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The Glow-Worm Churchillians by-the-Bay E-Newsletter
Northern California Affiliate of the Churchill Centre Volume 4, Issue 1 First Quarter 2012 “We are all worms. But I do believe that I am a glow-worm.” * *(Violet Bonham Carter, Winston Churchill as I knew Him, page 16— WSC’s remark was made at a dinner given by Lady Mary Elcho.)
A hero's return: Never-before-seen photo of Winston Churchill on horseback after daring Boer War prison camp escape in 1899 Picture released by descendants of Arthur Knight, son of a diamond miner Sitting astride his grey mount in 1899, the 26-year-old future Prime Minister is shown wearing a suit and tie and has on a wide-brimmed hat. He has a notably slim figure after his 'sixty hours of misery' trying to find his way back to British lines.
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CONTENTS
THE STORY OF A MAJOR PUBLISHING ERROR Churchill’s BBC broadcast to France in French, October 21, 1940 by James R. Lancaster, page 3 What did Churchill Really Think about Ireland? by Paul Bew Professor of Politics, Queen’s University, Belfast, page 16 WWI Trenches Brightened by Glowworms and
An Original Drawing by Churchill aged 18 years old, page 19-20 Churchill Addresses Congress January 17, 1952, page 21
Churchill in the News, page 26 Interspersed with various Churchilliana
Churchillians by-the-Bay Board of Directors: Richard C Mastio, Chairman and Contributions Editor for The Glow-Worm, Jason C. Mueller, President, Gregory B. Smith, Secretary and Liaison with Churchill Centre, Michael Allen, Treasurer. Directors: Jack Koers, Carol Mueller, Editor of The Glow-Worm, Lloyd Nattkemper, Dr. Andrew Ness, Barbara Norkus, Katherine Stathis, and Anne Steele. Glow-Worm named by Susie Mastio
© Copyright, All Rights Reserved Glow-Worm and Churchillians by-the- Bay, Inc.
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Bookworm’s Corner by James R. Lancaster
Jim and Tommy THE STORY OF A MAJOR PUBLISHING ERROR Churchill’s BBC broadcast to France in French, October 21, 1940
The text of Churchill’s BBC broadcast in French on October 21, 1940, as published in Into Battle (as also in Blood, Sweat and Tears in America and Canada) is incorrect. The words spoken by Churchill during that broadcast differ significantly from the published text. How can this be? How can such a major publishing error have remained uncorrected for so long?1 This is the fascinating story. Lord Ismay in his Memoirs2: I remember in particular an October night in 1940. We were alone in the Hawtrey Room at Chequers, and the clock had just chimed midnight. Mr Churchill looked 1
Churchill himself was only too aware how easily inaccuracies can be repeated and recycled by historians and biographers. He referred to these as ‘chains of error’: Archdeacon Coxe had the misfortune to leave out a nought from the Dutch total, which he stated at no more than 10,000 men. This obvious slip or misprint has ever since been dutifully copied by many historians and biographers. Thus easily do chains of error trail link after link through history. (Churchill’s Marlborough: His Life and Times, Harrap 1933 edition, Volume I, page 544) 2
The Memoirs of Lord Ismay published in 1960, Heinemann, pp 175-76.
