this issue

SECOND QUARTER 1991 • NUMBER 71
PUBLISHED BY THE
'
INTERNATIONAL CHURCHILL SOCIErTlgS..AU
STRALIA • CANADA • UNITED KINGDOM •^GNITED STATES
JHE RT. HON. SIR WINSTON S. CHURCHILL SOCIETY OF BRITISH «
NO. 71 • SECOND QUARTER 1991 • ISSN 0882-3715
Published quarterly by The International Churchill Societies of Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States
COVER
The Frank Salisbury portrait of Sir Winston has now been replicated by
the British National Trust Collection, and is offered in a way which also
benefits ICS. See article on page 11.
ARTICLES
Cover Story:
The Salisbury Painting Replica
by Norman Shaifer
I.C.S United States 1991 Conference
More on the Great Event in Virginia November 2nd-5th
by Richard H. Knight, Jr.
"A Kind of Gestapo"
Reflections During the Search for a Home
for ICS/USA and a Center for Churchill Studies
by Richard M. Langworth
Poems Churchi Loved: "IF"
by Rudyard Kipling
George Temple: A Tribute
Canada's English-Speaking Union
by John G. Plumpton
ChartwelChidhood
A Nostalgic Return to a Magic Land
by the Hon. Emma Soames
SUMMER BOOK SECTION
Manfred Weidhom: Words About Words
Matt Fox: The Greening of Churchill's Canon
Joe Mysak: "The Churchill Eisenhower Correspondence
Noel Taylor: "Churchill/A Life" by Martin Gilbert
New Editions: "The World Crisis" and" Mariborough"
Blenheim Award to Lee Remfck
Gregory Peck Leads ICS' Tribute Aboard HMS "Queen Mary"
by Shirley Graves
~
11
12
14
17
18
20
23
25
26
27
28
30
DEPARTMENTS
Editorial/3 Despatch Box/4 International Datelines/6 Action This Day/19
Churchilltrivia/35 ICS Stores/36 Note: "Churchill in Stamps" will resume
in the next issue.
FINEST HOUR
Editor: Richard M. Langworth (tel. 603-746-4433 days)
Post Office Box 385, Contoocook, New Hampshire 03229 USA
Senior Editors: John G. Plumpton (tel. 416-497-5349 eves)
130 Collingsbrook Blvd, Agincourt, Ontario, Canada M1W 1M7
H. Ashley Redbum, OBE (tel. 0705 479575)
7 Auriol Dr., Bedhampton, Hampshire PO9 3LR, England
Cuttings Editor John Frost (tel. 081-440-31 59)
8 Monks Ave, New Barnet, Herts., EN5 1D8, England
~
Contributors:
George Richard, 7 Channel Hwy, Taroona, Tasmania, Australia 7006
Stanley E. Smith, 9 Beech Drive, Littleton, MA 01460 USA
Derek L Johnston, Box 33859 Stn D, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6J 4L6
Ron Cohen, 4755 Grosvenor, Montreal PQ Canada H3W 2L9
Produced for ICS by Dragonwyck Publishing Inc.
THE INTERNATIONAL CHURCHILL SOCIETIES
Founded in 1968, the Society consists of three independent, not-forprofit charitable organisations in Canada, the United Kingdom' and the
United States, plus branch offices in Australia and New Zealand, which
work together to promote interest in and education on the life' times,
thought and work of Sir Winston Churchill, and to preserve his memory!
The independent Societies are certified charities under the separate laws
of Canada, the UK and USA, and are affiliated with similar organisations
such as the Winston S. Churchill Societies of Western Canada. Finest
Hour is provided free to Members or Friends of ICS, which offers several
levels of support in various currencies. Membership applications and
changes of address should be sent to the National Offices listed opposite.
Editorial correspondence: PO Box 385, Contoocook, NH 03229 USA
fax 603-746-4260, telephone 746-4433. Permission to mail at non^
profit rates in the USA granted by the US Postal Service. Produced by
Dragonwyck Publishing Inc. Copyright © 1991. All rights reserved.
SIR WINSTON SPENCER CHURCHILL SOCIETY
~
Founded in 1964, the Society works to ensure that Sir Winston's ideals
and achievements are never forgotten by succeeding generations All
members of the B.C. Branch are automatic ICS members, while ICS
membership is optional to members of the Edmonton and Calaarv
Branches. Activities include banquets for outstanding people connected
witha spects of Sir Winston's career; public speaking and debatina
competitions for High School students, scholarships in Honours Historv
and other activities, including scholarships for study at Churchill College!
PATRON OF THE SOCIETIES
~~
The Lady Soames, DBE
~
~
TRUSTEES
"
~~
~
ICS/UK: The Lady Soames; The Duke of Marlborouarr
Lord Charles Spencer-Churchill; Hon. Celia Perkins- '
G J . Wheeler; Nicholas Soames, MP; Richard Haslam-HopwoodM
David Merritt; David Porter
'
ICS/USA: Ambassador Paul H. Robinson, Jr Chmn •
The Lady Soames; Hon. Caspar Weinberger; Rt Hon Lord Pv m
Wendy R. Reves; Richard M. Langworth; George A L e w ^ T
J. Sinclair Armstrong
Winston S. Churchill, MP
Martin Gilbert, CBE
Grace Hamblin, OBE
Robert Hardy, CBE
Pamela C. Harriman
James Calhoun Humes
Yousuf Karsh, CC ;
The Duke of Mariborough DL JP
Anthony Montague Browne, CBE, DFC
The Lady Soames', DBE
Wendy Russell Reves
' W W i r , QBE
COUNCIL OF CHURCHILL SOCIETIES
United Kingdom D^t ^
S
^
United States: Merry N. A S C ' E
Derek Brownleader, R. Alan Frtch LamT* ,1 qUISt
Richard M. Langworth, Geoje A L e ^ e d T ? '
James W. Muller, William C rves
D I R E C T O R Y
THOUGHTS AND ADVENTURES
George Temple, R.I.P.
INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL
Celwyn P. Ball, Chairman
1079 Coverdale Rd RR2, Moncton, N.B. E1C 8J6
Telephone (506) 387-7347
THE CHURCHILL SOCIETIES
ICS/Australia: Peter M. Jenkins, (03) 700-1277
8 Regnans Ave., Endeavour Hills, Vic. 3802
ICS/Canada: David Currie, Chmn.
Hon. Sec: Celwyn Ball, (506) 387-7347
1079 Coverdale Rd RR2, Moncton N.B. E1C 8J6
ICS/United Kingdom: David Porter, Chmn.
Hon. Sec: David Merritt (0342) 327754
24 The Dell, E. Grinstead, W.Sx. RH19 3XP
ICS/USA: Hon. Paul H. Robinson Jr., Chmn.
Hon. Sec: Derek Brownleader (504) 752-3313
1847 Stonewood Dr., Baton Rouge, LA 70816
DEPARTMENTS AND PROJECTS
ICS Stores: Alan Fitch
9807 Willow Brook Cir., Louisville, KY 40223
Commemorative Covers: Dave Marcus
221 Pewter La., Silver Spring, MD 20904 USA
Publications: Richard M. Langworth
PO Box 385, Contoocook, NH 03229 USA
ICS CHAPTERS
Merry Alberigi, Coordinator
21 Bahama Reef, Novato CA 94949 USA
Telephone (415) 883-9076
Alaska: James W. Muller
1518 Airport Hts Dr., Anchorage AK 99508
Arizona: Marianne Almquist
2423 E. Marshall Ave., Phoenix AZ 85016
California: Merry Alberigi
21 Bahama Reef, Novato CA 94949
Chicago: William C. Ives
8300 Sears Tower, Chicago IL 60606
Illinois: Amb. Paul H. Robinson Jr.
135 S. LaSalle St., Chicago, IL 60603
Nashville: Richard H. Knight, Jr.
PO Box 24356, Nashville, TN 37202
New Brunswick: Celwyn P. Ball
1079 Coverdale Rd RR2, Moncton, NB E1C 8J6
New York City: Alfred J. Lurie
450 E. 63rd St. Apt 8A, New York, NY 10021
New England: Cyril Mazansky
50 Dolphin Rd., Newton Centre, MA 021 59
North Texas: Jean Smalling
10307 Bernardin, Dallas, TX 75243
Toronto: The Other Club. Murray Milne
33 Weldrick Rd., E., Ph #9
Richmond Hill, Ontario L4C 8W4
Founder of ICS/Canada, Blenheim Award winner, tireless worker on behalf
of the Heroic Memory of Sir Winston, George Temple was my friend and
ally for a decade. When ICS was reactivated in 1981 and needed someone
to set up an office in Canada, the late Dal Newfield recommended George
as "absolutely reliable and totally devoted." As ever, Dal was as good as
his word. For eight years, George was there when we needed him. His
devotion was as advertised: he couldn't understand how anybody could
get along without ICS. Sometimes this position cost him a listener, yet he
was exactly right for his job.
George's influence was pervasive, and he was usually right. He noticed
details that escaped everyone else: that ICS should have its own logo (our
" V " symbol, now registered, was the result), that not everybody knew
where " R l " or "NWT" were, so "Despatch Box" ought to include the
writer's country. In the broader scheme he was indefatigable, negotiating
our relationship with Vancouver Society, securing charitable status in
Canada, organizing the 1984 Toronto conference, attending every Churchill Tour to date, traveling west to the dinners of the Edmonton-CalgaryVancouver Societies, and across town to canvass students of the Winston
Churchill School as to who they thought its namesake was.
In this issue, John Plumpton eulogizes the friend we have lost. We console ourselves knowing how he hated getting old, hated his growing
deafness and loss of memory; yet he battled on. As Churchill said of Curzon, "the morning was golden, the noontide bronze, and the evening lead.
But all were solid, and each was polished till it shone after its fashion."
Lord Randolph: I Was Wrong
Back in issue 67 ("A New Gathering Storm") I had some very tough words
to say about writers who insist that Lord Randolph Churchill died of
syphilis, on the sole grounds of innuendo. Now Martin Gilbert in his onevolume biography (reviewed this issue) has taken up the subject with his
usual thoroughness. At the London publishing festivities (see UK News
on page 6), Dr. Gilbert mentioned that he was allowed access to the Royal
Archives on this subject. (The King asked Lord Randolph's doctors to keep
him advised in the event his own doctors could help.) Gilbert sent their
reports to a number of physicians, naming no names but asking them to
identify the disease being described. Their answer was always the same:
"This patient is suffering from syphilis."
To quote WSC's son Randolph at the outset of the official biography, "I
am interested only in the truth." Finest Hour thus withdraws its assertions
in this matter on the basis of the first really thorough historical investigation
— by Martin Gilbert. Who else?
Apologies: Issue 70
In the process of minor rejuggling of the cover and masthead, we left the
wrong instructions and deleted the Churchill Society of Vancouver, which
provides automatic ICS membership to its members. Sorry!
Apologies to Sir Robin Renwick
Also in issue 70 (p27) we announced that Sir Robin is to be the new British
Ambassador to the United States, but ran a photograph of Michael Gathercole, who is actually British Consul in Cleveland. Sorry!!
Apologies to DAN Mahoney
The article about "Going to War" {FH 70, p12) was incorrectly bylined
"Tom Mahoney" The author's name is DAN Mahoney, who is furthermore
Professor of Politics (not History) at Assumption College. That we also
called Harry V. Jaffa "Harry W. Jaffa" on the contents page (but not,
thankfully, his article) is less awful but also requires apology.
RICHARD M. LANGWORTH, EDTTOR
Finest Hour 71/3
DESPA TCH BOX
Gilbert on WSC's Schooldays
The following is excerpted with
permission from a letter by Martin
Gilbert to the Daily Telegraph (9
April), responding to a reader who
criticised his new one-volume
biography for an account of Churchill's school career substantially
different from Churchill's own.
Many are puzzled that the young
man who emerges from my book is
not the dunce that he himself portrayed in My Early Life, published
more than 35 years after he left
school.
Churchill's book was a humorous whimsical potboiler, written at
a gallop, and with all the sparkle,
fun and mischief of an autobiography. It was not (and would
not have gained anything from being] based upon the actual records
now available to me of Churchill's
schooldays: his reports, his letters
home, his masters' letters.
In later life it amused Churchill
to tease the old, and to encourage
the young, by exaggerating his lack
of success at exams. It is certainly
not to accuse him of lying for his
biographer to point out the reality,
which is neither black nor white.
Even at St. James's School, Ascot
(1882-84), where he was flogged
and deeply unhappy, school reports
reveal that his history and geography were sometimes "exceedingly good."
At Brighton (1884-88) his memoirs simply do not tell us that he
learnt Latin and Greek, and was
proud of his success in both. He
played one of the two Greek
language parts in Aristophanes's
play, "The Knights," and came
first in four of the six papers that he
took in the examination at the age
of 13 (English History, Ancient
History, Bible, Algebra). His letters
show his enjoyment of both Virgil
and Herodotus — in the original.
At Harrow (1884-1892) Churchill also did much better than his
memoirs recount. When in 1930 he
wrote, "Latin I could not learn" he
was simply in error. At the time he
did a great deal of Latin as well as
Greek. But many of us, having experienced Latin, remember only
Auberon Waugh wonders in his column
what would have become of WSC had his
grades really been as bad as he made out.
He'd never have made it "if people thought
he was brainy," says Bron . . .
some sense of having been dunces.
No doubt my own examination
results in the early 1950s, which I
recall as abysmal, may prove my
recollections to be wrong; like
Churchill I spent hours and hours
with Julius Caesar and must have
done something right, though I recall only a dismal sense of bewilderment.
Churchill, incidentally, in 1941,
sent Stalin, who had complained
about the poor quality of British
aid to Russia, a five-word telegram
in Latin: "BIS DAT QUI CITO
DAT." I suspect that not all
readers will be able to translate.
MARTIN GILBERT, LONDON
Young Pen Pal Wanted
I would be pleased to hear from
any young person who might like
to correspond with me. I have had a
strong veneration for Sir Winston
Churchill for six years; being only
14 years old, that is a fair portion of
my life.
I can well recall the first time I
felt the awesome power of Sir
Winston's indomitable speeches.
One winter's eve I was watching a
Walt Disney film when a knight
(with an uncanny resemblance to
WSC) began to speak of "fighting
on the beaches." From that day on,
I knew that Sir Winston was no ordinary person.
Since then I have undertaken the
Finest Hour 71/4
task of alerting my friends to the
greatness of the "Old Man," first
by spreading his magnificent messages, secondly by bombarding
them with his words, initially in
my homeland (England) and now
in Canada these last two years.
In any school paper I write, or
any of the numerous speeches I
make to the school during assemblies, I virtually always include at
least one excerpt from my near infinite resource of Churchill quotations. I have even included a Sir
Winston speech when writing the
Governor General of Canada. I
have added to our ranks at least
three "converts" and am working
on others continuously to join
ICS/Canada.
My one question is this: apart
from your apparently breathtaking
and fantastic international conferences, are there any activities
planned for the younger members
of ICS who cannot always afford to
attend the annual meetings?
It has been a relief finally to
discover ICS, since for years I have
wondered whether such a society
existed. May I commend you on
the outstanding job you have done
in producing Finest Hour and wish
you continuing success.
H. RAFAL S. MANKOO
576 DENBURY AVE, OTTAWA
ONTARIO, CANADA K2A 2N9
Thank-you! We have no way of
knowing how many young people
are Friends of the Societies, but we
do see them, and more people now
tell us they became interested in
Sir Winston from his speeches and
writings than from World War II.
Although we do not yet have one in
Ottawa, ICS Chapters host numerous inexpensive local events
throughout the year: For example
the New England Chapter met here
June 8th for an English pub lunch
and included 50 people among
whom eight were under or around
Do bear in mind that while international conferences may be expensive for the "full whack," students
and young people are always invited to sit in on any speeches or
discussions at no cost. Also at
least one antiquarian bookseller
specializing in Churchill (Churchillbooks, i.e., me) regularly sup-
plies young people with inexpen- dred soul and I urged Mr. Mankoo
sive editions at no 01 low cost. to contact him, and vice-versa.
Finally, please read the following
ICS/UK is the Churchill Society
letter.
responsible for activities in Europe,
and they publish a separate newsRafal, Meet Laurent
letter. Membership on the contiI would be most thankful if nent is scant for the usual reason:
anyone in ICS could help me locate publicity that includes ICS/UK's
an American company where I address is very hard to come by.
could do my training in electronics
-Ed.
and computer science this year
from summer through December. Finest Hour 69
(As regards English, my TOEFL
Concerning the usage of the
score is 613, which is good.)
phrase "Iron Curtain" (p8), more
I am studying in this field as a information can be found on pl31,
student-engineer. Since I passed n.5 of my book, Churchill's Rhetmy General Certificate of Educa- oric and Political Discourse (1987),
tion and every University year suc- including use of the phrase in 1904
cessfully, I will shortly reach the and way back in the days of the
level of an M.Sc. Naturally, I shall Talmud.
have to do a four months' training
I disagree with your footnoted
period from September to Decem- statement on pl5 contesting the
ber this year, but very often, young idea that Churchill read mainly
engineers begin their training British authors. The point at issue
period in July or August to achieve is, which writers captivated his imsomething substantial.
agination? The writers you cite did
I would be extremely happy to do not. The only reference WSC ever
my training in electronics in the makes to Nietzsche, e.g., is that he
United States. The opportunities wouldn't have known how to use a
are mor-e interesting, we are used peashooter — not exactly a sign of
to working with American equip- any deep understanding of a
ment, and there are more members seminal modern thinker.
of ICS in the USA than France! It
In any case, my impressionistic
would be a good way to discover a conclusion as to WSC's favoring
new culture, new people, a new at- British over continental writers
mosphere. I have no preference for has since been corroborated by
place or type of work, since we are Darrell Holley's more scientific
supposed to be "polyvalent."
survey, Churchill's Literary AlluIt would be nice if we could hear sions.
MANFRED WEIDHORN
more news from the members who
YESHTVA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK CITY
live in other European countries
*
*
*
such as Denmark, Eire, Greece,
Despite the disclaimer in your
Holland, Sweden and Switzerland.
A European newsletter, even editorial (p3) I would like you to
small, would be interesting. Now, know that your words emphatias usual, we need hands and good cally did "express the views of"
will. I would not mind being the this member. Simply put, bravo!
correspondent for France. Coun- One can only wonder what WSC
tries in Europe are not so big, and would have said about stopping the
war before the Hitler of Mesopowe mostly all speak English.
LAURENT S. BENCHEMOUN tamia was turned out. What did
38 RUE RACHAIS someone recently call it, "Bush's
69007 LYON, FRANCE Elbe on the Euphrates"? What will
the Kurd and Shiite rebels think of
Will any reader interested in the US after having riled the dichelping a Churchillian engineer tator by foiling his foreign aggreswith his training please contact sion then leaving them to the
tender mercies of the surviving
Laurent direct?
Republican
Guards? One would
I met Laurent when he attended
think
a
mini-SOE
effort with
the French phase of the 1989 ChurStinger
A-A
missiles
would
be a
chill Tour. From the enthusiasm
and knowledge he displayed re- minimum strategic and moral
garding Sir Winston, he is a kin- obligation on our part, along with
Finest Hour 71/5
keeping Hussein's air force grounded. Too bad, it might have been a
nice peace.
One housekeeping point: Where
might I get a copy of "The Scaffolding of Rhetoric" (mentioned by
Thomas Montalbo's cover story)
and wouldn't it be a proper reprint
for Finest Hour?
PATRICK L. MOORE, CHICAGO
Try Professor James Muller, ICS
Alaska Chapter (Directory, p3);
Jim has written a piece on this subject, and when we publish it we
will apply for permission to reprint
"The Scaffolding of Rhetoric" with
it.
Tell Us About It . . .
Alan Fitch has sent me some
back issues of Finest Hour and I am
most grateful to you and him for
completing my set. Churchill, in
all his actions, means a great deal
to me, and I am delighted to be able
to identify myself still closer with
the great man. I was stationed in
London during much of the war,
and it was my good fortune to have
seen WSC a couple of times, each
time at a memorable moment.
[Coming up in FH. — ED]
JAMES H. HEINEMAN, NEW YORK CITY
British Aid Packet
I enclose 127 slides and 49 larger
transparencies showing a fairly
good representation of souvenirs
and commemoratives of Sir
Winston. You are most welcome to
keep this material and use it
however you wish in Finest Hour.
Every item is described. I think
much will be of interest to Friends
of the Churchill Societies.
RONALD SMITH, ENFIELD, MDLSX. UK
Mr. Smith is author of Images of
Greatness, a survey of souvenirs
plus public and private tributes to
WSC in all forms from pub signs to
monuments. The ICS New Book
Service continues to offer his work
at a substantial discount. We are
most grateful to him for this
material.
