of my death…”

This was a great and mem­o­rable let­ter. After his removal as First Lord of the Admi­ral­ty in 1915, Churchill spent six uneasy months in a sinecure posi­tion, unable to influ­ence war pol­i­cy.…

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Christmas Eve
The White House, 24 December: FDR at the microphones, Churchill to follow. (White House Archives, public domain)
Christmas Eve, Washington, 1941: Eighty Years On

Christmas Eve, Washington, 1941: Eighty Years On

"Here, in the midst of war, raging and roaring over all the lands and seas, creeping nearer to our hearts and homes, here, amid all the tumult, we have tonight the peace of the spirit in each cottage home and in every generous heart. Therefore we may cast aside for this night at least the cares and dangers which beset us, and make for the children an evening of happiness in a world of storm." —WSC

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RML Books

Richard Langworth’s Most Popular Books & eBooks


Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality

Churchill by Himself

Churchill in His Own Words

Churchill and the Avoidable War

The Definitive Wit of Winston Churchill

The Patriot’s Churchill

Triumph Cars - The Complete Story
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