4 tired out and I had visions of an early bed. But suddenly he jumped up, exclaiming, ‘I believe that I can do it’3. Bells were rung; secretaries appeared; and he proceeded to dictate his first broadcast to France. He had no notes; but slowly and steadily, for a space of some two hours, the words poured forth. The result would have been a tour de force by any standards and at any time; but, in those circumstances, it was a most remarkable triumph of mind over matter. The impression of that broadcast on our French friends has lasted through the years. To this day they cannot recall it without emotion. From Their Finest Hour, the second volume of Churchill’s The Second World War pp 389-90 in the Chartwell edition4: On October 21 [1940] I made an appeal by radio to the French people. I took great pains to prepare this short address, as it had to be given in French. I was not satisfied with the literal translation at first provided, which did not give the spirit of what I could say in English and could feel in French, but M. Duchesne5, one of the Free French Staff in London, made a far better rendering, which I rehearsed several times and delivered from the basement of the Annexe, amid the crashes of an air raid. A French version of this broadcast (on the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805) was printed in Into Battle – Churchill’s speeches and broadcasts from May 1938 to November 1940 – compiled by his son Randolph.6 However, the text of the broadcast as 3
‘it’ refers to Churchill’s aim to re-arm the spirits of the French. In the earlier Cassell edition of The Second World War (volume II, page 451) the person who did the new translation was referred to as M. Dejean, instead of M. Duchesne. This mistake was unfortunately repeated in the French edition of the Mémoires (published by Plon in 1949, volume II, page 205). Maurice Dejean was not in London at the time. He was indeed a member of the Free French staff, but only as from the spring of 1941. At first he was appointed Director of Political Affairs. De Gaulle appointed him Director of Foreign Affairs in September 1941. But he resigned in October 1942 after a row with De Gaulle. The error was corrected in the Chartwell edition, published in 1955. 5 Jacques Duchesne was the pseudonym of Michel Saint-Denis (1897-1971). As a theatre director, he first made his name when, in 1930, he created La Compagnie des Quinze (The Fifteen Company). He then moved to England where, in 1934, he founded the London Theatre Studio. On July 14, 1940 he started the French service of the BBC Ici Londres. Les Français parlent aux Français (This is London. The French speaking to the French). This 30-minute programme was broadcast every night at 9.0pm, for the duration. Unlike most of his compatriots he stayed in London after the war, founding The Old Vic Centre in 1946. In 1958 he helped to set up the National Theatre of Canada, in Montreal, followed two years later by the Juilliard Drama Division at the Lincoln Centre in New York. In 1962 he moved back to London, accepting a post as a co-director of the Royal Shakespeare Company. 6 Although Into Battle is clearly described as ‘Compiled by Randolph S. Churchill, M.P.’ the story is a little more complicated. Frederick Woods in his Bibliography of the Works of Sir Winston Churchill published in 1963, provides the following information about the editing of Into Battle, quoting from Simon NowellSmith’s book The House of Cassell, pp 225-6: 4
Desmond Flower, Literary Director of Cassell, suggested to the new Prime Minister shortly after his assumption of office that a volume of speeches would be a timely, important and successful volume. It was agreed that the selection and editing should be done by Flower himself, but before he got more than half way with the task he went into the army, and the volume was completed by Mr.
5 printed was not the same as the one delivered during Churchill’s BBC broadcast. This incorrect text of the broadcast in French was also printed in the American edition, published by Putnam’s in New York as Blood, Sweat and Tears and in the Canadian edition published by McClelland & Stewart in Toronto with the same title. The error was further compounded when the French edition of the second volume of Churchill’s Mémoires sur la Deuxième Guerre Mondiale7 was published by Plon in 1949. The wrong French text was also printed in the French edition of Into Battle (L’Entrée en Lutte published in 1943) This major error repeats itself everlastingly. The three-volume The War Speeches of Winston S. Churchill compiled by Charles Eade, published by Purnell in association with Cassell in 1952, also uses the incorrect text. A bilingual (English and French) edition of Churchill’s war speeches and broadcasts published by Tallandier as recently as 2009 Winston Churchill, Discours de Guerre (War Speeches) is distinctly odd. This bilingual edition also fails to publish the correct text spoken by Churchill. For some odd reason, the editor Guillaume Piketty used the incorrect English text8. – the one published by Putnam’s Sons in America in April 1941. And he clearly made no attempt to track down the correct French text of the broadcast, commissioning instead a new translation of the Putnam text. This is particularly inexcusable, because Duchesne’s book Deux Jours avec Churchill, had been published the previous year, in 2008. The difference between the two texts can be seen in the first two sentences. The version in Into Battle: Français! Pendant plus de 30 ans, en temps de paix comme en temps de guerre, j’ai marché avec vous et je marche encore avec vous aujourd’hui, sur la même route. Ce soir je vous parle, au sein de vos foyers, où que vous soyiez, et quelque soit votre sort… The words spoken by Churchill as per the BBC sound recording: (differences in italics) Français! C’est moi, Churchill, qui vous parle. Pendant plus de 30 ans, dans la paix comme dans la guerre, j’ai marché avec vous et je marche encore vous aujourd’hui, sur la vieille route. Cette nuit, je m’adresse à vous dans tous vos foyers, partout où le sort vous a conduits…
Randolph Churchill. The new editor in turn went into the armed services [Randolph served as a Major with his father’s old regiment the Fourth Queen’s Own Hussars, and later with the newly formed Special Air Service] and subsequent volumes were prepared by Mr. Charles Eade, then Editor of the Sunday Dispatch. 7
The French text was not printed in the English edition of volume II of The Second World War, but in the Mémoires the French publishers printed the incorrect text as published in Into Battle. 8 The Putnam text is incorrect because on page 403 of Blood, Sweat and Tears the words “Think of it always: speak of it never.” were credited to Adolphe Thiers, instead of to Léon Gambetta, who said: “Pensons-y toujours, n’en parlons jamais.” (‘Think of it always; speak of it never’, referring to AlsaceLorraine, incorporated into Germany at the end of the Franco-Prussian war, 1870-71.)