Doolittle on Churchill
In my chequered past I spent
quite a bit of time on several occasions with the great aviator Jimmy
continued on page 34
INTERN A TIONAL DA TELINES
Quote of the Season
"We had the power and the
chance to impose and enforce — I
must use that word — a partition
settlement in Palestine by which
the Jews would have secured the
National Home, (taking) into
account the legitimate rights of the
Arabs . . . which would have given
peace and unity throughout the
whole vast scene of the Middle
East. As to whether so large a
policy could have been carried into
being I cannot be sure, but a settlement of the Palestine question on
the basis of partition would certainly have been attempted. But all
this opportunity was lost."
—HOUSE OF COMMONS,
10DEC48
Thanks Again, Wendy
CAP MARTIN, FRANCE MAY 28TH — W e n d y
Reves, who banked the funds supporting the first of ten new Companion Volumes to the official biography (see below) with ICS some
years ago, has very generously
donated the interest earnings,
some £4000, to the Society. Once
again we are in debt to a great lady
who has done much to help preserve the memory of Sir Winston
through ICS and the Churchill
Memorial. We haven't yet discussed the use of these funds, but
we have in mind a booklet project
relating to literary subjects, in
honor of the late Emery Reves, who
handled WSC's books outside Britain after the war, and Wendy.
— RML
ICS/UK News
18TH — ICS United
Kingdom hosted a reception in
honour of Martin Gilbert upon
publication of his new one-volume
biography, Churchill: A Life. Led
by Lady Soames, over 60 Friends of
the Society and their guests attended; Winston S. Churchill, MP was
in the Persian Gulf. Professor
Gilbert spoke about his nearly 30
years as a biographer of Churchill
and 23 years as official biographer.
He also signed 72 copies for ICS
members. At this writing a few are
left; for details contact David MerLONDON, MARCH
ICS
UK
ritt, hon. sec. [Directory, page 3).
The American edition will be
published in the autumn by Henry
Holt & Co., and will be offered to
Friends of ICS in North America by
the New Book Service.
At the London event, Dr. Gilbert
informed ICS Officers that the
manuscript for Companion Volume VI, part 1 — the first of ten
final document volumes underwritten by ICS and Wendy Reves —
would be delivered to the London
publisher, Heinemann, on 26 June.
Subsequent volumes will be completed at six-month intervals.
Seven will cover the war years," one
each the postwar Opposition
period, the second Premiership,
and the last decade.
*
*
*
ANGLESEY, WALES, MAY - David Boler
of Seal, Kent, represented the UK
Society in an address to the Churchill Society of Anglesey, the
scenic and rocky island off the
North Welsh coast. David acquainted their members with the
work of ICS and delivered some of
WSC's quotes on Wales, including some involving his longtime
political colleague, David Lloyd
George. "Lloyd" is a familiar
enough name to Boler, an executive with Lloyd's of London. He is
also a member of the ICS/UK
Committee and author of the fine
article about Churchill and Lloyd's
in Finest Hour 67.
"My first public speaking engagement did not prove to be the
ordeal I feared," David writes.
"Diane and I made a weekend of it;
the North Wales countryside is
stunning. I couldn't help but think
on my way home to Kent that a
fabulous weekend was made possible by the formation of a certain
"Winston S. Churchill Study
Finest Hour 71/6
Unit" in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania
in 1968 . . . "
*
*
*
STOP PRESS: ICS/UK has now set its
second annual House of Commons
dinner for Friday, September
13th. The main guest will be honorary member Winston S. Churchill, MP, who is also a Trustee of
the UK Society. Dress is black tie.
For tickets and information please
contact hon. sec. David Merritt
(Directory, page 3).
ICS/UK Plans 1992 Conference
w. SUSSEX - Pauline and
David Merritt, heading the Committee planning the 1992 International Conference, have selected
The Copthorne Effingham Park near
Gatwick, and named the weekend
of June 13/14th as the Conference
date. The traditional two black tie
dinners with distinguished
speakers will be held, although for
one of these we may repair to the
House of Commons. This is also
the weekend of the Queen's Birthday, and arrangements will be
sought by which ICS members may
attend the Trooping of the Colour
in comfort.
The Copthorne Effingham Park
is built around a stately home
whose original drawing room has
become the elegant Wellingtonia
restaurant. A complete resort and
conference centre, it features 122
rooms and 15 conference/banqueting rooms, along with extensive
sports and leisure amenities
including a nine-hole golf course
Its pastoral location, in 40 acres of
Sussex parkland, could hardly be
more convenient and allows easy
access to Gatwick or London.
COPTHORNE,
Churchill Tour VI
The Sixth International Churchill Tour will commence early the
week of June 8th and will end
around June 19th, comprising
about eleven days. As usual, we
will "cluster" events around only
three hotels, with the Copthorne
occupying the weekend. Other
hotels will be the charming Old
Bell at Hurley, southwest of London on a lovely bend of the River
Thames, and (if we can get it)
moat-equipped Leeds Castle in
Kent. The Bell is ideally situated
for visits to Blenheim, Bladon and
the Hampshire countryside, while
Leeds Castle will put us in a good
position for the east coast. From
here we have in mind a "Cinque
Ports" tour (yes, we know there
are seven) and nouses and other
sites connected with Churchill on
the Channel coast.
All past Churchill Tours to England have been heavily patronized.
With North American membership
at record levels we expect this one
to fill up fast. If you wish to receive
earliest booking information, send
a postcard to the Editor, Box 385,
Hopkinton NH 03229.
UK Friends are needed in dozens
of ways to assist. If you would like
to help, or contribute your collection for display or speak on a topic
of WSC interest, contact David
Merritt, 24 The Dell, E. Grinstead,
W. Sussex RH19 3XP, telephone
(0342) 327754.
ICS/USA Sponsors Polo Cup:
Generous Grant from Pol Roger
Emma Soames to Represent Family
NEW YORK, APRIL 18TH - Through the
kindness of Christian Pol-Roger
and his United States Champagne
distributors, Frederick Wildman
and Sons, ICS United States will
have the honor of presenting the
"Sir Winston Churchill Cup" to
polo team accumulating the most
points in U.S. Polo Association
sponsored or sanctioned tournaments this year. The presentation
will take place at the U.S. Open in
Lexington, Kentucky on 22 September, where directors and
friends of the Society are welcome
to attend. Representing the Churchill family on behalf of ICS is the
Hon. Emma Soames, daughter of
Lady Soames. Emma's memoir of
growing up at Chartwell appears in
this issue.
Churchill's polo career is little
known, but significant. He was
considered crucial to the success of
his 4th Hussars team in India in his
youth, and played the game until
his fifties (one arm always strapped
to prevent it "going out" — he had
dislocated it reaching for a quayside ring when arriving at Bombay
in 1895). "Since Sir Winston was
greatly interested in horses, and a
fan of Champagne Pol Roger, we
thought it fitting to associate both
names again with the horse
world," say Wildmans.
The bequest to ICS is equally important. "In addition to the trophy,
we would like to give the winning
team the honor of having a $10,000
donation made in their name to the
International Churchill Society,"
Wildmans continue. After conferring with our Patron we enthusiastically accepted. The bequest will
reoccur annually, and will greatly
assist the work of the Society.
September 22nd is the date to
remember, Lexington, Kentucky
the place. Friends of the Society
who wish to be present should
watch Finest Hour for further
details, or write the editor.
media people likely to use them in
their reporting. Press release drafts
are generated by the editor, and can
be supplied in "camera ready"
form for duplication. The job
simply requires a little of your time
and maintaining an effective press
mailing list. Actual experience in
public relations would be a bonus,
but is not required. If you can help,
contact the editor at (603) 746-4433.
Condolences
Deepest sympathies are expressed
by the Churchill Societies to Dick
Lebsanft of Margate, Queensland,
Australia, former hon. secretary of
the ICS Australasian Branch on
the loss of his wife,- and to Robert
Pilpel of New York City, USA,
author of Churchill in America
1895-1961 on the loss of his
mother, Harriet. Mrs. Pilpel was a
distinguished attorney and a brilliant debater, particularly on the
subject of women's rights. She
often did battle with Wm. F.
Buckley, Jr., who charmingly
memorialized her in his magazine,
National Review.
Vancouver Hosts Rhodes James
VANCOUVER,
BC,
MAY - The
Sir
Winston S. Churchill Society of
British Columbia joined its brother
branches in Edmonton and Alberta
by welcoming historian Robert
Rhodes James, MP as their annual
speaker.
The events were interesting for
several reasons: Rhodes James was
editor of the nearly-definitive
Complete Speeches (Bowker: 1974;
not as complete as it ought to have
been) and is a Conservative Member of Parliament. What is more interesting is the fact that he ranks
among the moderate revisionists,
having authored a critical work
whose title suggests its focus:
Churchill: A Study in Failure
1900-1939 (London and New York:
1970). This is a responsible critique,- indeed we named it as the
most important critical work in
our Handbook section last issue.
PR Manager Wanted
ICS United States is in need of a
public relations manager to supervise the drafting of press releases
and maintain a mailing list of
Finest Hour 71/7
Lady Soames with President Saundeis, Fulton
Lady Soames at Fulton
FULTON, MO., APRIL UST — Patron of the
Societies Lady Soames delivered
the annual Kemper Lecture in the
Church of St. Margaret, Aldermanbury, on the campus of Westminster College here, where her
father delivered the famous
"Sinews of Peace" speech 45 years
before. She also presented the first
copy of the oil painting replica of
the Salisbury portrait of her father
(this issue's cover; see elsewhere
for details) to the Churchill
Memorial and Library.
continued overleaf. . .
INTERNATIONAL DATELINES
The Hated Hombuig
- The gray homburg WSC wore to the 1943 Casablanca conference with Roosevelt
was auctioned today by Sotheby's,
along with a pair of buckskin
boots presented to Churchill on a
1944 visit to Canada. The items
were sold by the son of a man who
bought them in the late 1950s,
when Lady Churchill donated them
them to a Tory fund-raiser.
Sotheby's were estimating £50008000 for the hat and £1500-2500
for the boots, but we have no information as to actual prices paid.
So often such items were not
quite the cherished possessions
wealthy bidders think they were.
"He absolutely hated this hat,"
said Kerry Taylor, a Sotheby's expert interviewed in the newspapers. "He used to wear it on formal occasions and important meetings [but] in later years he favoured
softer, less structured hats." Miss
Taylor said she received her information from Grace Hamblin, OBE,
hon. member of ICS, former administrator of Chartwell, and
secretary of WSC and CSC for over
40 years.
LONDON, MAY 9TH
oilfields, there is only one person
in world politics for the job. Lady
Thatcher must be flown out to
New Zealand immediately as the
new Governor General to declare a
state of emergency and exercise absolute power over these misguided
islanders for the rest of her days."
Tongue-in-cheek-Waugh says
Britain will be all right in the
meantime. "We may be saved by a
visitor from outer space in the person of Prime Minister John Major,
who carries a battery of triple- and
quadruple-headed viruses in his
phantom moustache. But we must
move very carefully." We like all
this and it reminds us of similar
jollies by WSC, though we suspect
that as usual, the lady's not for
turning.
Olivia Dean Isabel Witter
SAN FRANCISCO, JANUARY 2ND — JaC-
queline and Malcolm Witter of
ICS' California Chapter proudly announce the birth of their daughter
at seven pounds, two ounces. More
will be heard from this young ICS
member in due course; in fact,
more is being-heard at the moment.
National Trust on behalf of Chartwell, which has the originals.
The series, which is representative of his fascination with landscapes and the play of light and
shadow, consists of "Pergola at
Trent Park," "Walled Garden at
Capponcina" and "View of Carcasonne" (1930); "Coast Scene
near Cap d'Ail" (1935); and "St.
Jean Cap Ferrat" and "River
Meuse with the Artist" (1946-47).
"St. Jean" is the best known while
"River Meuse" is one of only a
handful which include a selfportrait.
Lady Clare offers coasters, table
mats, small serving mats and large
place mats, trays, letter racks, umbrella stands and waste paper bins;
the price list we have quotes four
coasters at $10.49 and place mats
at $36.75, but we are not clear
whether the Churchills come six to
a box and include all six paintings.
Readers should contact Lady Clare
for prices and a brochure. In North
America, write them at Gallery
726, 225 Fifth Avenue, NY 10010,
telephone (212) 213-3737. In UK
write them at Leicester Road, Lutt e r w o r t h , Leics. LE17 4HF
telephone (0455) 552101.
'
WSC Paintings on Place Mats
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY MTH — Lady Clare
Send for Supermag
LONDON, MAY 3RD — Auberon Waugh,
son of Evelyn and a journalist gadfly, has suggested sending Mrs.
Thatcher to New Zealand to
straighten the place out. New
Prime Minister Jim Bolger, out to
balance the budget and roll back
socialism, is trying to restore the
work ethic. Bron says he can't do it
alone: "Like Red Adair in the
Ltd., producers of quality place
mats, coasters and trays, has reproduced six of Sir Winston's paintings which are available on all
their products with the exception
of paperweights and pictures. According to Giles Feilding, London
sales director, "We were very
honoured to be asked by Mr. and
Mrs. Winston Churchill asked if
we would be interested in reproducing some of Sir Winston's fine
paintings." The project has the approval of Churchill Heritage,
holders of the copyright, and the
Finest Hour 71/8
Sir John Martin, 1904-1991
The Churchill Societies are saddened to announce the death in
April of honorary member Sir John
Martin, KCMG, CB, CVO, who
served as Churchill's principal
private secretary at Number Ten
from 1941 to 1945.
Hired in haste to help relieve
WSC's exhausted team of private
secretaries, Martin quickly found
favour because he was intelligent,
conscientious and wrote admirable
English. (In his memoirs WSC
referred to Martin's "ascetic, clearcut face.")
Churchill recorded how occasionally Martin found himself a
welcome messenger. On 15 September 1940 the news, WSC wrote,
was "repellent: This had gone
wrong here; that had been delayed
there . . . there had been bad sinkings in the Atlantic. 'However/
said Martin, 'all is redeemed by the
air. We have shot down 183 for a
loss of under 40.' " Later it was
found that German losses were
only 56, but this did not deprive
Martin of his moment of glory. In
1941 he succeeded Sir Eric Seal
(WSC: "The Seal has left his ice
floe.") as PPS. He accompanied
Churchill on all his important
travels and was at every summit
from Argentia (August 1941) to
Yalta (February 1945). Sir John's
natural modesty prevented him
from ever writing a book about his
experiences, though he did contribute to Action This Day (1968),
written by several former Churchill associates to refute the whinings of Lord Moran's Churchill:
Struggle for Survival (1966).
The son of a Church of Scotland
minister, John Miller Martin was
educated at Edinburgh and won a
scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He was posted later
to the Dominions Office and later
seconded to the Malayan Civil Service. As secretary of the Palestine
Royal Commission in 1936, he produced a report recommending partition to solve the unending strife
between Arabs and Jews — plus qa
change, plus c'est la mime chose.
Martin left Number Ten before
the Potsdam Conference and returned to the Colonial Office. In
1956 he was appointed Deputy
Under-Secretary of State. Had polio
not struck he would have ascended
still further. From 1965 to 1967 he
was British High Commissioner in
Malta. He was appointed a Commander of the Victorian Order in
1943, a Companion of the Bath in
1945, and a Knight Commander of
the Order of St. Michael and St.
George in 1952. He was elected an
honorary Fellow of his old college
in 1980 and became an honorary
member of ICS in 1984.
Erudite, notably well-read, with
all the wit of a first class classical
scholar, John Martin was never'
anything but an agreeable and entertaining companion, cautious
but not dour, shrewd but not censorious. He was typical of the
loyal, devoted men and women of
Churchill's private office, whose
testimony will forever refute the
revisionist ramblings of latterday
chroniclers.
THE "DAILY TELEGRAPH" & RML
Viscount De t'Isle, 1910-1991
7TH — The Viscount
De L'Isle, who won the Victoria
Cross for bravery in battle, showed
even greater courage in championing unpopular causes. This applied
as much to Saddam Hussein as it
did to German officers after the
1935-45 war, when he argued
against bringing them to trial. This
position he maintained: According
to his son, the Hon. Philip Sidney,
who succeeds to the title, "My
father was one of the peers who
recently voted against the Nazi war
crimes bill in the Lords." During
the Gulf War he sought to take
legal action over two television
programmes on the war which he
claimed were one-sided.
William Philip Sidney won the
VC at Anzio in 1944 where, as a
major in the Grenadier Guards, he
confronted the Germans at pointblank range with his tommy-gun
and drove them out after they had
penetrated his post. The position
was vital to a beachhead against a
determined German counterattack that threatened to push the
Allies back to the sea. The Germans counter-attacked again and a
grenade hit Sidney in the face.
Singlehanded and badly wounded,
he held off his attackers until reinforcements arrived. He then left to
have his wounds dressed, but then
the Germans launched another
assault. Sidney rushed back to his
post and continued to fight for
another hour until the position was
secured.
Created a Viscount in 1956, he
obtained much pleasure looking
after the garden of his ancestral
home, Penshurst Place, near Tonbridge, Kent and not far from
Chartwell. He was chairman of
Phoenix Assurance and the Churchill Memorial Trust.
Educated at Eton and Magdalene
College, Cambridge, he rose to
become the senior Knight of the
Garter, Conservative MP for Chelsea, Secretary of State for Air and
the last Englishman to be GovernorGeneral of Australia (during the
premiership of Robert Menzies).
He was only the second man in
history (after Lord Roberts) to place
the letters KG in second place after
his name: for the Victoria Cross
takes precedence over the oldest
Order of Chivalry in Europe.
— AMTTROY
LONDON, APRIL
Finest Hour 71/9
"World Crisis" & Bourke Cockran
— Latvian
author Algis Valiunas has written
the best appreciation of Churchill's
monumental World War I memoir,
The World Crisis, we have ever
read. "To read The World Crisis is
to begin to understand how the
crisis in political thought that the
war brought on ought to have been
resolved; to see a compassionate
and sorrowing soul regard without
flinching the greatest catastrophe
of human devising; to study a composed and resolute intelligence as
it resists the nihilistic desperation
and Utopian fantasy that the carnage has begotten; to hear a majestic voice, ringing with admiration, piercing in anger, hushed
with grief and pity, speak those
words which alone preserve dead
and survivors alike from the ashen
wastes of the meaningless and
unspeakable." Finest Hour does
not ordinarily reprint recent articles, but this one is so singular
that we have applied for permission to do so; readers who wish a
continued overleaf.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., APRIL
copy now should send a large
stamped self-addressed envelope to
the editor (no stamps required for
readers outside USA).
*
*
*
COOPERSTOWN, NY, USA, APRIL 1990 - We
are tardy in advising that the New
York State Historical Society published a notable piece by James H.
Andrews of ICS/USA about Bourke
Cockran, who befriended young
Churchill during his youthful
visits to New York and whom
Churchill always credited with
having the greatest influence over
his oratorical style ("Winston
Churchill's Tammany Hall Mentor/' Vol 71, No. 2, April 1990).
This is a significant and needed article about Churchill's earliest important American connection.
Readers may obtain copies by sending $5.25 (US) to NUSHA, PO
Box 800, Cooperstown NY 13326
USA.
economic realities of 1920 by those
of today.
Four months and a war having
transpired since Cockburn's gaffes,
it is perhaps a little unfair of us to
quote him now — but fairness was
never one of Alex's characteristics,
so: On February 3rd he wrote that
we had "firmed Saddam's standing
and united the peoples of North
Africa, the Arab world, the Indian
subcontinent, Malaysia and Indonesia in admiration of Saddam
[and] debased any claims that the
United Nations might ever have
had to be a supranational body."
This, he said, followed "exactly
the plans of Churchill for Iraq in
the waning moments of British imperialism."
To paraphrase Churchill, ' 'I have
never made as bad a misstatement
as that."
-RML
New England Chapter
We Hear You, Alexander
HOPKINTON, NH, USA JUNE 8TH — F a s t
WASHINGTON, FEBRUARY 3RD — M a r x i s t
reviving under the direction of
Cyril and Harriet Mazansky, the
New England Chapter held its first
pub lunch since 1987 at the colonial home of Barbara and Richard
Langworth. Over 50 people attended, including International Council chairman Celwyn Ball and wife
Pat from Moncton, New Bruns-
columnist Alexander Cockburn
wrote today that "Iraq learned
poison gas from Churchill." Digging into the official biography,
Cockburn discovered that Churchill authorized the use of chemical weapons in Iraq (Mesopotamia)
in 1920, when the British Army
was attempting to restore order.
"Churchill, desperate to revive his
own unstable political fortunes,
was eager to secure British domination of the Iraqi oil fields." Etc.,
etc., etc.
We don't expect evenhandedness
from Alexander Cockburn, so let it
be said for the record: (1) Churchill
was talking about mustard gas,
which was, as he called it (and Gulf
military commanders also call it),
more an "inconvenience" than a
serious weapon of mass destruction. This was certainly not the
chemical weapon the Gulf commanders were worried about. (2)
Two years later yes, four years
earlier yes — but C h u r c h i l l ' s
political fortunes did not need
reviving in 1920. (3) The AngloPersian Oil Company and British
arrangementswithKuwait (Independent since c. 1790) were the main
source of Britain's oil in those
days, and demand for it wasn't exactly running rampant. To insist
otherwise is simply to judge the
wick; and ICS/USA Vice-President
Merry Alberigi and husband Glen
from Novato, California. They
sampled a variety of English ales
(and new American ales that measure up to the standard), manufactured ploughman's lunches from
crusty bread, English cheeses,
pickled onions on the banks of the
adjacent Contoocook River, renamed "The River Chart" for the
day. David Druckman's video of
the 1989 International Churchill
Tour to France and England was
shown and a book collecting
seminar was held on the works of
Churchill. Richard explained how
to identify first editions and
distinguish volumes of The Second
World War as to first, trade and
book club editions.
The next New England event will
be a black tie dinner in honor of Sir
Winston's 117th birthday, at the
Boston Harbor Hotel in Boston on
Saturday 16 November. Our speaker
will be Martin Gilbert, who will
repeat his engagement last March
with ICS/UK in London by discussing his latest book, Churchill:
A Life (New York:-Henry Holt) and
Churchills activities 50 years ago.
For information contact Dr. Cyril
Mazansky, 50 Dolphin Rd, Newton
Centre MA 02159.
•
New England
Chapter pub
lunch was hosted
by Barbara and
Richard Langworth at Putney
House (1775) in
Hopkinton, NH
(above left). Cyril
Mazansky, that
cigarette cardcollecting radiologist, spoke on
future events
(above). Winston
Roulier (below)
displayed German
propaganda.
Finest Hour 71/10
COVER STORY
The Salisbury
Painting Replica
BY NORMAN SHAIFER
N
replicas was undertaken. The first
copy, displayed at the ICS Lee
Remick dinner in Long Beach on
May 4th, testifies to the glorious
quality of this dynamic portrait. In
addition to the National Trust, the
Winston Churchill Scholarship
Trust will benefit from the sale of
each painting. Fuitheimoie, ICS
will benefit fiom the sale of any
paintings to those who oidei
through this article.
Each Salisbury portrait will be
scrupulously captured on canvas
by a world-class artisan who will
match the original, brush stroke
for brush stroke. The color, in rich,
deep oils, is perfectly faithful. The
detail is striking. The canvas will
be stretched and installed in a
frame carefully reproduced from
the original to show the painting to
its best advantage. Dimensions are
24x30" unframed and 32x38"
framed.
is described above, and will cost
$1575 framed or $975 unframed.
(The editor, who has seen the first
copy, recommends the frame,
which is a brilliant replica.)
Embedded into each replica is the
word "COPY," which can only be
seen in the right light at a certain
angle; however, it underlines the
integrity of the reproduction.]
Still in the planning stages is a
less expensive 24x30" portrait
reproduced from a color
photograph of the original by a
special process. This painting
photo has been mounted on canvas
and placed in the replica frame.
There may also be a scaled-down
version of this photograph-painting
measuring 20x24".
EARLY two years ago, The
British National Trust Collection found they were selling out
of the limited edition Churchill
writing desk replicas [Finest Houi
68, page 8; at this writing one or
two remain). Consideration was
given to another Churchill-related
product, and since many people
had expressed interest in the striking Frank Salisbury portrait
How to Order
(which, like the desk, is in the
Friends of the Society in the
Chartwell library), permission was
United States, Canada, UK and
sought from the National Trust,
Australia may order by paying
Chartwell's owner, to allow oil
either the full price in US dollars
replicas. Permission was granted
($1575 framed, $975 unframed) or
Two Styles Available
after consultation with Lady
The Salisbury portrait is being a $300 deposit, by cheque or credit
Soames, who graciously approved prepared in two formats. The first
continued overleaf. . .
the project.
Special attention had to be paid
to copyrights in the portrait. The Exclusively from the BRITISH NATIONAL TRUST COLLECTION™
original oil was commissioned by
the Devonshire Club of London
and given to Churchill as a gift.
The BNTC contacted the Devonshire Club to determine what their
records revealed. After 1942, the
sense of history and
uite right...an
heritage. Certainly it is
Devonshire Club merged into the
exquisitely handa handsome addition
replica of the
East India Club, whose records pamted
prized portrait that
to any home or office.
were also reviewed.
continues to hang in
D Beautifully Recreated
According to English law prevail- the Churchill Library at
Handpainted Oil
can now
on Canvas
ing in 1942, a painting copyright is Chartwell
inspire you in your
• Original Frame Has
usually owned by the person(s) own home.
Been Carefully
commissioning it. However, this
The firm resolve and
Re-created
copyright could be conveyed to indomitable will of
• Each Portrait Individgreat man has been
another owner through a written this
ually Commissioned
faithfully captured in
and Duly Certified
document. Having given the paint- uncompromising detail.
• Available Exclusively
ing to Churchill, the Devonshire His remarkable courage,
from the British
his
clarity
of
vision,
Club sought his permission to have and his fierce spirit can
National Trust Colanother painting made for display most assuredly be
lection™ by special
permission of the
in the club. Correspondence with sensed. It is a bold,
Churchill Family
visually-inspiring
WSC shows that this permission statement that gives the
• Thirty Day Return
was granted, while the painting owner a continuous
Privilege
given Churchill remained his propF R E E
D E T A I L S
C A L L
O R
W R I T E
erty until his death. It was then
acquired by the Inland Revenue in
British National Trust Collection
77 B Main Street, Tappan, NY 10983
lieu of death duty. Sometime
Address .
D YES! Please send me your FREE literature
thereafter, it became the property
City
with full details and a color print of the
of the National Trust.
authorized Chartwell Library portrait of
State
After this complicated history
Sir Winston Churchill.
Telephone # _
was determined, the creation of a
Or Call Toll Free (800) 631-1362.
limited number of hand-painted
Q
THIS POWERFUL PORTRAIT OF
SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL
CAN BE YOURS.
Finest Hour 71/11
card. For those outside USA, your
Visa or Mastercard is most convenient. If you choose the deposit
method, you may pay the balance
over your choice of six or 12
months after delivery.
Orders should be sent to The
British National Trust Collection,
Dept ICS, 77 Main Street, Tappan,
NY 10983. If you have any questions or wish information on the
less expensive versions, please contact Mr. Norman Shaifer at the
above address, or telephone (tollfree in USA) to (800) 631-1362. Mr.
Shaifer is a Friend of the Society
who has attended several of its
functions, and was responsible for
making ICS a beneficiary of this
project. Be sure to mention ICS as
this is the only way your Society
will benefit from the sale.
The original Salisbury continues to hang in the library at Chartwell, where the original
partners desk, also recently replicated by the B.N.T.A., is likewise located.
Paintings will be commissioned
in the order received; completion and, if in any way dissatisfied,
time may be 90 to 120 days. You return it in the original packing for
may view the painting in your a full refund.
All funds realized from this prohome or office for up to 30 days
ject will be earmarked for ICS
special publications and your name
will be recorded on same as one of
their sponsors.
•
I.C.S. U.S. 1991 Conference:
November 2nd-5th
Churchill's Virginia:
Richmond, Williamsburg, Civil War Battlefields
BY RICHARD H. KNIGHT, JR.
The International Churchill Society USA Conference will
be held from Friday, November 1st through Tuesday,
November 5th, in "world-famous" Virginia. All ICS affiliates and the worldwide membership are cordially invited.
Invitations are going out shortly to all ICS people in North
America. Any others who wish registration forms should
write the Nashville Chapter (Directory, p.3).
Sir Winston visited Richmond in 1929. His essay, "Old
Battlefields of Virginia," opens with these words: "It takes
only a few hours by train or motor to go from Washington to
Richmond, but we breathe a different air. It is another country. . . . We have crossed the mysterious boundary which
separates the present from the past . . . We are in the rebel
capital."
During Sir Winston's visit, he toured the great battlefields:
The Seven Days', Cold Harbor, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, The Wilderness, etc. He was accompanied by Douglas
Southall Freeman, Pulitzer Prize author of R.E. Lee and
Lee's Lieutenants. The American Civil War made a profound
impression on Churchill.
Sir Winston returned to Richmond, in 1946. There, he addressed the Virginia Legislature only a few days following
the "iron curtain" speech in Fulton. During this visit, he
toured Virginia's restored colonial capital, Williamsburg. (In
1954, the Williamsburg Foundation awarded Sir Winston the
first Williamsburg Bell. No other Bell has yet been presented.)
The first three days of the conference (Friday through Sunday) will be held in Richmond at "The Jefferson-Sheraton,"
a National Trust and Mobil four-star Hotel, which was entirely remodeled in 1986. It is a grand (yet small) hotel, exhibiting some of the best features of The Adolphus and The
Stanford Court (which are familiar to veterans of earlier ICS
meetings). The final two days (Monday through Tuesday) of
the conference will be held in Williamsburg at "The
Williamsburg Lodge," which is situated in the heart of the
restored colonial capital of Virginia. Friends of the Society
may attend the segment of their choice or both segments of
the conference.
The theme of the conference is "Churchill's Virginia."
The conference will open late Friday afternoon with a
Finest Hour 71/12
STOP PRESS: GILBERT TO SPEAK NOV. 3RD
Honorary member Martin Gilbert will make his first address to an International Conference in Richmond on
Sunday 3 November, discussing his new book and, tentatively, Churchill's Virginian visits in 1946.
Superb Lobby of the Jefferson Sheraton, Richmond
cocktail reception at the Virginia Historical Society (the
"Battle Abbey"). Members will be given a private tour.
Saturday will be devoted to Sir Winston's interest in the
American Civil War. In the morning, we will hear from Colonel Joseph Mitchell, a professional historian and graduate
of the United States Military Academy, who will critique
Churchill's analysis of the Civil War and describe his own
1929 tour of the Virginia battlefields. Professor Jim Muller
of the University of Alaska will speak on the influence of
General Lee and President Lincoln on the life and thought of
Sir Winston. Those who attended the 1990 conference will
recall that the Lady Soames identified General Lee and President Lincoln as two of the five most influential historical
figures in the life of her father.
Former United States Senator Harry F. Byrd, Jr., of
Virginia will speak to the Society at the Saturday evening
banquet. Senator Byrd's parents, Governor and Mrs. Byrd,
hosted Sir Winston in the Governor's Mansion during the
1929 visit. At the time, Senator Byrd was a young man of 14
or 15, and his recollections of the visit are both vivid and
humorous. Senator Byrd will also recall his visit to Sir
Winston's offices during the second premiership. He will be
introduced by former Virginia Governor Mills Godwin, Jr.
Prior to the banquet Saturday evening, the Virginia Military
Institute glee club is scheduled to perform a medley of World
War I and World War II hits and one or two of Sir Winston's
favorite hymns.
Sunday morning, Ward Chamberlin, an ICS member and
Vice Chairman of Washington, D.C.'s public television
channel, which co-produced the acclaimed PBS series on the
Civil War, will speak on his experience during World War JJ
as an American officer in the British Army. David McCullough, a prize-winning author and noted political scientist, will discuss the Truman/Churchill relationship. At the
moment, Mr. McCullough is completing a biography of
President Truman.
Sunday evening's speaker has just now been confirmed as
Martin Gilbert, the official biographer, who will also sign
copies of his brilliant new one-volume biography, Churchill:
A Life, Sunday the 3rd.
The conference moves on to Williamsburg, on Monday.
That evening, members will have the opportunity to enjoy
dinner as a group at one of the nearby restored colonial
taverns. On Tuesday evening, the College of William and
Mary and Mrs. Wendy Reves will host a cocktail reception
for members at the Reves Center for International Studies,
followed by a dinner in the Sir Christopher Wren Building,
one of the architectural wonders of the colonial period. The
Reves Center is named for Emery and Wendy Reves, and
many of our members will recall that Mrs. Reves was one of
our guests in 1987 at the Dallas conference.
Adequate time has been built into the program to allow for
touring. Tours of Richmond have been scheduled. Selfguided tours in Williamsburg are most appropriate. Several
sites in Richmond are highly recommended. Among them are
the local battlefields (including the Seven Days' campaign
of 1862), the Museum of the Confederacy, the White House
of the Confederacy, the Battle Abbey, the Valentine
Museum, Monument Avenue (with its enormous bronze
statues), and Hollywood Cemetery, final resting place for
18,000 unknown confederates, Generals Fitzhugh Lee,
George Pickett, "Jeb" Stuart, and Presidents John Tyler,
James Monroe, and Jefferson Davis, and many other historical figures. There is also St. John's Church (where, in 1775,
Patrick Henry delivered his "Give me liberty, or give me
death!" oration).
At my request, my employer, Hospital Corporation of
America, has designated the conference an "HCA conference." This designation permits Friends of the Society to
fly on any of the major airline carriers that presently service
Richmond at rates that have been negotiated by HCA. Accordingly, you are not restricted to one airline. Those unfamiliar
with Richmond will find that it is quite accessible. It is served
primarily by Delta, U.S. Air, and American Airlines. For
those requiring flight reservations, I suggest that they immediately contact Connie Rogers or Gay Sandall at Travel
Unlimited of Nashville (1-800-251-2561, Ext. 2868) to make
their flight reservations. Conference saver fares have been
secured, representing a savings of up to 45% off of coach
fares or 5% off of the lowest applicable fare. Seats are
limited, so I would ask that you act at once. Please have
a credit card available when calling. Tickets will then
be mailed.
I wish to thank those who have supported the initial phase
of this undertaking. Their contributions shall be more
specifically noted at a later date. I wish to urge those who are
in a position to do so to consider sponsoring this conference.
Sponsorships are available at $100 (U.S.) per family, and all
sponsors will be recognized in a suitable fashion in the conference program. In addition, corporate sponsorships are
eagerly solicited. If you are affiliated with or employed by
corporations, please consider a corporate sponsorship in cash
or in kind. For details on sponsorships please contact me.c/o
the Nashville Chapter (p.3).
0
Finest Hour 71/13
"A Kind of Gestapo"
Reflections During the Search for a Home
for ICS/USA and a Center for Churchill Studies
BY RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
W
HAT we want to accomplish in memory of Sir
Winston is well known: a Center for Churchill
Studies in the United States. What is that, and what will it
do? It is a physical entity which will foster interest in and
understanding of the philosophy, words and deeds of
Winston S. Churchill. It must preserve, and make more
widely available, the evidence about those words and deeds;
it must foster intelligent, honest and high-minded research
and analysis of that evidence; it must publish, cause to be
published, and promote the teaching of, the best of this
research and analysis.
Our specific goals fall into four categories:
1. A home of record and rallying point for ICS United
States, with modest space for an office and meetings.
2. A standard library of Churchill's works, and works
about him — far more comprehensive than any similar
library in the nation today.
3. The fostering of new research involving Churchill, and
international relationships among the English-Speaking
Peoples.
4. The imparting of that research to posterity through
publishing and teaching. Among the specific publications: a.
new Churchill Bibliography and a CD-Rom Concordance of
all Churchill's written and spoken words, allowing instantaneous accessing of everything he wrote and said on any
subject — a priceless boon to students and reseachers.
The archives should be largely electronically maintained.
We have already discussed that with experts and determined
how to do it. It is a labor of love, and it must be done by
people who have the historical and technical competence —
and the devotion — to do the work well.
The Center should promote research into key aspects of
Churchill's career, especially as they bear upon enduring
questions of principle and policy. We have many ideas about
how this part of the work could be pushed forward, and a
superb assortment of people within ICS who can contribute
their ideas and skills.
Finally, the Center should promote publications, conferences and teaching that will help to make known what
Churchill did, what he said, and what he was.
We propose to raise the necessary capital ($3-6 million)
permanently to endow the Center; and to fill its library from
private bequests, some of which we have already received,
catalogued and stored.
One can see that this would be a broad range of activity,
but nonetheless coherent and clear. Every part of it is useful.
Every part of it would do good.
What ICS Offers
The International Churchill Society in the United States
consists of 1500 people from all walks of life who are
devoted to the study of Churchill and to preserving his
memory. While we are not sycophants, we believe his record
is overwhelmingly positive. The Society has for over 20
years engaged in projects of research and publication unmatched in their areas by any other organization or institution and exceeded in scope only by the work of the official
biographer. We have published books, articles, academic
papers, speeches and oral symposia, checklists and source
guides on such subjects as political science, history,
bibliography, philately and Churchill's personal life.
The Churchill Insitute (formerly the Churchill Foundation)
was founded by ICS/USA honorary member James C.
Humes as a vehicle to accomplish similar goals. The Winston
Churchill Association, founded by Dr. Harry V. Jaffa, supports the work of scholars such as Martin Gilbert, and
publication of books that emphasize Churchill's contributions and defend his record from the predations of misguided
revisionists.
ICS is connected through its members with the finest
private Churchill libraries in the world. We have already
received bequests of books and letters, and have the potential
of securing for the Center virtually every major edition written by or about or contributed to by Winston Churchill. We
have only to guarantee a safe home for this archive to start
the flow.
University Relations
The specific question we now face is the structure of our
proposal. More specifically, the question arises, should it or
must it be affiliated with a particular university?
The advantages of such an affiliation are plain to see. If the
university is prestigious, the Center will share in that
prestige. Universities tend to last a long time; therefore, the
Center might also last a long time. Moreover, it may be
easier to attract benefactors to the Center if they are giving to
a famous college. And of course universities, at least traditionally, do the very work that must be done by a Center for
Churchill Studies.
These advantages are clear enough. I want to raise the
disadvantages, which are easier to miss, but nonetheless
grave.
To us there are two, equally important, reasons to study
Churchill. The first is acceptable to everyone: his involvement with 20th century history was crucial, and remains
highly relevant to presentday international affairs. The second reason has to do with Churchill's philosophy of
statesmanship — which is, however, far more controversial.
The plain fact is that the vast majority of modern academics
don't like Churchill, and dismiss him from consideration, let
alone study. He held different views than they hold. He
stands for different principles than they. He upheld a regime,
a way of life, that is contrary to all that they (I speak of the
great majority of them) believe.
Churchill was, for example, a defender of the family as it
is traditionally understood. He believed that government
should foster independence of spirit. He believed this requires that people own property, with little hindrance and
Finest Hour 71/14
light taxation, and remain responsible for their own wellbeing: that money must be allowed to "fructify in the pockets
of people."
Churchill believed Western Civilization a force for good.
He believed that the traditions of Britain and America and the
English-Speaking Peoples, rightly understood, reflected
truths of unchanging vitality and application — application to
all persons and all times. He thought socialism and
bureaucracy — a far milder version of the latter than is currently the rule — incompatible with human liberty and even
with the survival of nations. He believed that certain codes of
morality find sanction in a permanent law, not made by
mankind. A violation of this law is, he believed, always
wrong. Virtue, not creativity, was his touchstone.
Now this is not, I am sorry to say, the consensus among
modern liberal arts faculties. We live in an age of cultural
relativism, when much of Churchill's bedrock principles are
derided as arcane or racist. In the 1945 election Churchill got
into trouble talking about a "kind of Gestapo." I am afraid
there is today a "kind of Gestapo" that not only denies the
force and truth of Churchill's philosophy but mitigates
against its even being discussed. Indeed I doubt that we could
find a liberal arts campus today where a speaker would be
welcomed for a speech like Churchill gave at Harvard in
1943, Fulton in 1946 or M.I.T. in 1949 — those clarion calls
that still sound so relevant to us today.
*
You may think I exaggerate. Study, then, the principles of
multi-culturalism. Examine the meaning of critical legal
studies, or deconstructionism. Or read, if you will, a short
book by C.S. Lewis — a Churchill contemporary — called
The Abolition of Man, where these views are exhibited in
their dark significance. Or attend the words of Churchill
himself:
The worst difficulties from which we suffer do
not come from without. They come from within . . .
They come from a peculiar type of brainy people
always found in our country, who, if they add something to its culture, take much from its strength.
Our difficulties come from the mood of unwarrantable self-abasement into which we have been
cast by a powerful section of our own intellectuals.
They come from the acceptance of defeatist doctrines by a large proportion of our politicians.
But what have they to offer but a vague internationalism, a squalid materialism, and the promise
of impossible Utopias?
If we lose faith in ourselves, in our capacity to
guide and govern, if we lose our will to live, then
indeed our story is told. If, while on all sides
foreign nations are every day asserting a more aggressive and militant nationalism by arms and trade,
we remain paralyzed by our own theoretical doctrines or plunged into the stupour of after-war
exhaustion, then indeed all that the croakers predict will come true, and our ruin will be swift and
final.
It is hard to believe that Churchill said those words nearly 60
years ago, broadcasting over the BBC on St. George's Day,
23 April 1933.
The author is serving as president oflCS United States for
the period 1991-1994, and is editor of Finest Hour.