6 The second sentence of the published text gives a clue as to why Churchill did not like this translation. The phrase ‘wherever you may be, or whatever your fortunes are’ has been translated into ‘professorial’ French, by using the present subjunctive twice: où que vous soyiez, et quelque soit votre sort. And it is also incorrect — the word ‘soyiez’ should be ‘soyez’. This is an example of written French as opposed to spoken French. Churchill, and most French speakers, would never use the subjunctive in this instance. This is why Jacques Duchesne, as a theatre director, was such a good choice for the second translation. He realised that the use of the subjunctive was inappropriate, replacing it with the more simple text: je m’adresse à vous dans tous vos foyers, partout où le sort vous a conduits. This is grammatically correct, and is much better suited to a spoken broadcast. The spelling mistake – ‘soyiez’ instead of ‘soyez’ may be unimportant. What is much more serious is an incorrect historical reference in the published text. In the penultimate paragraph of Churchill’s broadcast in English he said: As to those to whom English hearts go out in full, because they see them under the sharp discipline, oppression and spying of the Hun — as to those Frenchmen in the occupied regions, to them I say, when they think of the future let them remember the words which Gambetta, that great Frenchman, uttered after 1870 about the future of France and what was to come: “Think of it [Alsace-Lorraine] always; speak of it never.
Inexplicably the published text refers to Thiers instead of Gambetta. In the BBC sound recording of the broadcast in English, Churchill clearly referred to Gambetta. How the translator came to replace Gambetta by Thiers is a mystery. Churchill was correct in quoting Léon Gambetta’s famous phrase, but sadly the incorrect reference to Adolphe Thiers is the one which has appeared in all published versions of the French broadcast, in Into Battle and in Blood Sweat and Tears in America and Canada.9
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The reference to Gambetta is on the BBC sound recording of the broadcast in English, as also in the English text in Into Battle and in the Canadian version of Blood, Sweat and Tears. For some odd reason the American publication of Blood, Sweat and Tears refers incorrectly to Thiers instead of to Gambetta in the English text. The same error also appears on page 6298 in Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches, edited by Robert Rhodes James.
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Churchill broadcasting to France on October 21, 1940 (Š Keystone)
The BBC sound recording proves conclusively that the words spoken by Churchill during the BBC broadcast were based on the Duchesne translation. The BBC transcript was based on the sound recording.