' 'The vast majority of modern
academics don't like Churchill . . .
he held different views than they
hold. He stands for different
principles than they, which are
contrary to all that they believe."
What has all this to do with our Center for Churchill
Studies? Everything. The fact seems inescapable that a very
large proportion of our intellectuals not only disbelieve
Churchill, but refuse even to understand him.
To cite an outstanding example, consider the abridgement
of Marlborough by Henry Steele Commager (Scribners, ICS
A40h, 1968 et seq.) Now H.S. Commager is nothing if not
a Class A historian. Yet he concluded, he tells us, that
because Churchill was primarily a man of war, the most important parts of Marlborough are the war accounts. So he
removes the portions dealing with Marlborough's statesmanship: which anyone who has read the Companion Volumes of
the official biography will know was what Churchill considered most important! Obviously Dr. Commager did not
begin to understand Churchill. He is hardly alone.
A Churchill Symposium, recently held at a distinguished
American university, convened a number of very highly
thought-of historians, few of whom think highly of Churchill. One of these, who has edited an important work on
Churchill's correspondence, told me what he thought on the
telephone. I could not have asked for a more unstudied opinion had I asked a hermit on a mountaintop.
Another participant has compiled a volume of Churchill's
speeches, interspersed with his own waspish reviews of
them: "ultimately ineffective, implausibly pessimistic and
apocalyptically gloomy . . . the speeches of a man completely self-absorbed and egotistically uninterested in the opinions
of anyone else . . . Considering that [Churchill] never built
up a regional power base in the country or a personal following at Westminster, that he changed his party allegiance
twice, that his judgment was often faulty, that his administrative talents were uneven, and that his understanding
of ordinary people was minimal, it is arguable that oratory
was, in fact, his only real instrument."
I am not going to dignify that with the obvious rebuttals.
But I cannot forbear to add that the official biographer of
Churchill (who is unremittingly positive) was not originally
asked to attend this Symposium.
This is what I mean by "a kind of Gestapo" where
Winston Churchill is concerned. They simply do not sympathize with, and in some cases do not even understand, his
views. Each of his positions is cast into profound doubt, or is
repudiated by them with condescension and scorn.
That is the sort of nonsense up with which we must not put.
What these modernday subverters of the truth miss — which
would astound them if they knew — is that Churchill was
himself an intellectual: the greatest, perhaps, to hold public
office this century.
Finest Hour 71/15
' 'If we succeed we will have created
something in which we can take
pride until we die — something we
can look at and say, "We did that."
Professor Lindemann, wrote R.F. Harrod in our last issue,
respected one quality above all in Churchill: his intellect. I
published that excerpt from Harrod's 1959 book because it
seemed to me that he could almost be writing our "position
paper" for what we want the Center for Churchill Studies to
be. Hear Mr. Harrod once more:
"Churchill's works are insufficiently studied for the profound political philsophy they contain. At the universities,
where the young are supposed to be trained to think on
political principles, one finds very second-rate writers
recommended for study. How many undergraduates could
pass an examination on the thought of Churchill, which is of
such far greater value?" How many indeed.
For Churchill, his principles were not expressions of what
he happened to prefer, given the class and the era that he
represented. He was a statesman. He passed his life in combat, supporting causes — these causes — that he thought
right; and he staked everything he had, and nearly everything
Britain had, upon them. To honor him, and at the same time
to abandon those causes, is to pay him no honor at all. To
support those causes, as they are personified in him and his
work, is noble, demanding, and honoring of him.
A Time For Caution & Reflection
As we in ICS/USA work toward the founding of a Center
for Churchill Studies, we must exercise extreme caution in
the development of our relations with any college or university. Aside from such workaday considerations as floor space
and whether rare books will be properly cared for and not
defaced by librarians, there is a key question to pose before
any faculty considering our ideas: will the inherent conflict in
views between Churchill and the present intellectual
establishment run the risk that our capital will be expended in
the defamation of Churchill, except when he is ignored
altogether?
If we make a judgment that Churchill is worthy of honor;
that the causes he supported are high; that the principles he
laid down are worthy of an objective examination, then we
would do well to exercise caution. Caution is not urged with
respect to academic standards in the work of the Center, but
with respect to academics with one-track minds. The work of
the Center should meet rigorous standards of objectivity —
we do not want an institute of sycophancy. If Sir Winston's
triumphs were great, his failures were on an equally grand
scale. The point is that the triumphs far outnumbered the
failures.
The Center must employ people, and be guided by the
judgments of people, who are trained and practiced in
academic standards. If, however, it simply consigns the job
of choosing those people, and making those judgments, to
the typical major university, then the choices will not likely
be good. The pursuit of the truth, especially about the highest
things, is never easy. Today it is unusually difficult, because
those who are charged with the job have largely given up on
its importance.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Caution can be exercised in one of two ways: either in the
making of a good arrangement with the host university, or in
the establishment of an independent center. If we do the
former, then we must insist on a strong voice in all the activities of the Center. We must ask therefore for the superior
voice in selection of personnel and in the undertaking of projects. This will not be easy to achieve. Nonetheless it constitutes the minimum conditions acceptable.
If on the other hand an independent entity is to be built, the
job is easier. If money is available to endow a major program
at a university — with all its notorious overhead and with all
its ability to appropriate funds creatively — then surely the
resources are ample actually to do the work. If we need a
building, we might buy, lease or build one. If we wish to be
at a university, we may seek to lease space. A fine example is
the George C. Marshall Foundation, housed in its own building adjacent to Virginia Military Institute and Washington &
Lee University in Lexington, Virginia — an intrinsic part of
the university scene, but carrying on its own agenda, with its
own separate funding, trustees and directors.
If we want to sponsor research, we may then announce a
program of competitive grants and prizes. If we want to
sponsor teaching, then we may award visiting professorships
to individuals and universities who apply on annual basis,
and we can evaluate their plans and progress.
An independent institute could establish ongoing relations
with a variety of institutions, say two or three. ICS would be
an equal partner in each of those relations, and the only partner of all of them.
On the question of maintaining an archive, I believe we
know what to do. Gone are the days when large buildings are
necessary. Even microfilm is being superseded. We can
create an electronic archive. We can make it available to
anyone who cares to visit one of several locations where it
may be housed. We can sell it cheaply to anyone who wants
his own copy. We can provide access to it over the telephone
to anyone who wants to search, from time to time, without
traveling. That archive will in fact be the heart of our contribution to the basic job of remembering and understanding
Churchill, and the statesmanship he represents.
In other words, we have the institutions and the equipment
to do most of what we want to do. We can make those
alliances continuing or temporary as we wish. We can
achieve a greater safety if we remain powerful and active in
running the Center, not merely in causing its birth.
It will, on the other hand, be more troublesome to do it
that way. Yet "what is life for, but to fight and struggle in
noble causes?" If we succeed we will have created
something in which we may take pride until we die —
something we can look upon and say: "We did that."
#
In constructing this essay I have had considerable advice
and input from a member of the academy who is positively
not among the types I describe, and whose judgment I greatly
respect.
Any reader who would like to comment, amplify or criticize
the foregoing, or offer his or her specific expertise in any
area, is cordially invited to do so, in care of the editor.
Finest Hour 71/16
POEMS CHURCHILL LOVED
I
V you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim.
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat these two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the tilings you gave your life to, broken.
And stoop ami build 'em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-anditoss,
Ami lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathea word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except: the Will which says to them "Hold on!":
a
i
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
And walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son!
Finest Hour 71/17
George Temple: A Tribute ^f|
Canada's English-Speaking Union
BY JOHN G. PLIMPTON
On Saturday, 27 April 1991, members of the International Churchill Society of Canada joined family
and friends at a memorial service for George Temple.
American by birth to British parents who eventually
returned to England, George spent the last thirty years
of his life in Canada. To use Churchill's phrase, he
was himself an English-Speaking Union. Learning the
craft of chemist at night school, George was assigned
to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in Iran. During
the Second World War, surrounded by German and
Soviet troops, George's only link with home and
freedom was the voice of The Last Lion, on the BBC
via shortwave radio.
George devoted the rest of his life to the study of the
life and career of Winston Churchill, and to the end of
his days was moved while listening to recordings of
those defiant and inspiring speeches he had heard so
long ago. George also admired the creative artist in his
hero. Like Churchill, George was a builder, including
his house and a sailboat; and, as Churchill painted,
George did tapestry and became an accomplished
silversmith.
While on leave after the war George met his wife,
Diana when travelling on a train from Glasgow to Fort
William, Scotland. Her eye was drawn to a goodlooking gentleman in a grey suit with white pinstripes
and brown shoes — similar attire of the hero of her
youth, the Duke of Windsor. Sitting together they
each ordered tea which came in a single pot. Sharing
this tea led to a sharing of lives for the next 43 years.
George and Diana returned to Iran when George
rose to be Assistant Works Manager of the largest oil
refinery in the world. When the Iranian oil industry
was nationalized in 1951, George and Diana were expelled, but not before they had faced some harrowing
and life-threatening experiences.
After returning to England, George used his
American passport to make his way to the United
States. Despite severe currency restrictions, George accumulated American dollars from his tailor who had
got them from another of his customers, Yehudi
Menuhin. Later, George, Diana and their three
children crossed the Atlantic in the bridal suite of the
Mauritania. They had $12.00 when they stepped
ashore.
Eventually settling in Canada, George devoted
many leisure hours to commemorating the life of
Churchill. An avid stamp collector, he learned, as
so many Churchillians did, of Dal Newfield in
Sacramento, California. Although he never met Dal
George Temple with the author, New Hampshire, 1987
personally, they spent many hours talking on the
telephone.
George did, however, meet many other students of
Churchill's life. He was a keen supporter of many activities of the International Churchill Society and he
attended every conference from Fulton, Missouri
(1982) to San Francisco (1990) plus all four International Churchill Tours to date.
George was the most instrumental person in
building the International Churchill Society in
Canada. He was committed to bringing all Churchillians into one organization and it was through his
efforts that the Sir Winston Churchill Society of Vancouver came into partnership with ICS. He developed
a close and collegial relationship with members of the
Societies in Calgary and Edmonton. The founding
meeting of The Other Club of Toronto was held in
George's home.
George's efforts were greatly appreciated by the
Churchill Societies. In his study he proudly hung a
picture of Churchill which was presented to him by
the Vancouver Society. He also proudly displayed the
Blenheim Award which he received in 1989 from the
International Churchill Society for "conspicuous service in preserving the memory of Sir Winston Churchill." The Other Club of Toronto has made a contribution in George's name to the Edison Collection
at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library of the
University of Toronto.
George's wife, Diana, and his daughter, Jane
Dunsmore, remain members and supporters of the International Churchill Society. They ask that any
donations to commemorate the life of George Temple
be made to the International Churchill Society,
Canada.
9
Finest Hour 71/18
ACTION THIS DAY
EDITED BY JOHN G. PLUMPTON
demanded that the First Lord of the Admiralty recall Lord Fisher to the post of
First Sea Lord. His friends and family
were aghast. Worse still, First Lord
Arthur Balfour's response in Parliament
ridiculed Churchill. Upon returning to
Ploegsteert Churchill wrote his wife that
he intended to leave the army as soon as
possible. The war he wanted to fight
was at Westminster.
When his battalion was merged with
another, General Haig offered him command of a brigade, but he still wanted to
return to London to fight for conscription. On 7 May, he entertained his officers at a farewell luncheon at Armentieres. One later recalled: "I believe
every man in the room felt Winston
Churchill's leaving us a real personal
loss."
He returned to England believing that
he actually had a chance of succeeding
Asquith. More realistically he thought
that Bonar Law or Lloyd George would
lead a new Government and he might
get the Admiralty again or perhaps the
Air Ministry. However, when Lord Kitchener was killed enroute to northern
First and Second Quarter 1916 • Age 41 Russia, Churchill was excluded in the
Although disappointed at not being Cabinet reorganization.
Although there was still great opposigiven command of a brigade, Churchill
settled in as commander of a battalion, tion to him — the Conservatives would
the 6th Royal Scots Fusilers. He blamed not serve with him and even Lloyd
Asquith, whom he called a "weak and George kept a discreet distance — he
disloyal chief.'' Clementine met the As- refused to lessen his support for the men
quiths socially and wrote her husband: in the trenches at the front. "The part of
"You know what the P.M. is — He the army that really counts for ending
loathes talking about the War or work of the war is this killing, fighting, suffering part.''
any sort."
On 1 July, the British army launched
Initially Churchill was not popular
with his men and his cavalry training a full-scale attack north of the Somme
did not prepare him for command of in- River, despite Churchill's warning that
fantry, but he learned quickly. He cared victory would not be gained "simply by
for his troops but neither he nor his men throwing in masses of men on the
expected him or his officers to forego western front.''
their own physical pleasures. Among
other suggestions to his officers were First and Second Quarter 1941 • Age 66
these gems: "Keep a special pair of
Churchill sent Roosevelt a telegram
boots to sleep in and only get them of thanks in response to the President's
muddy in a real emergency and live well "arsenal of victory" promise, but he
but do not flaunt it."
also expressed Britain's concern about
In late January he led his troops into her ability to pay for armaments.
In early January, Harry Hopkins arbattle near the Belgian town of
Ploegsteert, commonly called "Plug rived in Britain. He was the first of
Street." His own bravery in battle won several envoys who were making personal assessments of the situation on
the respect of his men.
In March he returned to England and behalf of President Roosevelt. He
spoke in Parliament. Incredibly, he would be followed shortly by Wendell
First and Second Quarter 1891 • Age 16
Lady Randolph proudly wrote her
husband that their son had passed the
Preliminary Examination for Sandhurst
in everything and had been placed in the
special Sandhurst class.
Although naturally happy with the
results, Winston suffered from a bad
throat infection which improved after he
visited a seaside house near Cheveley.
After Christmas he experienced several
other health problems. A tooth infection
required many visits to a series of dentists and a strain created a hernia condition which was finally repaired sixty
years later.
Lord Randolph was visiting South
Africa in an elusive search for his own
improved health. Lady Randolph stayed
home but seldom visited her son who
pleaded, "please do do do come."
Winston was "adopted" by a close
friend of his parents, Lady Wilton, who
called herself "your Deputy Mother."
Thoughout this time, the ever reliable
Elizabeth Everest ("Woom") visited
and wrote him.
Finest Hour 71/19
Willkie and Averell Harriman.
As Hopkins and Churchill talked of
ways that America could help, the
Lend-Lease Bill was making its way
through the American Congress.
In early February, Churchill broadcast to the British people that support
was being promised and told the
American people: "Give us the tools
and we will finish the job."
Australian Prime Minister Robert
Menzies visited and noted that "Churchill's course is set. There is not defeat
in his heart." This course, which was
"to extirpate Hitlerism from Europe,"
had yet to face many perils: Rommel
had brought new life to German forces
in Africa; Turkey and Bulgaria sided
with Germany; the Blitz continued;
Germany invaded Yugoslavia and
Greece; Operaion Barbarossa began on
the Eastern Front; there was growing
evidence of Japanese aggression in the
Far East; and shipping losses in the Battle of the Atlantic, "the blackest cloud
which we had to face," continued.
Nevertheless, Churchill telegraphed
to President Roosevelt: "Corinthians II,
Chapter 6,Verse 2 . "
First and Second Quarter 1966
Lady Spencer-Churchill and other
members of the family were distressed
at the publication of Lord Moran's diary
entries about Sir Winston. She refuted
Lord Moran's claim that her husband
knew and approved of the publication of
Moran's Winston Churchill: The Struggle for Survival 1940-1965.
In addition to the private correspondence there were many letters to
The Times in which Churchillians like
Randolph Churchill, Jock Colville and
Anthony Montague Brown championed
Clementine's opposition to Moran.
This opposition was based on the fact,
as Clementine told her daughter Mary,
that ' 'it shows Winston in a completely
false light" and her belief that the relationship between a patient and his doctor should be one of inviolable trust and
confidence.
Of great pleasure to her was the National Trust's opening of Chartwell to
the public in June. She would remain in
close contact with Chartwell's administrators and would visit it several
times each year.
%
Chartwell Childhood
Thirty Years On
Sir Winston's Granddaughter
Describes a Nostalgic Return
to a Magic Land
BY THE HON. EMMA SOAMES
O
NE OF the truisms of childhood is that the sun was
always shining and another is that childhood homes
revisited turn out to be of doll's house proportions. I
spent the first eight years of my life at Chartwell Farm, which
nestles in a valley in Kent under my grandparents' more imposing and infinitely more famous Chartwell.
Last year I went back to retrace the paths of my early
childhood, to visit what has become an extraordinarily
authentic — and to me very moving — memorial to Winston
Churchill's life, his marriage, his triumphs, disasters,
pleasures and pastimes.
The day was as hot and cloudless as any child could wish
and as I drew near to Chartwell memories returned. There in
Westerham was the village hall where we used to gather in
fancy dress to be placed on floats of vaguely imperial themes
for the Whitsun Parade, often watched by my grandparents
and well attended by local people.
I suppose they came to see Sir Winston, but I nearly burst
with pride and excitement as we paraded through the streets
sitting on bales of straw and waving banners. There was the
church we attended every Sunday, much shrunken in size
and where I just remember my younger sister's christening. I
passed the common where I first fell off a pony, down the hill
through a wood (mythically full of badgers and elves) and
turned left to Chartwell, a T-junction where I learnt to tell left
from right and say it in French.
As children, returning from London in white socks and
Hayford coats, we always looked up at the flagpole as we
passed Chartwell to see if Grandpapa was home. (His
Warden of the Cinque Ports flag fluttered there when he was
in residence.)
We would drive past the house and take the next left turn
down a drive, through pasture inhabited by a particularly
fearsome bull, to disgorge from the family Humber at Chartwell Farm.
The house itself has shrunk almost out of all recognition,
the garden has been much redesigned and the farmyard is
silent and deserted.
When we lived there it was a Noah's Ark of chickens, pigs,
ponies and cattle, agreeably interspersed with barns of hay
and towers of straw, a gloomy apple shed and a deliciously
filthy pigsty, where my grandfather spent hours leaning over
the metal gate scratching the pigs' backs with his walking
The eldest daughter of Lord and Lady Soames, Emma
Soames is a journalist residing in London.
sticks. "Dogs look up to you, cats look down on you, but pigs
treat you as an equal," he used to say.
Childhood memories have played their normal tricks at
Chartwell Farm, but Chartwell itself has, if anything, grown
in magnificence, charm and splendour since we finally left it
to live in Sussex in 1959.
The house was bequeathed to the National Trust by a
group of Churchill's friends, who showed the imagination and
generosity to buy it from my grandfather after the Second
World War and give it to the National Trust on condition he
could live in it until his death. As he said before the war:
Finest Hour 71/20
The Chartwell Goldfish Pond, photographed by Douglas Russell. Colour prints with white borders are available, see page 38.
"With my happy family around me, I dwelt at peace within
my habitation. '
It has proved to be a happy solution. On average, some
150,000 people a year have visited the house, the gardens
and the studio since it was first opened to the public in 1966.
The house has been restored to what it was during the 1930s
and the gardens remain almost exactly as I remember them
in the Fifties. Not a blade of grass is out of place, the croquet
lawn is as flat as an ironing board and the water in the swimming pool is still several degrees below freezing.
A
LTHOUGH some of the rooms have been rearranged,
everything in the house is instantly recognisable,
thanks mainly to my grandmother, who left in place all
the furniture, pictures and artifacts that made it their home.
There in the hall sits the visitors' book and the walking
stick stand — an object of veneration and the cause of no little
trouble when my elder brother and I were caught fighting
with the sticks and nearly knocked down my grandmother.
Just outside the front door still sit the massive stone urns
we used to swarm over and opposite is one of the many
Finest Hour 71/21
banks we used to roll down when liberated from lengthy
Sunday lunches.
Although now without its bed, I vividly remember my
grandmother's bedroom when my mother and I would pay
morning visits. She would be sitting up in bed, her hair
beautifully arranged, the bed a dream of fine linens. While
she and my mother talked I ran in and out of her room on to
her private, sunny terrace which, like the rest of the house,
commands a stunning view over the valley and right across
the Weald of Kent.
Of course, I thought all houses had views like that. Indeed I
also thought that everyone had grandparents like ours.
This was thanks to my parents, who took a conscious decision that, in order not to spoil their children or our relationship with out grandparents, they did not fill our small heads
with tales of Grandpapa's many achievements. To us
children they were no more — but certainly no less — than
loving and revered grandparents.
So successful was this ploy that I could never work out why
outsiders were always asking questions about Grandpapa.
Gradually I realised that he was not as other grandparents
but it wasn't really until his funeral (I was 14 when he died)
that I realised just how much he represented to his country,
the magnitude of his achievements and the love and respect
which the whole nation accorded him.
It was a sobering discovery to make so relatively late in life,
but it certainly protected the world from the hideously spoilt
brat I would have become had my parents not taken this sensible line of defence.
Down the corridor from my grandmother's bedroom is the
library, still complete with a relief map of the floating harbour
of Port Arromanches, which absolutely fascinated us all.
The drawing-room is largely as I remember it, a sacred,
grown-up room where we were discouraged from playing
with the ivory bezique scoring blocks. More amusing was the
secretary's lair, now the National Trust curator's office,
where visits to Miss Hamblin — forever Hambone to us —
would produce luggage labels and bulldog paperclips.
Just outside Churchill's study at the top of the shiny oak
stairs still sits a small, black bronze lion. It was a creature
much loved by us. We would stroke it and sit on it while
waiting to be allowed in to see Grandpapa.
His study was always the heart of the house. The
relevance and fascination of many of the objects in the room,
the great events he pondered and the books he wrote there
we knew nothing of. But here we always found Grandpapa
and hopefully the ginger cat. The room was always quiet and
dark, the smell of cigar smoke hung heavy in the air. It was
not necessary to be adult to comprehend the atmosphere of
deep concentration and mental activity that lingers there.
One of the privileges of visiting Grandpapa in his study was
to get his stick and escort him, a grandchild on either side, as
he walked slowly to the dining-room.
Meals were fun. The conversation went largely over our
heads, but the food was always delicious and exquisitely spoiling to a child. The puddings were particularly memorable, our
favourite being a raspberry water ice which had frozen lumps
of real cream concealed inside it.
Toby the budgerigar would be released on to the table
where he would remove all the tiny silver trowels from the
salt urns before attacking Grandpapa's cigar. At this point the
youngest grandchild would be dandled on Grandpapa's knee
while he and my mother smoked large Havanas and indulged
in a competition as to who could grow the longest tail of ash.
He was not amused if he didn't win.
The gardens at Chartwell are as pretty now as ever they
were. The planting of the borders religiously adheres to my
grandmother's simple tastes and her dislike of garish mauves
and purples. The lawns are just as beautifully smooth as
they were when we children ran on them, the water still
flows through the intricate water system constructed by
Grandpapa and the black swans still squabble furiously.
I retraced my footsteps of 30 years ago down the hill to the
swimming pool, which was the focal point of our summers. In
those days few private houses had swimming pools and I
have never to this day encountered one quite as grandiose
and eccentric as the one my grandfather planned and constructed largely himself.
It is enormous, vaguely round and unadorned by anything
so garish as a diving board. Fed by water from the well at the
top of the hill, it was always icy cold. We used to play around
the bunker which housed an enormous furnace which was
supposed to heat this expanse of water. The boiler was
reputed to be as big as that on a cruise ship, but it was unequal
to its task and the effect it had on the water was minimal.
The pool was a source of immense delight and occasional
terror as my grandfather's idea of a shallow end was out of
reach of a childish toe. I had to be rescued several times, once
by my mother who dived in seven months pregnant and fully
dressed.
Blue with cold and with teeth chattering we would set off
back up the hill following the stream through water gardens
and rocky pools overcast by the leaves of gunnera.
We would pass the fishpond where Grandpapa would sit
watching his beloved golden orfe, who would swim to his feet
when he banged his stick on the paving. They would be
rewarded with handfuls of live maggots which lived in a box
next to his seat. To this day it is a magical place.
Before returning to tea of cucumber sandwiches and
Fuller's chocolate cake we would run through the rose
garden and reel around the Marlborough pavilion, painted
with battle scenes and home to a highly rewarding echo.
If Grandpapa was not at the goldfish pond we would find
him here on the lawn, gazing for hours at the rolling view.
We would sit near him and "hold his paw" while avoiding
his rather old and fractious poodle, Rufus.
With the wisdom of middle age, I now understand why my
grandfather was so enamoured of Chartwell, given its
magical position, its well-appointed rooms and its thoroughly
enchanted garden. I also sympathise with my
grandmother's reservations about it.
The rhododendrons she hated so much still glower down
from the bank behind the house and, even in the 1930s, the
costs of such an establishment must have been immense.
This was not helped by my grandfather's feverish operations of building and waterworks, which involved the constant
poaching of her gardeners.
Happily, he was able to spend his peaceful old age at Chartwell and my grandmother grew reconciled to it by the time
grandchildren frolicked there. Happiest of all, Chartwell is
imbued with their presence, still haunted by their indomitable
spirit and their love for each other.
•
Chartwell House, garden and studio open April to end October. Tues
to Thurs 12-5:30; Sat, Sun and bank holiday 11-5:30 (avoid very
crowded Sundays and bank holidays).
Finest Hour 71/22
SUMMER BOOK SECTION
Words About Words
A Guide to Material on Churchill's Writings
BY MANFRED WEIDHORN
A FAMILY VISIT
"IT WAS A GREAT WORK, AND I WISH YOU COULD NOW ADD ANOTHER
CHAPTER TO YOUR OWN CAREER."
F
REDERICK WOODS'S massive and definitive Biblioraphy of the Works of Sir Winston Churchill is impressive proof of the scope of the statesman's achievements as a
writer. Having written and published some eight million
words, Churchill was one of the most voluminous of all men.
Yet, though Woods includes a long checklist of works concerning Churchill, he provides few references to, and no
description of, analyses and evaluations of this vast body of
writing which is the subject of his bulky bibliography. The
following, which follows some general reviews in the last installment of ICS's Redburn Bibliography (FH 70), is meant
to fill the gap. This list does not include the many reviews
which appeared in the Times Literary Supplement, American
Historical Review, English Historical Review, et al., at the
time of the publication of each of Churchill's volumes, except in those few cases in which the review makes a permanent contribution to the literature on Churchill's writings.
(Please refer to Redburn for details of other editions, particularly English.)
Allen, H.C. Rev. vol. 4 of History of the English-Speaking
Peoples, EHR, 74 (1959), 305-11. Good critique.
Anon. rev. vols. 1 and 2 of the History, TLS, 27 April and
30 November 1956, 245-46, 705-06. Useful observations.
Anon., "Winston Churchill, M.P., As a Man of Letters,"
Manfred Weidhorn is professor at Yeshiva University in
New York City, a leading authority on Churchill's writings,
and the author of several books and articles on the subject.
The Bookman, July 1908, pp. 133-39. A curio.
Ashley, Maurice. Churchill As Historian. New York:
Scribner's 1968, Redburn A250. The most ambitious study
so far, this is useful for personal reminiscences, background information, and human interest material on
Churchill as professional writer. But, while carefully
evaluating Churchill's conclusions on key issues in the
light of the findings of professional historians, Ashley
provides little analysis of the themes in Churchill's works
and no scholarly apparatus.
Barbour, Violet. Rev. vol. 3 of Marlborough, AHR, 43
(1938), 376-77. Good on Churchill's obsession with warmaking.
Berlin, Isaiah. Mr. Churchill in 1940. London: John Murray, 1949. A review (first appearing in the Cornhill
Magazine and Atlantic Monthly) of vol. 1 of the Second
World War which turns into an excellent discussion of the
role of the past in Churchill's outlook and a comparison
and contrast with F.D. Roosevelt.
Brown, Ivor. "CKurchill the Master of Words," Churchill
By His Contemporaries, ed. Charles Eade. London:
Hutchinson, 1953. Pp. 451-61. Interesting brief analysis.
Burckhardt, Carl. "On Reading Churchill's Memoirs "
Measure, 1 (1951), 386-90. Negligible.
Cairns, John. "Clio and the Queen's First Minister," South
Atlantic Quarterly, 52 (1953), 505-20. A good examination of the archaic qualities of Churchill's mind, along
lines to be followed by G.K. Lewis (see below).
Connell, John. Winston Churchill ("Writers and Their
Works," No. 80). London: Longmans, Green, 1956,
Redburn A136. A good survey.
Deakin, F.W. "Churchill the Historian," SchweitzerMonatshefte, 49 (1969-70). A brief lecture, with a few helpful
observations, by one who, like Ashley, was a research
assistant of Churchill's.
De Mendelssohn, Peter. The Age of Churchill. London:
Thames and Hudson, 1961, Redburn A162. Excellently
written and very well documented, this biography, nearly
on a par with R.R. James's (see below), contains, on
pp. 102-18, 129-33,264-72,313,433-36, many stimulating
comments on Churchill's writings.
Graubard, Stephen R. Burke, Disraeli, and Churchill. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1961. Pp. 1-16,
173-246. Mainly summaries of Churchill's books, with
occasional critical judgment or analysis.
Greenberg, Martin. "Winston Churchill, Tory Democrat,"
Partisan Review, 18 (1951), 193-205. Good on vols. 1-3
of the Second World War.
Guedalla, Philip. Mr. Churchill. New York: Reynal and
Hitchcock, 1942, Redburn A35. A biography which contains, on pp. 50-54, 67-70, 106-09, 223-24, 249-51, brief
continued overleaf.
Finest Hour 71/23
trenchant and amusing comments on the writings.
Hamilton, William B. "Churchill: Actor as Historian,"
South Atlantic Quarterly, 50 (1951), 339-411. Interesting
on vols. 1-2 of the Second World War.
Hay, Malcolm. V. Winston Churchill and James II. London:
Harding and More, 1934, Redburn A17. Attack on
Churchill's hostile portrait of James II in vol. 1 of the
Marlborough.
Herbert, A.P. "The Master of Words," Winston Spencer
Churchill, ed. Sir James Marchant. London: Cassell,
1954, Redburn A120. Pp. 100-15. Fine analysis.
Hollis, Christopher. "Mr. Hay and Mr. Churchill,"
Dublin Review, 204 (1939), 370-85. A continuation of
Hay's attack.
Howarth, Herbert. "Behind Churchill's Grand Style," Commentary, 11 (1951), 549-57. Though somewhat opaque in
places, this is the best general discussion of Churchill's
style and the most forthright expression of the school of
thought which regards Churchill as less historian or stylist
than windbag.
Hurwitz, Samuel J. "Winston S. Churchill," Some Modern
Historians of Britain, ed. Herman Ausubel et al. (New
York: The Dryden Press, 1951). Pp. 306-24. A good
critical survey of his works, with mainly negative conclusions.
James, Robert Rhodes. Churchill: A Study in Failure 19001939. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1970, Redburn
A272. The most scholarly, balanced, and satisfying assessment of the man and the career, this also contains, on
pp. 6, 27-29, 307-16, useful observations on the writings.
Joad, C.E.M. "Churchill the Philosopher," Churchill By
His Contemporaries, ed. Charles Eade. London: Hutchinson, 1953. Pp. 475-89. Discussion of the uncharacteristic
pessimism to be found in some of Churchill's essays of the
1930s.
Keynes, J.M. Essays in Biography. Ed. Geoffrey Keynes.
New York: Horizon Press, 1951. Pp. 53-67. Two reviews
(of 1927 and 1929) of volumes of the World Crisis, with
brief but keen analysis and beautifully worded praise.
Lewis, Gordon K. "Mr. Churchill as Historian," The
Historian, 20 (August 1958), 387^14. This synoptic
approach to the writings is the most searching and acute
analysis of the limitations of Churchill's sensibility.
Liddell Hart, B.H. "Churchill's Marlborough — Some Running Reflections," English Review, 59 (December 1934),
702-09. Interesting critique of vol. 1 by a noted military
historian.
Lodge, Richard. Rev. vol. 1 of Marlborough, EHR, 49
(1934), 715-20. Good.
Mackenzie, Sir Compton. "Churchill the Novelist,"
Churchill By His Contemporaries, ed. Charles Eade.
London: Hutchinson, 1953, Redburn A112. Pp. 67-82.
Only a plot resume.
Magee, Bryan, "Churchill's Novel," Encounter, 25
(October 1965), 45-51. Excellent analysis of Savrola, a
very early book of Churchill's which fails badly as literature but sheds much light on his personality.
Morgenthau, Hans J. "Foreign Policy: The Conservative
School," World Politics, 7 (1955), 286-92. Review of vol.
6 of the Second World War which vindicates Churchill's
political-military outlook.
Morison, Samuel Eliot. "Sir Winston Churchill: Nobel Prize
Winner," Saturday Review, 36 (31 October 1953), 22-23.
Praise from a fellow military historian.
Muggeridge, Malcolm. Punch (3 December 1953), p. 704.
Parody of vol. 6 of the Second World War.
. "Churchill the Biographer and Historian,"
Churchill By His Contemporaries, ed. Charles Eade.
London: Hutchinson, 1953, Redburn A112. Pp. 343-53.
Good discussion of Churchill's failings as a writer.
Notestein, Wallace, Rev. vol. 1 of the History, AHR, 62
(1956), 93-95. Perceptive.
Paco d'Arcos, J. Churchill the Writer, trans. F.R. Holliday
and P.S. Pernes. London: Caraval, 1957, Redburn A127.
A brief survey containing few original ideas.
Plumb, J.H. "Churchill the Historian," The Spectator, 216
(24 June 1966), 782-83, and 217 (1 July 1966), 10-11.
Mainly material expanded in the next selection.
. "The Historian," Churchill Revised, ed. anon.
New York: Dial, 1969, Redburn A265. Pp. 131-69. One
of the best essays on this subject. Excellent presentation of
the Whig reading of history which suffuses Churchill's
books and speeches. Like Lewis, whose work is here extended, Plumb delineates the unexamined premises and
blind spots in Churchill's vision, but, unlike Lewis, Plumb
also assesses individual works and, unlike Ashley, treats
of technical matters of form and content.
Roskill, Captain S.W. "The Writings of Sir Winston
Churchill, A 'Former Naval Person,' " U.S. Naval
Institute Proceedings, 91 (1965), 114-19. Superficial
survey.
Rowse, A.L. "Sir Winston Churchill As An Historian,"
The English Spirit. Rev. ed., New York: Funk and Wagnail's, 1966. Pp. 78-92. An awed, somewhat chatty
evaluation of the Marlborough and the History by a
historian who, like Samuel Eliot Morison, thinks highly
of Churchill as a colleague.
Somervell, D.C. "Sir Winston Churchill," Nobel Prize
Winners, ed. L.J. Ludovici. London: Arco, 1957. Pp.
1-20. A fair survey of the writings, with few original
ideas.
Stewart, Herbert Leslie. Sir Winston Churchill As Writer and
Speaker. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1954, Redburn
A113. A rambling, sermonizing work which only occasionally focuses on its subject.
Webster, Sir Charles. "The Chronicler," Winston Spencer
Churchill, ed. Sir James Marchant. London: Cassell,
1954. Pp. 116-35. Superficial treatment.
Weidhorn, Manfred. "Churchill the Phrase Forger,"
Quarterly Journal of Speech, 58 (April 1972), 161-74.
Analysis of the provenance and impact of each of the
famous phrases from the climactic years of Churchill's
career, 1938-4-2.
Whittemore, Reed. "Churchill and the Limitations of
Myth," Yale Review, 44 (1954-55), 248-63. Excellent
critical analysis of the Second World War as an idiosyncratic expression of Churchill's self-centered outlook
and Great Man theory of history; close reading of the text,
such as is common in literary criticism but rare in these
items on Churchill.
The "World Crisis" by Winston Churchill: A Criticism.
London: Hutchinson, 1927, Redburn A14. Respectful but
extensive attacks on the assumptions, statistics, analyses,
and theories in Churchill's version of the campaigns of
World War I; written by military men, this is bereft of
literary analysis.
#
Finest Hour 71/24
The Greening of Churchill's Canon
Progress Continues on the Preservation Front
BY MATT FOX
NOWADAYS there is great attraction for the color green.
Political parties are calling themselves by it; companies are
stating their adherence to its "tenets"; whole movements are
rallying to it. Its non-coloric name is "Preservation."
Normally one thinks of preservation in terms of trees,
water, air, beaches and buildings. This one's cleanliness
should be preserved, that one's purity and this one's asthetic
value. Now I generally agree with those aims and consider
myself as green as the next person. Sometimes, such as when
I see some other collector's Mr. Brodrick's Army, I turn
green with envy.
Preservation encompasses many things not immediately
conjured up by a "green" image. In my case the color brown
causes me to think of preservation, for many of my most important works by Churchill are turning that color. I certainly
would like to renew them. With the help of Wally Johnson;
John Mattill, editor emeritus of Technology Review, the Harvard University Library; Ann McGee of the Lithium Division of FMC Corp. and Dr. Richard Smith of Wei T'o
Assoc, I was able to track down a way to "green" WSC's
works.
You are probably already aware of the problem, which is
the nature of the paper used for low cost editions printed between 1850 and 1950. The paper becomes increasingly acidic
and destroys itself from the inside. The only way to overcome this is to deacidify the paper. But having done that, the
process starts all over again: unless the process leaves an
anti-acid residue on the paper to continue the deacidification
as it occurs; or, unless the book is so seldom opened and exposed to moisture that the decay process is discouraged.
Thus a person in Arizona might deacidify his or her books
and not really worry about future deterioration. The decay
process needs moisture and there's very little in the air of
Arid-zona. (Which, by the way is how that state got its
name). In Chicago or New York, let alone London, normal
air moisture is enough to move the process of destruction
along, unless the book is rarely opened and sits on a shelf
compressed between other books. In that case a simple
neutralizing process might well suffice.
In my search to find a way to save my own collection I
found three processes that would do the trick. One, offered
by an Illinois company, Wei T'o Assoc, is a long-acting
deacidification process but a do-it-yourself method. A second, also in Illinois, is a short-acting but inexpensive technique.
The third is a very unique concept from FMC Corporation.
This method uses Magnesium Triglycolate, which not only
deacidifies but also strengthens the paper. The chemical has
molecular filaments that intertwine with the fibers in the
paper to add strength. It appears to be the only process that
does this. As you can understand, FMC has applied for a
patent on it.
Matt Fox's library was featured in Finest Hour 49. His
first contribution on this subject was in issue 66.
D
Ann McGee, FMC Product Manager for the Paper Conservation division, described the process as the equivalent, in
paper terms, of taking a 100-year-old man and making him
60 years old again — then keeping him 60 for 500 years!
(The process doesn't work on people; I already asked.) In
real terms it means that if you have a book damaged by acid
rot to the point where the pages may be too fragile to turn,
this process will render them flexible again and strong
enough to turn.
FMC has tentatively decided to price the process at $15/lb.
to avoid having to decide if three pamphlets equal one book
etc. For reference, the first English Savrola or the first
English Malakand each weigh about one pound. If you have
watched the way prices of Churchill's works are escalating,
even his most common books are worth "greening." This is
the only process which actually renews them.
FMC's new plant can handle several thousand books at a
time, but FMC is aiming at large quantities and has submitted a bid for a contract with the Library of Congress to do a
million books per year. They haven't figured out how to do
small quantities. They have also only done pilot studies and
have not yet processed their first book in the new plant.
In our discussions with FMC, they have offered to try to
help ICS as a group. The minimum number of pounds of
books that they will allow has not been set. They are doing
this as an accommodation, since ours is a unique group and
the books are so valuable. They will not handle individual
collections. At this moment we are testing a small group of
books to determine if they in fact can rejuvenate fragile examples.
For some collectors the damage hasn't progressed that far.
Deacidification with a residual protection lasting only 50
years or so may be all you need. This would be where Wei
T'o comes in. They are the other extreme from FMC. They
don't process anything. They only sell the materials and
equipment to do it yourself. They sell mainly to libraries
which use the products for their own collections.
Wei T'o has a "kit" consisting of a spray can. (Two or
three would be needed for a single standard sized 300-page
book.) One can will do a small volume or several
pamphlets.) The spray is toxic, and must be used out of
doors. If you want to do several books you would need a
spray unit costing some $600 plus the materials in large containers. In short, collectors could use the Wei T'o product,
one at a time, as they bought new books, after they had the
bulk of their collection done by some other entity. But to process a whole collection would require time, space, equipment
and money.
Using Wei T'o cans would cost about $20-25 per book, but
would be advantageous on a book-by-book basis for new acquisitions. If FMC is not available to us, it may be the only
alternative with any long-lasting properties. If it were, I
would still use it rather than see valuable and important
Churchill works disintegrate during my lifetime.
continued overleaf. .
Finest Hour 71/25
Greening of the Canon . . .
Fortunately I have come upon an accidental method that is
very cheap and simple. In Chicago there is a company that
pressure-treats books — not to preserve them, but to rid them
of pests such as silverfish. In that process they discovered
that the material being used also deacidified the books,
without harming the covers or discoloring the pages.
In this process, books are put under a vacuum. This draws
residual moisture from the pages. Disinfectant is then added
under pressure. The books are again put under a vacuum to
remove the excess disinfectant. The result is a book that, at
that point, is acid-free. The decay process will have been interupted. In fact the book's pages will be slightly basic on
the pH scale. As I noted before, if the book is then seldom
opened, on a shelf between other books, in an average
medium-dry climate, the decay process will probably not
really get underway again.
While this process doesn't have the ultimate longevity of
protection given by the Wei T'o or FMC, it is very cheap:
the handling and processing costs about $4.75 per book.