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Jean Oberlé’s (John Oberlé) sketch of Duchesne.10 The full text of Duchesne’s translation as spoken by Churchill was published in the book Deux Jours avec Churchill (Two Days with Churchill) in 2008 (posthumously, since the author had died in 1971). The two days in the title refer to 1) October 21, 1940 when Duchesne wrote a more Churchillian version for the French-language broadcast, and 2) November 11, 1944 when Duchesne was in Paris to watch Churchill and De Gaulle review a march-past of Allied troops on the Champs-Élysées. Duchesne not only wrote a better French text for the broadcast, he also prepared a few words with which to introduce Winston Churchill to listeners in France. After the war, Duchesne described his first day with Churchill in a short broadcast in English: He [WSC] could not speak of my country’s sufferings at that time without being deeply moved. It was astonishing to see sensitive reactions of this kind cohabit in the same man with ruthless strength. 10
Oberlé was the first person to join Duchesne’s team at Radio Londres. This sketch is in his book Jean Oberlé vous parle, Souvenirs de cinq années à Londres (John Oberlé speaking, Memories of five years in London). Oberlé also wrote Images Anglaises (a reprint of articles about England written between 1941 and 1943, first published in La France Libre. Oberlé’s enjoyable autobiography_LA VIE d’ARTISTE (An artist’s life) was published by Éditions Denoël in 1956. All Oberlé’s books and articles include many of his remarkable and enjoyable sketches of people and places.
9 A little later, as a German plane was flying over Downing Street, he burst out in loud imprecations: “They will try to destroy this ancient city of ours, but for one bomb that falls on London, ten are going to fall on Berlin, for ten a hundred, for a hundred a thousand, and for a thousand, thousands of thousands. This apocalyptic eloquence sprang from the temperament of a man of war. In 1940, Churchill was fighting Hitler in single combat. “They say he [Hitler] is a genius,” he exclaimed in front of me. “He is not. He is the most monstrous abortion of human monstrosity.” The same evening, when everything was ready for the broadcast, Churchill, dressed in a light blue siren suit made of plush, was sitting comfortably in an armchair opposite innumerable microphones. There was no place for me to speak from. I asked “Where can I sit, Sir?” He looked around, saw no other seat, and, laughing, “On my lap” he said, throwing himself backwards. I put one of my legs between his, and sat half on Churchill’s thigh, half on his armchair’s arm. The green light came on, and the broadcast began: “Français – c’est moi, Churchill, qui vous parle” (Frenchmen. It is me, Churchill, speaking.) Duchesne introduced French listeners to Churchill with the following text (translated by the author from the book Deux Jours avec Churchill): I am a Frenchman speaking to you, but not for long. No doubt you are aware that, this evening, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Mr Winston Churchill, is broadcasting to France. It gave me great pleasure when I was told that Mr Churchill planned to speak to you in French. And it made sense that he chose to use our daily evening programme – Les Français parlent aux Français – for his broadcast. Mr Churchill is an Englishman whom French people can easily understand. Why? Because we like his style, his sense of humour, his frankness and his expressive way with words. We also remember that the Prime Minister has always been a friend of France. He knows our country well, and he understands the French people. He knows them well. He first got to know us during the last war, 1914 – 1918. He admires France, he is deeply immersed in our culture. Since June of this year, even in the most difficult moments, he has never made any unkind comment about France in any of his speeches. His love for our country has withstood the shock and disappointment of the armistice. On June 17, 1940 Churchill broadcast a short ‘Message to the People’: The news from France is very bad and I grieve for the gallant French people who have fallen into this terrible misfortune. Nothing will alter our feelings towards them or our faith that the genius of France will rise again. What has happened in France makes no difference to our actions and purpose. We have become the sole champions now in arms to defend the world cause. We shall do our best to be worthy of this high honour. Just one day later, on June 18, in the House of Commons and subsequently broadcast on the BBC, Churchill affirmed that: However matters may go in France or with the French Government, or other French Governments, we in this Island