BOOK REVIEWS
' "The Churchill-Eisenhower Correspondence, 1953-1955,''
Edited by Peter G. Boyle. University of North Carolina
Press, 230pp., illustrated, $24.95
P
ROFESSOR BOYLE, a lecturer in American history at
the University of Nottingham, here collects the correspondence of the two most important men in the free
world during their postwar commands.
The collaboration was, as it was during World War II, an
uneasy one. The protagonist's roles were roles switched,
with Churchill pushing for summitry with the Russians,
while President Eisenhower, who had always been accommodating with the Russian allies, hardened his stance
against "the stupid and savage individuals in the Kremlin."
The correspondence is unremarkable (although it is interesting to see that parts of it still remain "classified") and
even thin stuff for Churchillians. There are occasional
flashes of the great man's brilliance, but what is here is
mainly drafted in the cordial and carefully couched language
of the clerk and the diplomat. Eisenhower's letters, by comparison, are almost painful to read.
One exchange in 1954 sums up the relationship pretty well.
Eisenhower writes that Churchill's desire to meet with the
new masters of the Kremlin after Stalin's death must be the
result of "a very deep and understandable desire to do
something special in your remaining period of active service
that will be forever recognized as a milestone in the world's
tortuous progress toward a just and lasting peace."
Eisenhower, betraying an almost incomprehensible lack of
knowledge about the real man, suggests that Churchill take
his final bow with a speech on how colonialism, which is "on
the way out as a relationship among peoples" will be phased
out.
Churchill responds, "I am not looking about for the means
of making a dramatic exit or of finding a suitable Curtain. It
is better to take things as they come. I am however convinced
that the present method of establishing the relations between
Given the value of any single book you have, this would appear to be money well spent. It allows the books a
"breather." For books further along in the process of
deterioration, however, only the more costly processes will
help.
In addition to having a test run on some books by FMC, I
am also going to run a larger group of my books through the
low cost disinfectant process. If anyone else wants to have
some of theirs done with the low cost process now or at any
future time, please contact me c/o Finest Hour. I can also put
you in touch with Wei T'o if you wish to pursue a more permanent, do-it-yourself solution. If the FMC test is successful
and they make it available to us, a note will be run in FH.
Finally, it is important to note that each book and each collector is different. What works for one may not be enough
for another. Each of us has to decide the state of our collections and their need for help, and whether any of these
methods may work for them.
But it does appear that these three methods allow us a ray
of hope that for modest cost, we may be truly able to keep
Churchill's works Green.
•
the two sides of the world by means of endless discussions
between Foreign Offices, will not produce any results."
Churchill also notes, "I read with great interest all that
you have written me about what is called Colonialism, namely:
bringing forward backward races and opening up the
jungles. I was brought up to feel proud of much that we had
done." He notes that Eisenhower's feelings are in full accord
with the policies being pursued by the Empire, but adds, "In
this I must admit I am a laggard. I am a bit sceptical about
universal suffrage for the Hottentots even if refined by proportional representation. The British and American Democracies were slowly and painfully forged and even they are
not perfect yet. I shall certainly have to choose another topic
for my swan song: I think I will stick to the old one 'The Unity of the English-speaking peoples.' With that all will work
out well."
For Churchillians, there is not very much here that has not
been said before, and better, most notably by official
biographer Martin Gilbert and former private secretary Sir
John Colville. What is here is, in the main, food for
Eisenhower buffs.
Professor Boyle in his conclusion writes that Eisenhower's
letters "provide conclusive evidence to repudiate the view
that Eisenhower was a weak, ill-informed president who
abrogated responsibility to others such as John Foster
Dulles." Jan Lukacs writes, "They do not. Their conclusive
evidence is that of a man obstinately self-satisfied with his
lately acquired ideological view of the world, and extraordinarily dependent on the — often wrong, and at times even
sinister — advice and influence of John Foster Dulles."
Mr. Lukacs, author of The Duel: 10 May-31 July 1940:
The Struggle Between Churchill and Hitler, among other
books, seems closer to the mark. Yet while acknowledging
that Churchill was not often wrong about the Russians — he
foresaw the collapse of the Soviet Empire as early as 1944 —
there is more than a little to be said for the Cold Warrior
"treat 'em rough" school. Whether or not it prolonged the
subjugation of Central Europe will long be debated.
Finest Hour 71/26
The Churchill-Eisenhower Correspondence, 1953-1955 is
a handsome production, containing a number of good
photographs. For his part, editor Boyle is not intrusive,
although his own glosses, introduction and conclusion tend
toward the fussy and academic.
— Joe Mysak
"Churchill: A Life," by Martin Gilbert. London:
Heinemann; Toronto: Octopus; to be published in the United
States this autumn by Henry Holt & Co. Trade prices £20 in
UK, $39.95 in Canada, $35 in USA. The U.S. edition at a
discount price of about $30 may be reserved (send no
money) by writing the ICS New Book Service, PO Box 385,
Hopkinton NH 03229 USA. You will be billed when books are
in stock. Or contact ICS/UK (Directory, p. 3.) for signed
copies of the UK edition.
I
N THE expanded attic room of Martin Gilbert's Victorian
house in London there is a desk, 30 feet long and Ushaped, which has held in its working career much of the
life of Winston Churchill.
Gilbert, a cheerful academic on a sabbatical from his
Oxford college which started 20 years ago and has never
finished, rides round the desk's rim on an office chair with
wheels, sifting the evidence, saving what he conservatively
estimates at 10 per cent for future reference.
The desk is spread at different times with archives, official
and personal, and some of the 5,000 letters which Winston
wrote to his beloved wife, Clementine.
A friend has estimated that over the years Gilbert's desk
has carried 15 tons of paper. In words, that's more than two
million over eight volumes of the official biography.
And that doesn't include his latest 800-page book, Churchill: A Life. It's the book he obviously feels will reach that
wider readership which doesn't have the money or the mental energy to wade through eight volumes — and compensate
him more realistically for the labor of nearly half a lifetime.
"It's been a struggle," he admits with a wry smile, "a real
burden." The original contract for eight volumes involved
no royalties, and no copyrights — only a payment rapidly
overtaken by inflation.
For Churchill: A Life he has both royalties and copyrights
and — what's given him greater pleasure — a four-part TV
series for the BBC, which he himself hosts, to be broadcast
in January. Worldwide sales, will fatten the pot.
"It was great: they took me everywhere," Gilbert enthuses. "We went to the Kremlin, Churchill's prison in
Pretoria, the White House, Yalta . . . " And now it's brought
him back to Ottawa.
"People here weren't aware of it at the time but when he
came to Ottawa during the war he was just getting over a
heart attack in Washington. He was very sick. And I
discovered that after Ottawa he went to Florida to recuperate
under the name of Mr. Lobb."
Churchill incidentally, was very accident-prone all his life.
In his mid-60s he got squashed by a car on Fifth Avenue in
New York and wrote a 5,000-word article about it for the
Daily Mail — for £1 a word. "That was more than his annual salary as PM!"
It's items like this which freshen up his latest book. Gilbert
is quick to point out it's definitely not an edited version of his
earlier work, reduced to an eighth.
Martin Gilbert writes: "While it would be churlish to
cavil at such a nice review, may I point out that (1) the
room is on my first floor (USA 2nd floor), not in my attic; (2) my chair is firmly rooted to the floor; (3) Suzie
was my third, but obviously my best, research assistant;
(4) our three children, Natalie, David and Joshua, will
be happy to know that the new book is dedicated to all of
them; (5) I think it would be more correct to say that
Churchill was 'fascinated' rather than "infatuated" with
technology. None of which takes away from Mr.
Taylor's many kind remarks."
Everyone asks Gilbert if he ever actually met Churchill.
Regrettably, no. But as a schoolboy he regularly went to the
House of Commons and watched him in action, and one night
stood outside No. 10 ("You can't do that now of course")
when Churchill gave a dinner party on his resignation.
Gilbert had, of course, met Clementine. "I used to read
chapters to her once a month. She insisted I look at all their
private letters. . . . She imposed no censorship whatsoever
and let anything be used. . . . She felt he was a large enough
man to survive things that were not so creditable. You did not
need to whitewash someone like him."
The sheer volume of their correspondence amazes even
Gilbert. "When he came to Canada, in 1929, every night he
would write eight or nine pages to her, and in the trenches
during the war, while his fellow officers were sleeping, he
would write her five or six pages every night."
Gilbert himself did not have an official assistant for years
— "I couldn't afford one" — until enough money was
sprung loose for a graduate researcher on a three months'
trial. He married her.
"We both read all the documents (most of which are
photo-copied because of the risk of loss). I write my next
chapter and she reads it and points out anything I may have
left out. Sometimes she suggests re-writing." The eighth
volume is dedicated to her; the new book, to his two
children. It was Suzy, his wife, who recently made a drastic
alteration to Gilbert's writing habits.
Over the years a total of 40 books, which include definitive
works on the Holocaust and 12 historical atlases, Gilbert has
always written longhand, in pen and ink on the right-side
pages only, leaving space for alterations on the left. But two
years ago when he started on Churchill: A Life, his wife
presented him with a personal computer.
"In England, it has become the very first book to be set up
with an itemized index program integrated on my screen. It
went to the printer on disc and 18 days later I had the printed
jacketed book on my desk. That would have taken months."
Gilbert muses on what Churchill would have made of such
technology. "He was infatuated by everything technological" — and that included the work of the Wright Brothers
and the introduction of the tank in the First World War."
As for his own verdict on Churchill, you won't find it
anywhere in his books. Gilbert is firm. That's not the
historian's function, though some have queried this view.
"I do not think my opinion is more interesting. My function is to inform the reader and let him form his own
opinion."
— Noel Taylor
REPRINTED BY COURTESY OF THE OTTAWA CITIZEN
Finest Hour 71/27
WOODS CORNER
Addenda & Corrigenda to the "Bibliography of Works of Sir Winston Churchill," by Frederick Woods, 1975.
A31 The World Crisis New Edition
The Easton Press has announced
its new complete edition of Churchill's World War I masterwork,
bound in deep red and black pigskin and elaborately blocked in
gilt. By combining a reprint of the
original Thornton Butterworth
English first edition (with its
lovely maps and shoulder notes on
each page) with the photographs
from the Scribner American postwar edition (hitherto the only illustrated complete edition), Easton
Press has put together the most
comprehensive edition ever published.
There are one of two minor
aesthetic disappointments. To
keep the price down to its remarkable level (US $260.70 postpaid),
Overall, though, this is a splendid piece of work that brings The
World Crisis back into print in a
full edition (five volumes in six
books) for the first time since the
early Sixties, and makes a durable
reading copy available at a very
reasonable price.
Owing to the scarcity of the final
volume [The Eastern Front, aka
The Unknown War) this set is a far
better bargain than Easton's earlier
Second World War. Booksellers
haven't been able to sell complete
early editions for $260.70 for at
least six years,- today even a set of
later impressions costs around
$500, and fine firsts sell for up to
$2000, or more than $3000 in their
original jackets. Easton's product
is therefore a bargain: a chance to
own Churchill's finest writing at a
price you'd expect to pay for any
set of modern clothbound hardbacks.
How to Order: Send $43.45 per
set desired (you may order as many
as you like, but don't expect to salt
them away like securities — this is
a reprint, and appreciation will be
slow). Use your personal cheque or
major credit card. Post to Eric
Stones, MBI Books Division, 677
Connecticut Avenue, Norwalk CT
they have chosen pigskin leather 06854 USA. (You may request that
over calfskin. Pigskin lacks the you be billed in six monthly inaroma and supple qualities of calf- stallments of $43.45 each.) Books
skin, and you should expect your are expected to be ready by
books to be stiff when new. Open September.
them carefully and read them page
We are giving Mr. Stones' office
by page starting on page 1 — do not address rather than Easton's
crack them open in the middle regular address so he may judge
when they are still new. Also, how well we help him out. If adEaston is promoting this set incor- vance orders are low, Easton will
rectly (as they did their earlier edi- produce only enough World Crisis
tion of The Second World War) as sets to fill them, and then cancel
"the first leatherbound edition." further production. ICS wants this
In fact, Thornton Butterworth set to be offered widely — so don't
bound presentation editions in hesitate, go for it! Advanced collecleather and both the Diners Club tors: this is the reading copy you
and Collected Works Editions need to spare your valuable first
(1975) were leatherbound. Gaudy editions. A favorable response will
bookplates can be expected, but as mean broad circulation not only foi
these are merely laid in, they can Sir Winston, but for the ICS
be discarded — whatever you do, brochures we have asked Eric to
don't paste them to the endpapers! send out with each Volume I.
Finest Hour 71/28
A40: Marlborough New Edition
Hard on the heels of the Easton
World Crisis comes the Folio Society Marlborough, apparently
taken from the sheets of the original Harrap four-volume edition.
Though the Folio set costs more
and is in buckram, not leather, it
offers colour frontispieces and 16 ,
pages of contemporary black and
white photos per volume. A slipcase is also provided. Both case and
books are emblazoned with the
Marlborough/Churchill Coat of
Arms and the color is deep maroon.
ICS has not been offered any arrangements on this work, and may
not be, since the Folio Society is a
book club requiring minimum purchases, etc. Some Friends of ICS
are members, however, and may be
able to purchase for us. The price is
US$300. If you are interested, write
your national Society (Directory,
Page 3), or contact the Folio Society direct at 202 Great Suffolk St,
London SE1 1PR.
" Al45 " Complete Speeches (8 Vols)
The most blatant example of
why this massive and well-indexed
work is nevertheless not fully complete comes on page 5945 at the
end of Churchill's famous Commons peroration following the
Austrian Anschluss in March 1938.
Rhodes James cuts this speech off
after the paragraph beginning, "I
will venture to echo . . . " Arms
and the Covenent and While
England Slept, page 402. He thus
omits the key passages in one of
Churchill's finest prewar speeches
(". . . I have watched this famous
island descending incontinently,
fecklessly, the stairway which
leads to a dark gulf. It is a fine
broad stairway at the beginning,
but after a bit the carpet ends. A
little farther on there are only
flagstones, and a little farther
on still these break beneath your
feet . . ."]
Finest Hour 71/29
The Book of Public Speaking
A new Woods "D (b)" entry and „
bibliographic oddity, this seven
volume work is the first we've
heard of containing both Lord Ran
dolph and Winston Churchill a:
joint contributors. Published by
Caxton, London, undated but c
1920 from the speeches, it contains
a marvelous array of orators such
as Dickens, Bryan, T. Roosevelt,
Mark Twain, Shaw, Disraeli, Lincoln, Kipling, Doyle — even Kaiser
Wilhelm's farewell speech before
leaving for exile in Holland. Churchill items, some first appearances,
are as follows:
LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL: " P o l i t i c a l Life and
Thought in England," Carlton
Club, 6 June 1885, Vol 2, pp
277-85.
WINSTON S. CHURCHILL:
"THE PRESS," London, 10 June
1909 with full page photo opposite,
Vol 1, pp 83-84; " W e l s h
Characteristics,'' London, 1 March
1911, Vol 2, pp 295-98 with photo
opposite p 296; his famous
"Liberalism versus Socialism,"
Dundee, 4 May 1908, Vol 3, pp
32-40; "Derby Election," London,
11 February 1913, Vol 5, pp 64-7;
"Naval V o l u n t e e r s , " RNVR,
Lambeth, 14 December 1912, Vol
5, pp 151-2; "Inauguration of new
Dundee Advertiser building,'' London, 2 February 1914, Vol 6, pp
235-7; " R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s of
Office," Commons, 20 December
1912, Vol 6, pp 312-21. Various
anecdotes about Churchill appear
in Vol 7.
Thus, of eight speeches, Winston
delivers seven to his father's one.
Lord Randolph would have never
believed it!
Victory on the March
Reader Bernard Wojciechowski
reports this paperback (New York:
National Educational Alliance,
Inc., 1944), which contains what
may be the first appearance in
volume form of Churchill's 21
September 1943 speech on the war
situation and the fate of Mussolini.
Bernie writes: "Since Onwards to
Victory was published in July 1944,
this book may have preceded it."
Can any reader ascertain this?
Richard M. Langworth
Blenheim Award to Lee Remick for ''Jennie"
Two months after this event. Lee Remick lost her Churchillian fight against cancer. Though very frail, it was obvious as this night
wore by that we had done exactly the right thing. She left with all flags bravely flying.
O
N MAY 4TH the International Churchill Society
celebrated the accomplishments of a great lady,
and her contribution to the life history of Sir Winston
Churchill. The Society presented its Blenheim Award to
Lee Remick, the first actress so cited, for her portrayal
of Winston Churchill's mother in the 1975 Thames
Television film, Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill.
Miss Remick received her star on the Hollywood Walk
of Fame the same week she received our Blenheim
Award.
The Blenheim Award Banquet was organized by the
California Chapter's Merry Alberigi, who first notified
Ms. Remick of our intentions in early 1990, hoping for
a presentation in San Francisco at the 1990 International
Conference. When this didn't prove possible, Lee
agreed to come to a special dinner in her honor the
following Spring.
The Queen Mary, a floating luxury hotel in Long
Beach, came to mind because of her connections with
Winston Churchill, who sailed on her many times during World War II and after. The hotel's staff was excited about a visit from the Society and its famous guest
of honor, and the hotel became our host for the event, -Lee Remick (right), with ICS/USA vice president Merry Alberigi.
offering many extra services such as "Captain's Standing are Gregory Peck and Richard Langworth. Below: hotel
ahoy! The 365-stateroom Hotel Queen Mary in Long Beach has
Tours" of the ship. The staff made a tremendous effort been
brilliantly restored and furnished with lovely art deco
to ensure that the historic aspects of the dinner were in reminders of her greatest years.
order.
The Queen Mary has well-organized archives under
the direction of ship's historian Bill Winberg. Bill
searched his files to find the 1943 menus from Churchill's voyages which became the basis for the
banquet's menu. He provided copies of the rules and
regulations for Churchill's voyages, room lists,
telegrams, newspaper articles, and photographs of Sir
Winston. Merry incorporated much of this material, as
well as the dates and destinations of Churchill's trips,
into the illustrated commemorative banquet program,
which can be ordered from the California Chapter.
Banquet committee volunteers came from all parts of
the state and used a flurry of faxes, conference calls and
overnight mail to coordinate their plans. Cochairman
Bruce Bogstad of Los Angeles took RSVP's and inquiries and handled many of the logistics in Southern
California. Colin Clark of Paso Robles created a film
clip from Jennie, which was shown at the dinner. Colin
worked feverishly with Thames Television of London,
which sent him their copy of the film, which he then
took to a studio and edited. The Audio Visual Headquarters Corporation donated their services for the
screening of the clip. This writer was in daily contact
with her daughter Merry, who claims she offered "invaluable assistance organizing the dinner, editing the
press releases and commemorative program, and arranging for press coverage for the event." (Thank-you
my dear.)
Finest Hour 71/30
ICS members from the United States and Canada
began to arrive on the ship on Wednesday, making a
holiday of their trip to Long Beach. There was much to
see: the ship's museums, Howard Hughes' Spruce
Goose, Catalina Island. Members met each other for
dinner in the elegant Sir Winston's restaurant. With that
name it had much to live up to, and it succeeded. The
decor was primarily photographs of its namesake and
the food would have met with Churchill's approval —
the best. On Saturday morning, 40 ICS friends met for a
briefing on the Society's plans for a Center for Churchill Studies, the National Conference in Richmond,
Virginia, and the international meeting and tour in
Australia. Merry reported the Society's membership is
growing steadily and she encouraged members to form
chapters in their areas.
The gala evening on the Queen Mary opened with a
Champagne reception at which 100 guests were served
Sir Winston's favorite, Champagne Pol Roger, donated
by Frederick Wildman & Sons, Ltd., and Christian PolRoger. We were piped to our tables by the Los Angeles
Police Department Pipe Band which then played
"Scotland the Brave" in honor of Lady Churchill.
Merry Alberigi welcomed everyone and introduced
the head table. I said grace, giving thanks that we were
together to share this joy and this meal. The menu offered several dishes unfamiliar in 1990s, for example:
Croute au Pot a I'Ancienne (fricassee of beef, mushrooms, and pearl onions in a bird's nest of deep-fried
potato strips) and Dindonneau, Chipolata (turkey in
cream sauce in a pastry shell). The five-course dinner
was made entirely of dishes selected from farewell dinners served on Sir Winston's voyages in 1943, accompanied by wines donated by the Robert Mondavi
Winery in Oakland, Napa Valley.
The program began with a toast to the President by
Deputy Consul General of Great Britain in Los Angeles
Mr. Mervyn Jones, and a toast to the Queen by Bruce
Bogstad. Then followed a reading of telegrams addressed to Lee Remick in care of the Queen Mary.
When word reached London of Ms. Remick's receiving
the Blenheim Award, the screen writer, producer, and
director of Jennie were among those who sent their congratulations. Richard Lang worth, president of
ICS/USA, then described the Blenheim Award.
Merry Alberigi introduced our guest speaker and
made her only slip of the evening, which brought such a
favorable response that it seemed intentional. After
recalling Gregory Peck's many honors and film credits,
she announced his new film, Old People's Money,
quickly correcting herself with the correct title, Other
People's Money. The audience and Mr. Peck found this
hilarious. When he began his speech he turned to Merry
and said "Old People's Money?" To which she replied,
"It worked for m e . "
Gregory Peck gave a heartfelt tribute: "There cannot
be another American actress so well suited — by her
beauty, her high spirits, her intelligence, and more than
that, by the mystery of a rare quality, which I would call
a depth of womanliness — to play the mother of
Winston Churchill." Following the ten-minute film clip
of scenes from Jennie, Gregory Peck and Richard
Langworth presented the Blenheim Award to Lee
Remick.
For her work in Jennie Ms. Remick received the
Golden Globe Award, the BAFTA Award, the Evening
Standard Award, the Hollywood Foreign Press Award,
and an Emmy nomination. In accepting the Blenheim
Award she said, "Playing Jennie may have seemed to
be a step back in time. Cinematically it was; but when
one remembers this strong-willed woman who had such
a remarkable influence on one of the foremost
statesmen and leaders of the 20th Century, the time
frame seems to vanish. Jennie Jerome was a leader in
fact as well as spirit for social change and women's
rights." She then shared one of her fondest memories
from the filming of Jennie. She remembered lying in
the bedroom in which Winston was born at Blenheim
Palace, looking at the ceiling, and thinking that this was
what Jennie saw when she gave birth to her son.
We rose to applaud Lee Remick and she made her
exit. At Gregory Peck's suggestion we sang "For She's
a Jolly Good Fellow," bringing tears to many and a
wave and a smile from Lee.
On this evening we remembered two great women —
Lady Randolph Churchill, whose courage and tenacity
had a profound motivating effect on her son; and Lee
Remick, whose devotion to her craft forever captured
for us Jennie's spirit. We were all cheered and warmed
by the good fellowship of the evening and by the
presence of two people whom we greatly admire — Lee
Remick and Gregory Peck.
More than half the guests remained on board to spend
the night in one of the ship's original first-class
staterooms. We enjoyed a farewell breakfast together
— the Queen Mary's Champagne Brunch — in the
Grand Salon. Seventy tables of food from around the
world, ice sculptures, and abundant Champagne provided the perfect end to the weekend.
Gregory Peck
T
HANK YOU. I am honored and pleased to be here: To
have been invited to add what I can to this handsome
evening of tribute to Lee Remick.
There cannot be another American actress so well suited —
by her beauty, her high spirits, her intelligence, and more
than that, by the mystery of a rare quality, which I would call
a depth of womanliness — to play the mother of Winston
Churchill.
If that sounds like a brief description of Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill, then so be it — it is the most accurate
description I can give you of another great American lady, an
artist and a shining star in her own right — in films, on
Broadway and West End stages, and on television — Miss
Lee Remick.
It has been my privilege to work in only one film with Lee.
It was called The Omen. It had to do with Satanism. It had
some horrifying special effects; it was a spine tingler, excruciatingly suspenseful — and complete nonsense. It was a
blockbluster. People lined up for blocks to see it. While the
studio executives took bows as the money rolled in, only Lee
and I knew the secret of the film's extraordinary success. We
did it. It was our special artistry, our sensitive portrayal of a
married couple very much in love, to whom all those dreadcontinued overleaf. . .
Finest Hour 71/31
Lee Remick
Gregory
Peck on
Lee's
"Depthof
Womanliness."
T
ful things were happening. We provided the human element
that made it all work.
Playing opposite Lee, it was easy to make the human element work. She plays her roles with an open heart, an open
mind, keen intelligence and a depth of feeling that takes the
play acting out of her work and makes the events on the
screen appear to be real.
Since Lee burst on the screen in 1957 in A Face in the
Crowd, her list of co-stars, who have waited their turn to
play opposite her (no fools they), is impressive: Paul
Newman, Orson Welles, James Stewart, Montgomery Clift,
Jack Lemmon, Steve McQueen, James Garner, Burt Lancaster, Henry Fonda, Paul Scofield, Richard Burton,
Richard Dreyfuss, among others.
Lee makes them all look good. Playing opposite this cleareyed Yankee girl with the appealing style and femininity
that graces every one of her roles just simply brings out the
best in a man.
For an actress seemingly without a manic, driving obsession for more success, more acclaim, more publicity, Lee
has built a body of work that has won her the respect and affections of her colleagues, and of the public. There have been
28 movies, 25 television shows, and six stage plays. It is an
admirable amount of work of the highest quality. I won't list
all the titles, but as a reminder that we are honoring a working artist this evening — a few of them:
In the theatre: Wait Until Dark, Bus Stop (in London), /
Do! I Do! (in Los Angeles), and Follies in 1985 (Yes, the
lady also sings — beautifully).
The films — some of them: A Face in the Crowd, The
Long Hot Summer, Anatomy of a Murder, Wild River, Sanctuary, Days of Wine and Roses, The Detective, A Delicate
Balance, The Omen, The Europeans, The Competition, and
Tribute.
On television — a remarkable list of performances —
among them: The Tempest, The Blue Knight, Ike — The War
Years, Haywire, The Letter, The Gift of Love, Eleanor — In
Her Own Words, and recently, Dark Holiday and Bridge to
Silence.
Above all perhaps in television, a shining example of Lee's
talent and skill is Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill. In the
next ten minutes, we'll be privileged to view scenes from that
gallant and memorable performance.
HANK YOU Greg and thank you Mr. Langworth for
that wonderful introduction. I am thrilled to be here and
even further thrilled to be recognized by this prestigious
organization for one of my favorite roles, Jennie Jerome
Churchill. To be the first actress ever cited by the International Churchill Society is simply an extension of the honor
accorded to me with this wonderful Blenheim Award.
Playing Jennie may have seemed to be a step back in time,
cinematically it was; but when one remembers this strongwilled woman who had such a remarkable influence on one
of the foremost statesmen and leaders of the 20th century, the
time frame seems to vanish. Jennie Jerome was a leader in
fact as well as spirit for social change and women's rights.
True, she may not have led parades but her subtlety influenced a great many people and social reforms followed.
While it may not equate to the rights that women enjoy now,
it was a start. Jennie was such a multi-faceted human being
that any actress would have scraped to get such an acting
plum dropped in their laps. I consider myself to have been a
very lucky actress with the parts I have been given to play;
but if given the opportunity to repeat any of my performances, most certainly "Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill"
would be one of them. I'm glad that plum dropped in my lap.
Thank you ladies and gentlemen and thank you members
of the International Churchill Society for this unique award.
Left to right: Julie Jones (Mrs. British Consul), Jeff Graves, Barbara
Langworth, Bruce Bogstad, Shirley Graves, Gregory Peck; Merry
Alberigi at the microphone. Dinner was a medley of WSC's Queen
Mary favorites.
Blenheim Award designer Don Payne (3rd from right) with his
Anglo-American family and the Bogstads (right).
You never know who'll show up on the "Ghosts, Myths and
Legends" tour. L-R: Barbara Langworth, Elaine Oldham, Merry
Alberigi, Winston S. Churchill, Fred the Guide, Dick and Jeanne
Danby, Glen Alberigi, Shirley and Jeff Graves, Marlon Brando and
Don Payne: "The right crowd and no crowding."
Finest Hour 71/32
The Queen Mary's
Service to Great Britain
and Churchill
L
AUNCHED in 1934, the RMS Queen Mary has an
historical link with Sir Winston Churchill. Numerous
sources attest to the ship's proud service to her country as the
"Gray Ghost," carrying the Prime Minister to conferences
and transporting more than 800,000 Canadian, American,
and British servicemen over 600,000 miles during World
War II. During the war Churchill traveled under the
pseudonym Colonel Warden, a code name used to confuse
enemy agents.
"Some of the most important and far-reaching British
decisions regarding the conduct and course of the war were
made in this liner as she ploughed her way across the Atlantic," wrote Neil Potter and Jack Frost in The Queen Mary.
"On three occasions Winston Churchill traveled in her to
America and Canada accompanied by the Chiefs of Staff
Committee and an assortment of other experts in many
fields, as well as a large secretariat. . . . In fact the liner
became a veritable floating Whitehall."
The Churchill entourage worked every day during their
wartime crossings planning strategies, reviewing maps, and
preparing for meetings in the United States and Canada. The
ship's staff saw to the party's every need. At the end of his
1943 voyage to Halifax, Nova Scotia, for the First-Quebec
Conference, Churchill wrote Captain Bissett of the Queen
Mary:
A second time this fine ship while under your
command has conveyed myself and a highly important mission across the Atlantic. I can only
repeat what I wrote to Captain Illingworth on
the last voyage that all arrangements have been
admirable, and the efficiency with which they
have been carried out has contributed not only
to the comfort and convenience of the pas-
WSC at a reception in the First Class drawing room after his talks
with President Truman, New York, 28 January 1952.
sengers, but to the output of work which they
have been doing and have been able to continue to do without interuption since leaving
England. Will you please convey my thanks to
all officers and ship's company.
Security was of great concern when the ship carried Churchill, Potter and Frost wrote: "Each time the Prime Minister
traveled, structural alterations had to be made within the
continued on page 34 .
Supporters and Special Services
The Blenheim Rose; Bette's Brittle; David Patino of Sir Speedy
Printers; Norman Shaifer of The British National Trust Collection.
Supporting Cast, May 4th
The Committee
Merry Alberigi, Bruce Bogstad, Colin Clark, Shirley Graves.
The Team
^'en Alberigi, Lisa Bogstad, Derek Brownleader, Courtney
Graves, Richard Langworth, Barbara Langworth, Marvin Nicely,
Dea Nicely.
Sponsors and Representatives
ttjm Bramlett, Richard Kerstine, Jennifer Nestegard, and Bill
winberg of the RMS Queen Mary, our host; R. Michael Mondavi
and Karen O'Neill of Robert Mondavi Winery; Mara Todorovich of
Frederick Wildman & Sons, Ltd., Christian Pol-Roger of ChamPagne Pol Roger; Audio Visual Headquarters Corporation.
p.
ICS Co-Sponsors
|- l a r k Company of Paso Robles, General Dick and Mrs. Jeanne
JJanby, j u d g e Richard and Ruth Lavine, Victor B. Levit, Ambassador Paul H. Robinson, Jr.
Photographs
Members wishing to select color photographs for personal use
may order color Xeroxes of the negatives for $6. This will bring you
three pages of Xeroxed negatives from the three rolls taken at the
event. From these you may order prints which will cost $12.50 for
5x7's and $4.50 for 4x6's, inclusive of mailer and postage. To order
your color Xeroxes send $6 to ICS-California, 21 Bahama Reef
Novato, CA 94949.
Commemorative Programs
Blenheim Award Banquet commemorative programs are
available. Included in the 12-page program are photos and
biographies of our guests of honor, pictures of Churchill on board
the Queen Mary, and many excerpts from the ship's archives. These
may be ordered from ICS-California, 21 Bahama Reef, Novato, CA
94949 at $10.00 postpaid. (UK, Canada, or Australia please' add
$2.00 for extra shipping and send the equivalent in your currency
but payable to ICS.)
Finest Hour 71/33
DESPATCH BOX . . .
Doolittle. I once asked him about
Churchill's drinking. "Did he
drink as much as he was reputed
to?," I asked.
"I observed that he always drank
the middle third of his glass,"
Doolittle replied. "It was never
filled all the way up, nor was it
ever empty.
"One night I decided to match
him drink for drink, to the same
pattern. The next morning he this contingency had been provided
called me. he said, 'that was a for by painting the aircraft a bright
capital suggestion you made last yellow colour with permanent RAF
night.' To this day, I have no idea roundels . . . One day we were told
to put a strong patrols of Spitfires
what I had said to the man."
A.H. ROHLFING, DARIEN, CONN. USA over the airfield since the Storch
would shortly arrive with a VIP in
the back seat. Soon it came into
Canadian Memorabilia
Here is a photo depicting WSC view flying only a few feet above
visiting No. 127 (Fighter) Wing, the hedges. As it came to a halt, we
RCAF, at Crepan, France on 23 July were delighted to see the Prime
1944. Johnnie Johnson, an RAF Minister, complete with cigar, in
pilot who led the Wing, recounted the back seat. We had the rare
the visit in his book, Wing Leader. privilege of meeting Mr. Churchill
"Before he left the Desert Air and listening to an impromptu
Force, Air Vice-Marshal Broad- speech in which he told us of the
hurst (here commanding No. 83 progress of war."
Prints of this photo are available
Group, 2nd Tactical Air Force) had
acquired a captured Fieseler by ordering negative no. PL 30896
Storch. This aircraft accompanied from the Canadian Government
him to England and was often seen Photo Centre, Tunney's Pasture,
over the [Normandy] beachhead. Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A 0M9.
Naturally there was always the The Photo Centre accepts Visa or
danger that it might be mistaken Mastercard; an 8x10" reproduction
for an enemy-piloted Storch, but costs about $5.
Queen Mary . . . continued
ship. In the first place, the whole of the accommodation occupied by his suite had to be sealed off from the rest of the
liner. Officers had to be provided for his staff, map rooms set
up, as well as a conference room and eating quarters for the
entourage.
"Furniture that had been in storage was replaced in cabins
and staterooms, giving them something of their peacetime
comfort. Churchill's suite, its entrances carefully guarded by
the Marines, became a kingdom with laws of its own. The
ship, then ferrying American troops, was dry. When Churchill first heard of this he pulled what is described as 'a very
long face.' So it was described that his accommodation
should have its own licensing laws and that drink could be
served."
When America entered the war in 1941, Churchill proposed that the Queen Mary and its sister ship the Elizabeth
transport entire divisions of American soldiers to England.
The risk was great and the advisability of the venture questioned. U.S. Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall asked
the PM: "If you had to give the order, Mr. Churchill, would
you take a risk and send a division of men on this ship, know-
The second item is a shoulder
flash from the 570 Squadron, Royal
Canadian Air Cadets (RCAC), the
"Sir Winston Churchill Sqn." The
RCAC were formed in November
1940 to train young boys and girls
in air matters and leadership skills
under the guidance of the RCAF. I
don't yet have a history of this particular Squadron or know when it
adopted its title. I hope these items
can appear in Finest How.
CAPT. J.R. GRODZINSKY, CAC
WESTWIN, MB, CANADA
Wilderness and Other Years
The television series "Wilderness Years" starring Robert Hardy
(reviewed in FH38 —Ed.) is an excellent portrayal of that period and
I would like to find it in video. It
was accurate in every detail, even
including the violent storm which
occurred on the night the Cabinet
confronted Chamberlain to de-
ing that if it were torpedoed there would be only lifeboats for
a fraction of that number?" Churchill replied: "Yes, if it
meant shortening the war one day."
It is remarkable to see the Queen Mary today, transformed
back to her 1930s art deco luxury, and the excellent condition
of the ship's beautiful murals, wood trim, and works of art.
The troops had been admonished not to deface the ship and
had been "offered as an alternative the 750-foot long,
teakwood railing on the Promenade Deck as a "tree to carve
your initials on." Wrote William Duncan, "The one-third
mile railing was carved with names, nicknames, initials, girl
friend's names, . . . But not one wall or mural was scratched
by the GIs, a fact [the Captain] Sir Bisset called 'an example
of the discipline of the American troops.' The U.S. Army archives contain a six-foot piece of this railing; the rest was
sanded and refinished."
There are many stories told of Churchill's travels on the
Queen Mary; of the following may be new to some: "Churchill had often said he would not be captured alive. That
possibility faced him when he was at sea. He inspected his
assigned life boat and ordered that a machine gun be installed
on the stern." (RMS Queen Mary by William J. Duncan.)
Finest Hour 71/34
mand that he declare war, while Sir
Winston and his group were
meeting in WSC's flat.
Years ago, my father was invited
to attend an address at Westm i n s t e r College in F u l t o n ,
Missouri. He did, and sat in the
front row only a few feet from the
then-Mr. Churchill. It was the
"Sinews of Peace" or "Iron Curtain" address, and Dad spoke about
his personal reactions frequently.
He was a great admirer of Churchill in the 1920s to 1950s.
WM. F. HARVEY, GRAY PROF. OF LAW
INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Pottery Information Sought
I am having trouble documenting two commemorative plates
which apparently originated with
Britannia Pottery in Cobridge,
England, within the A.G. Richardson & Co. family, later taken over
by Enoch Wedgwood, then merged
within the Wedgwood group. My
interest is in the history of this
series, the reason for their issue,
and any others that may were part
of it. I would appreciate hearing
from any collector of such pottery
with a view to comparing notes on
this and other items.
K. ARTHUR PO BOX 72
FINCH, ON, CANADA KOC 1K0
Alan Fitch of ICS Stores is exploring the possibility of producing
a VCR of the ''Wilderness Years."
We have asked Professor Harvey to
recount his father's remembrances
of the Fulton speech.
CORRECTION: Anthony Montague 293. Churchill was M.P. for what conBrowne advises that our question 268 (last stituency from 1924-1945? (S)
issue) was incorrect, in that WSC did not
know the code name for his funeral plans.
294. What was the tragedy of Norway
in 1940? (W)
289. Who said of WSC: "He mobilized
the English language and sent it into battle"? (C)
290. Churchill preferred the title "The
Locust Years" for his military and
Political writings in the late 1930s.
Under what title were they published?
291. What is the Churchill family motto? (M)
292. What name did Churchill use when
ne exhibited his paintings in Paris in
V
S
1920? (P)
ROBIN LAWSON, ASHLAND, ORE.
Recalling the Lion's Roar
Chapters or individuals wishing
I thought I'd give you a quick up- to book Mr. Lawson as a speaker on
date on the speeches I've been giv- matters Churchill should contact
ing, which now number six: both him at 674 Berry La, Ashland
Rotarys in Medford, Oregon,- a 97520.
CHURCHILL TRIVIA
TEST your skill and knowledge! Virtually all questions can be answered in
back issues of FINEST HOUR (but it's
not really cricket to check). Twenty-four
questions appear in each issue, the
answers in the following issue.
Questions fall into six categories:
Contemporaries (C), Literary (L), Miscellaneous (M), Personal (P), Statesmanship (S), and War (W).
private women's club in Ashland; a
Lion's club in Ashland; the Roque
Valley Manor retirement center in
Medford; and in Sacramento before
a 500-member Rotary. None has
gone better than Sacramento,
which was covered by KFBK radio
news in two separate stories. Prior
to the speech was a small reception, attended by several pilots
who had been involved in the European theatre. I am sending you the
text. Derek Brownleader (ICS/USA
secretary) tells me there are now a
couple of new Medford members. I
don't know if there is a connection
but I hope so!
295. Which Prime Minister appointed
WSC as Chancellor of the Exchequer in
1924? (C)
EDITED BY BARBARA LANGWORTH
301. "[He] is the only bull who carries
his china shop with him," was said by
Churchill about whom? (C)
302. What title did Churchill prefer for
his collection of newspaper articles
published as Arms and the Covenant
(USA/While England Slept)! (L)
296. Which river was the subject of
Churchill's book "The River War"?
(L)
303. WSC was made Lord Warden of
the Cinque Ports in 1946. Sandwich,
Dover, Hythe, Romney and Hastings
were the original five; name the other
two. (M)
297. Who were the family members
representing Churchill in Washington,
DC when he received honorary
American citizenship? (M)
304. What sport did Churchill actively
play until 1927? (P)
298. In 1888 a school administrator said
Winston was "regular in his irregularity." Name two other faults he accused
him of having. (P)
299. What was the name of the party
Churchill is alleged to have tried to
form in 1936? (S)
300. In 1913 Lord Fisher told Churchill, "[what?] is now the dominating
sea fighting factor and you are not
building enough of them." (W)
Finest Hour 71/35
305. In 1940, who did Chamberlain
propose for Prime Minister before
Churchill was selected? (S)
306. What were the "Mulberrys" that
Churchill conceived in WWII? (W)
307. Who was the artist who sculpted
the statue of Churchill located on
Woodford Green, Essex? (C)
308. In 1921 Churchill wrote an article
for the magazine "Arts & Decoration"
critiquing which artists? (L)
y
309. What was the Churchill's London
address in the Thirties? (M)
310. When Winston and Jack were
small boys they went to Austria on a
holiday with their parents. With whom
did they have tea? (P)
3 1 1 . ' 'Continue to pester, nag and bite''
was a message Churchill sent to a
British diplomat when asked his advise
on how to handle what danger? (S)
312. What war-winning, highly secret
information, code-named "Ultra," did
Churchill not reveal in The Second
World War because of official bans?
(W)
ANSWERS TO LAST TRIVIA
(265) Lord Moran was his physician.
(266) Savrola was republished 56 years
later. (267) Clementine and Queen
Elizabeth II has wreaths on Churchill's
grave. (268) Churchill's funeral plans
were called Operation Hope-Not. (269)
His last visit to Commons was 27 July
1964. (270) Czechoslovakia . . . receded into the darkness. (271) Churchill
predicted the date of his death to Sir
John Colville. (272) Step by Step concerned world affairs. (273) English was
all the "dunces" could learn. (274)
Winston and Clementine were married
for 57 years. (275) Asquith said the
Dardanelles strategy was brilliant. (276)
28 December 1941 was WSC's first wartime visit to the US. (277) He played
poker with Harry Truman. (278) While
England Slept (US) and Arms and the
Covenant (UK) were Churchill's 193638 speeches. (279) Kay Murphy Halle
encouraged WSC's US citizenship.
(280) Winston collected stamps in his
youth. (281) Anthony Eden was more
popular in 1939. (282) Scapa Flow is a
bay in NW Scotland where the Grand
Fleet was often anchored during both
World Wars. (283) Clement Attlee was
the "modest man." (284) The People's
Rights was a collection of 1910
speeches. (285) Churchill liked to paint
at Cannes and Marrakech. (286) Philip
Tilden was the Chartwell architect.
(287) Churchill offered to kiss General
DeGaulle on "all four cheeks." (288)
Sorry for the red herring. Churchill
never came face to face with Hitler.
ICS Stores
A Report on the Reorganization
Comments on the "Churchill Handbook"
Greetings from ICS Stores. It has
been my honor and pleasure to serve
you for now almost six months and I
thought it would be a good thing to
highlight some of the items available to
you. Some "worthwhile judges have
agreed with m e , " so I shall share some
thoughts with you.
One of my varied passions about Sir
Winston is his writings. Like many who
evolve into rather than plan a pursuit,
my quest of Churchill books began in a
very haphazard way about ten years
ago. I have in that time accumulated a
small but enjoyable "collection" of
some 350 volumes. That is not important. What is, is that I have made virtually every mistake which the uninformed or unknowing can make. That is
to be expected I suppose, for the learning and growing are such an enjoyable
part of the "amenities of book collecting." About four years ago however,
after cutting up dust jackets (smile —
the memory pains me more than you),
buying every book regardless of condition or edition, etc., I entered into the
wonderful world of the antiquarian
bookseller.
When I recovered from the painful
realization of what I had done, I resolved to learn. With dedication
reminiscent of WSC at Bangalore, I
devoured everything I could get my
hands, eyes and mind on concerning
books. As Churchill said, "What I got,
I bit." A new vista opened before me. I
attacked my bookshelves, arranging,
rearranging, sorting and researching,
caressing and crying, sometimes cursing, but essentially attempting to do a
"damage assessment" of my lamentable beginning. I quickly discovered
there were "tools" with which one
could "do the j o b " .
The most important tool of course is
the bibliography. I then learned of Mr.
Woods. After about a year of this, fate
introduced me to ICS. From then to
now I have had an increasing opportunity to hone these tools finely. Before
my present tenure, I noticed in "Finest
Hour" something called The Churchill
Finest Hour 71/36
Handbook, and that it included many
bibliographic aids for the pursuit of Sir
Winston's writings, and writings about
him.
But like many, I did nothing. I wanted
one. I needed one, but I did nothing.
Once again, fate intervened. In San
Francisco last summer, during that
wonderful weekend with many of you,
the chance to contribute with ICS Stores
fell before me. Matters progressed and
in October I had finally not only one but
many "Handbooks." I picked one up,
read it and since then, "have never left
home without it", if my purpose was
the continuing search for the elusive
early first or subsequent editions of any
of his writings, or any other worthwhile
volume concerning that wonderful
man's life, achievements or work. It is
all there — arranged chronologically by
year or author, with all the "states" and
pitfalls, whether the book is Sir
Winston's, the Official Biography or
one by the many others who have written of his life.
I arranged my copy in a usable
"bookshop form". It has proven an
outstanding quick reference when one is
trying to decipher the many and varied
editions of his so voluminous writings. I
have even occasionally though seldom,
discovered an error. But sometimes,
though I have had it with me, I have not
consulted its content. In every instance,
that has proven to be an unwise decision
and I have once again regretted either
the purchase, the options or both. I shall
not do so again. For any "Honourable
Members" who share a passion for collecting his books, but have not added
this tool to your arsenal, I encourage
you to do so.
"Churchill Bibliographic Data"
The completion of the Redburn
Bibliography of works entirely about
Churchill gives us the opportunity to
combine it with the ICS "Amplified
List of Works by Churchill" (originally
Part 4 of the Handbook) in a single,
ready-reference booklet, Churchill
Bibliographic Data, which ICS Stores
Churchill
course. For the present, though, this is
the best guide you can get to the subject
and I strongly recommend it if you are a
collector.
Bibliographic Data
Surveys of Works By and About
Sir Winston Churchill
I'UBUSHF.D BY THE INI F.RNAT1ONAL CHURCHILL SfXIETIF.S
AUSTRALIA • CANADA • UNITED KINGDOM • UNITED STATES
D THE BT IION SIB W1N5TON 3. CHURCHILL SOCIETY OF BRITISH COLUMHIA
now sells in one unit for $15 postpaid or
the equivalent. This comes complete
with a heavy protective cover. You'll
need the cover, because if you are at all
interested in books, you'll find this
package indispensible. For a small price
you will have at your fingertips an accurate, professional reference which
will give you confidence and comfort as
you build your collection.
(Please note that the Amplified
woods List will be revised over the next
several issues of Finest Hour to include
all corrections and additions amassed
Sl
nce it was first published. To keep
your Bibliographic Data up to date,
^nply replace the present Amplified
Woods List with these new pages by extracting them from the center of the next
several Finest Hours.)
I am visiting our editior in June and
Churchill Bibliographic Data will be by
m
y side. For once I shall probably not
°eed it for I shall be standing next to the
quintessential authority on the subject.
°ut it shall be there, for as we prowl the
bookshops of New Hampshire and
Maine, I intend to learn how to use it
m
ore wisely.
- R. ALAN FITCH
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
I will shortly be approaching our International Council with a proposal to
cease issuing Handbook sections within
Finest Hour, and to publish instead two
new booklet-length works: "A Guide to
the Works of Sir Winston Churchill" by
myself, and the "Illustrated Checklist
of Churchill Stamps" by Celwyn Ball.
The "Guide to the Works of Sir
Winston Churchill" will not be a bibliography or a replacement to "Woods."
It will, instead, supplement Woods. It
will contain the same basic list of
"Amplified Woods Numbers" described above by Alan Fitch, but vastly
expanded: under each entry will be
notes on the physical description of each
edition, how to tell the various states,
variants and impressions, and "collector's notes" on the aesthetics, scarcity
and desirability of the various volumes.
(It will not contain a price guide, which
would be obsolete very soon and smack
of commercialism, which we don't
want.)
The "Guide" will be a vital source to
Librarians, bibliophiles, students,
teachers and collectors which will accompany "Woods" and steer readers
through the maze. In the absence on the
horizon of any immediate replacement
to or new edition of "Woods," I feel
sure that it will be a welcome addition.
There are, I think, some very good
reasons for producing these two
separate publications . . .
When the Handbook was conceived,
r
Checklist of Churchill Stamps
"Checklist of Churchill Stamps"
Another part of the Churchill Hand°°ok is the illustrated checklist of
locals, labels, and German
^
propaganda postcards: 32
Pages of invaluable data for philatelists.
g . Stoi "es sells this for $10 or the
quivalent, postpaid. This section is be£8 overhauled by Celwyn Ball of ICS/
nada a n d a b r a n d n e w stam
'
P check'
also including Churchill-related
Ps will be published by ICS in due
Finest Hour 71/37
our idea was that we could issue fourpage looseleaf sections of it one at a
time in each issue of Finest Hour, and
then replace any section when the data
in it became obsolete. In practice, we
have replaced few four-page sections individually — instead we have replaced
whole chunks of the Handbook in successive issues. But most readers do not
extract the sections and file them in a
looseleaf, and for readers outside North
America the page size is not convenient.
Finally, the "meat" of the Handbook
has really only involved two subjects to
date: books and stamps. The rapid
growth of ICS has now given us the
financial means to publish the latest
up-dates on both these subjects in complete booklet form — much as we do the
bi-annual Proceedings or Douglas
Russell's Orders, Decorations and
Medals booklet.
The next two or three issues of
Finest Hour will therefore update the
"Amplified Woods List" of books by
Churchill for readers who do file their
Handbook supplements in looseleafs,
and also replace this part of our new
booklet, Churchill Bibliographic Data.
We will then cease publication of
Handbook supplements within Finest
Hour and turn instead to separate,
booklet-length publications described
above. (We have not forgotten John
Woods' Sherlock Holmes pastische,
The Boer Conspiracy, which is our
booklet project for 1991).
If you have an opinion pro and con on
this proposal, please communicate with
your national Society as listed in the
directory on page 3.1 hope you will find
this change in tactics logical, and the
eventual products more helpful.
RICHARD M. LANG WORTH
n I A: German Pr/>put>iinila Fcldpon Cards
ICS STORES: SOLD TO SUPPORT THE
Sold in support of the International
Churchill Societies. Prices are postpaid
in U.S. dollars. To order: in the United
States, send check to ICS Stores, 9807
Willow Brook Circle, Louisville, KY
40223; in Britain, Canada or Australia
send the equivalent cheque in pounds
sterling (divide US$ by 1.6), Canada or
Australian dollars (multiply by 1.2) to
your National Office (Directory, page
3). Order by number, please.
122. Proceedings of the Churchill
Societies 1988-1989. Speeches by
Alastair Cooke, Lord Blake, Lady
Soames, Enoch Powell, Maurice
Ashley, Martin Gilbert, the 1989 Symposium at Bretton Woods. Illustrated,
108pp. $10.
1 0 9 and 1 1 0
109. Young Winston ("Spy") $10
CHURCHILLIANA
110. Chartwell Fish Pond (pi8) $10
101. Royal Doulton Figure. Designed
by Adrian Hughes. Churchill wears a
white suit and Homburg, pink buttonhole and black bow tie, carries silver
topped black cane. Hand-painted facial
detail is wonderfully accurate. Height
10.5 inches. Regular price $210. ICS
price $175.
101
102
105
Kevin Francis Tobies
A masterful large hand-painted toby
by Peggy Davies in a limited number
edition: WSC and Britain's lion in three
colors. On Churchill's right is a copy of
his "History of the English-Speaking
Peoples." Regular price $205 ppd. ICS
PRICE SAVES $40.
102. Traditional Black $165
103. Blue suit variant $165
104. White suit variant $165
Churchill Victory Figures
Limited to only 750, this noble WSC
stands astride the colours and a bulldog,
flashing the " V " sign. Regular price
$205pp. ICS SAVES $40.
105. Blue suited figure $165
106. Grey suited figure $165
108. "Action This Day" Labels.
Reproductions of Churchill's famous
wartime label. Black and orange, a
close copy of the original, gummed on
backs. Quantity 100. ICS price $5.
FINEST HOUR
Colour Prints (shipped in rolls)
PUBLICATIONS
115. Churchill Bibliographic Data. A
40-page checklist of works by and about
Churchill, including all variants, states
and impressions of Churchill's own
books and a chronological listing of
books about him from 1905 to 1991. In
heavy decorative wrappers. $15.
116. Illustrated Checklist of Churchill
Stamps. A 36-page checklist of Churchill commemoratives, locals, labels,
German Feldpost propaganda cards,
and a four-page checklist of ICS commemorative covers issued between 1969
and 1988. $10.
Finest Hour Back Issues. Please note:
issues 1-13 were and are photocopied.
Certain other issues through number 37,
and also numbers 44, 52 and 56 are now
only supplied as photocopies.
114. Issues 1-40 complete. $150.
Individual issues from number 41-up.
$5 each or 4 for $15.
Synopsis of outstanding issues:
#50. Commemorative 50th issue; contributions by WSC, Kay Halle, Wm.
Manchester, Anthony Montague
Browne, Lord and Lady Soames,
Christian Pol-Roger, Ronald Reagan,
Caspar Weinberger.
#53-54. "Churchill and the Baltic" in 2
parts, locals and labels, notes on
"Malakand Field Force," King Edward
VIII Abdication.
117. Churchill: An Uncomfortable
Hero, by Caspar Weinberger. Speech
to 1985 Boston Conference, illustrated,
20pp. $15.
#55. Clark Clifford on WSC's trip to
Fulton, Harold Macmillan, Gilbert
Volume 8, Enoch Powell, Gallipoli in
stamps.
118. The Chartwell Bulletins 1935, by
Winston S. Churchill. Letters to his absent wife about life at Chartwell and
contemporary politics in the Wilderness
Years, illustrated, 68pp. $12.
#57. Robert Hardy, Martin Gilbert
speeches, "The Dream" published,
"Collected Works" story, Boer wanted
poster, Companion volumes.
119. Young Winston: A Biography
Using Stamps, by Dalton Newfield. Illustrating WSC's life with stamps. Illustrated, 28pp. $5.
120. The Orders, Decorations and
Medals of Sir Winston Churchill, by
Douglas Russell. All 37 of WSC's
awards pictured with the history of
each and the circumstances under which
it was presented to Churchill. Illustrated
in B&W and color, 108pp. $15.
121. Proceedings of the International
Churchill Society 1987. Speeches by
Robert Hardy, Fitzroy Maclean, Grace
Hamblin, James Courter and Martin
Gilbert. Illustrated, 68pp. $10.
Finest Hour 71/38
#58. ICS vs the "New Republic"; Lord
Soames on WSC, Dallas conference,
Pamela Harriman on the Fulton speech,
identifying first editions.
#59. Australian number: 6 articles on
WSC & Australia including stamps,
book reviews, etc.; wartime postcards
featuring Churchill.
#60. 20th anniversary issue, highlights
from issues 1-60, reader's guide,
Centenary souvenirs, "The Dream
(2)"; poem "Is This The Man?"
#65. Gilbert interview, ICS tour of
France and England, Churchill
china ware, bearding the revisionists,
Edmonton monument.
WORK OFTHE CHURCHILL SOCIETIES
ORAL HISTORY
PROGRAMME (CASSETTES)
130
131
132
CERTIFICATES AND
STATIONERY
130. Christmas Cards. Full color
1942 artwork with Churchill quote and
US/UK flags. Inside reads "Greetings
of the Season"; opposite is Churchill's
broadcast from the White House on
Christmas 1941. Size 4'/2x6" with
envelope. Price per packet of ten. $12.
131. Note Cards. Superb Churchill
silhouette by Elizabeth Baverstock on
cover with embossed border, 4x6" in
matching envelopes. Price per packet of
ten. $12.
132. Personalized Membership Certificate. Display your support of ICS
and the Man of the Century with this
beautiful 8'Ax 1 1 " Certificate of Membership, signed by ICS officers and individually lettered with your name.
Printed on heavy, acid-free card stock
with the Churchill coat of arms in color.
Fits standard frame but responds very
We
U to a larger frame with a matt.
Allow 3-4 weeks for processing. Shipped airmail, packed flat with foamcore.
$25.
CHURCHILL CALENDARS
Useful long after they are out of date,
these calendars produced by ICS/
Canada tell what Churchill was doing
and saying on every significant occasion
in 1940 (1990 calendar) and 1941 (1991
calendar). Printed on high quality gloss
st
ock and illustrated with a "photo of
'he month" for each month, they also
note all British, American and Commonwealth holidays.
140. 1940-1990 Calendar $8.
141. 1941-1991 Calendar $8.
200. Winston S. Churchill: His
Memoirs and Speeches. Churchill
reads from his books and speeches from
"The Hour of Armistice" (1918) to
"This is Your Victory" (1945). Includes "St. George and the Dragon"
(1933), "The Vision of Death" (1938),
"Munich Winter" (1939), "Sterner
War" (1940), and all the famous war
speeches. From the original Decca LPs,
24 sides on 12 cassettes. $115
201. Sir John Colville: "He had no use
for second-best." Speech to ICS in London, 22 May 1983. $10.
202. Lady Soames: "Pages from the
Family Album." Speech to ICS in London, 31 May 1983. $10.
lOth Anniversary
WINSTON CHURCHILL
Prime Minister;
May 10th. WiO
FA,.*,
SPECIALPHILATELIC ITEMS
1. Australia 1974 Churchill issue official First Day Cover. $5.
2. Australia 1990 ANZAC issue
FDC, Churchill, Vic. pmk. $5.
3. Souvenir Maxi-card, 7x5" with
superb engraving of WSC & facsimile
signature. US 1965 Churchill stamp,
Fulton MO pmk 7May69. $8.
4. ICS Cover no. 30, Churchill Hon.
Citizenship 25th Ann. signed by Kay
Halle (who suggested this honor). One
of only 25. $10.
COMMEMORATIVE COVERS
Fast disappearing, order now! $3 each.
5. 30th Anniversary UN Conference,
28Dec71
20. Alamein 40th Ann. Battleground
WA postmark 4Nov 82
23. Bulge Battle 40th Ann., Patton
CA postmark 26Dec 84
25. V-E Day 40th Ann., Churchill
204. Lord Mountbatten of Burma:
"The Churchill I Knew." Possibly one ON postmark 8May 85
27. Iron Curtain Speech 40th Ann.,
of the best ever on WSC, Edmonton,
Fulton MO pmk 8Jun86
May 1966. $10.
28. Edward VIII Abdication 50th
205. Hon. Caspar Weinberger: Ann., London pmk HDec86
29. Lady Churchill's Death 10th
"Churchill: An Uncomfortable Hero."
Ann.,
London pmk 12DDec87
Speech to ICS in Boston, 2 November
31.
ICS
20th Ann., Camp Hill PA
1985. $10.
postmark 15Jun88
32. Great War Outbreak 75th Ann.,
206. Lady Soames: "Churchill as
Church
Hill MD pmk 4Aug89
Father and Family Man." Speech to
33. World War 2 Outbreak 50th
ICS in Dallas, 19 February 1986. $10.
Ann., Winston KY pmk 3Sep89
34. Falkland Battle 75th Ann., Port
207. Enoch Powell: "Churchill" A
Stanley
FI pmk 8Dec89
Man of His Time." Speech to ICS in
34a.
Same, Falkland NC pmk
Sussex, 22 October 1988. $10.
8Dec89
35. River Plate Battle 50th Ann., Port
210. Cdr. Larry Kryske, USN: Stanley FI pmk 17Dec89
35a. Same, Washington DC pmk
"Churchill as Military Commander."
17Dec89
Lecture to ICS, San Francisco, 19
35b. Same, British River Plate special
August 1990. $10.
pmk 17Dec89
36. Churchill Prime Minister 50th
211. Larry Arnn, Patrick Parker,
Ann.,
London pmk 10May90
Richard Langworth: "Churchill and
36a. Same, special House of ComGlasnost." Churchill's experiences
with the Soviet Union, 1918-1955. mons pmk by ICS 10May90
36b. Same, Washington DC pmk by
Panel discussion, San Francisco, 19
ICS
10May90
•
August 1990. $10.
203. Martin Gilbert: "Churchill's
London: Spinning Top of Memories."
Talk to ICS in London, 17 September
1985. $10.
Finest Hour 71/39
"WE SHALL COME THROUGH"
I have thought about you and your friends in Southampton
a good deal when we knew how heavily you were being attacked,
and I am glad to find an afternoon
to come and see you to wish you good luck,
and offer you the thanks and congratulations of the Government
for the way you are standing up to these onslaughts of the enemy.
We see that the enemy has been decisively defeated by the R.A.F.
We see that our friends across the ocean are taking a very warm interest
in the struggle for freedom here.
The great American democracy has pledged itself to give us its aid.
We have here Mr. Hopkins,
the envoy and friend of President Roosevelt,
that great statesman and friend of freedom and democracy.
One cannot help feeling enormously encouraged
by the spirit of the ever-growing movement of aid to Britain
which we see laying hold of the mighty masses of the United States.
Lastly, what has happened to Italy?
She with her crafty and calculating chief
thought she could win a very cheap and easy victory by stabbing France in the back.
The tables have been turned in a most remarkable fashion
by the brilliant operation of General Wavell and General Wilson
and the splendid effort made by the Greeks
in repelling invasion of their native land.
Instead of marching on in triumph to Athens and Cairo,
the Italians are now forced to bring in the Germans
to rescue and rule them.
All this gives us encouragement to face the long and hard ordeals which lie before us
but to which we shall not be found unequal.
We shall come throughl
We cannot tell when.
We cannot tell how.
but we shall come through.
We have none of us any doubt whatever.
nor is there much doubt among lovers of freedom in other countries throughout the world
that we shall come through with triumph.
When we have done so.
we shall have the right to say we live in an age wh.cn.
in all the long history of Britain.
was most filled with glorious achievement
and most graced by duties done.
PORTSMOUTH. 31 JANUARY 1941