10 and in the British Empire will never lose our sense of comradeship with the French people. If we are called upon to endure what they have been suffering, we shall emulate their courage, and if final victory rewards our toils they shall share the gains, aye, and freedom shall be restored to all.11 As early as November 23, 1932, Mr Churchill spoke of the German threat to peace in Europe. On that day in the House of Commons he had said: “Compare the state of Europe on the morrow of Locarno12 with its condition to-day. Fears are greater, rivalries are sharper, military plans are more closely concerted, military organizations are more carefully and efficiently developed, Britain is weaker: and Britain’s hour of weakness is Europe’s hour of danger.”13 Duchesne than compared the image of Churchill inspecting the coastal defences with the image of Georges Clemenceau, who, at the eleventh hour, became France’s Prime Minister in 1917. Following Germany’s surrender in 1918, Clemenceau was revered in France as Le Père la Victoire (The Father of Victory) and as Le Tigre (The Tiger). Before handing over the microphone to Churchill, Duchesne said: “Yes, Churchill is the Tiger. But he is also the Tiger of the world. He alone symbolizes the resistance of the world to Nazi tyranny.” Churchill then gave his broadcast in English (relayed simultaneously to America and Canada) and then in French. The broadcast in English: TO THE FRENCH PEOPLE AN ADDRESS BROADCAST TO FRANCE IN FRENCH AND ENGLISH OCTOBER 21, 1940
FRENCHMEN ! For more than thirty years in peace and war I have marched with you, and I am marching still along the same road. To-night I speak to you at your firesides wherever you may be, or whatever your fortunes are. I repeat the prayer around the louis d’or14, “Dieu protège la France” (God protect France) Here at home in England, under the fire of the Boche15, we do not forget the ties and links that unite us to France, and we are persevering steadfastly and in good heart in the 11
These remarks came towards the end of the speech which ended with the well-known words “Let us brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, “This was their finest hour.” 12 The Locarno Conference and Treaties in 1925 between the United Kingdom, France and Germany. 13 Arms and Covenant page 42. Earlier in the same speech Churchill had said: “All these bands of sturdy Teutonic youths, marching through the streets and roads of Germany, with the light of desire in their eyes to suffer for their Fatherland, are not looking for status. They are looking for weapons, and, when they have the weapons, believe me they will then ask for the return of lost territories and lost colonies…” 14 French coins introduced in 1640 by Louis XIII. The coin was replaced by the franc at the time of the Revolution in 1789. 15 French slang word for Germans.
11 cause of European freedom and fair dealing for the common people of all countries, for which, with you, we drew the sword. When good people get into trouble because they are attacked and heavily smitten by the vile and wicked, they must be very careful not to get at loggerheads with one another. The common enemy is always trying to bring this about, and, of course, in bad luck a lot of things happen which play into the enemy’s hands. We must just make the best of things as they come along. Here in London, which Herr Hitler says he will reduce to ashes, and which his aeroplanes are now bombarding, our people are bearing up unflinchingly. Our Air Force has more than held its own. We are waiting for the long-promised invasion. So are the fishes. But, of course, this for us is only the beginning. Now in 1940, in spite of occasional losses, we have, as ever, command of the seas. In 1941 we shall have the command of the air. Remember what that means. Herr Hitler with his tanks and other mechanical weapons, and also by Fifth Column intrigue with traitors, has managed to subjugate for the time being most of the finest races in Europe, and his little Italian accomplice is trotting along hopefully and hungrily, but rather wearily and very timidly, at his side. They both wish to carve up France and her Empire as if it were a fowl: to one a leg, to another a wing or perhaps part of the breast. Not only the French Empire will be devoured by these two ugly customers, but Alsace-Lorraine16 will go once again under the German yoke, and Nice, Savoy and Corsica—Napoleon’s Corsica—will be torn from the fair realm of France. But Herr Hitler is not thinking only of stealing other people’s territories, or flinging gobbets of them to his little confederate. I tell you truly what you must believe when I say this evil man, this monstrous abortion of hatred and defeat, is resolved on nothing less than the complete wiping out of the French nation, and the disintegration of its whole life and future. By all kinds of sly and savage means, he is plotting and working to quench for ever the fountain of characteristic French culture and of French inspiration to the world. All Europe, if he has his way, will be reduced to one uniform Boche-land, to be exploited, pillaged, and bullied by his Nazi gangsters. You will excuse my speaking frankly because this is not a time to mince words. It is not defeat that France will now be made to suffer at German hands, but the doom of complete obliteration. Army, Navy, Air Force, religion, law, language, culture, institutions, literature, history, tradition, all are to be effaced by the brute strength of a triumphant Army and the scientific low-cunning of a ruthless Police Force. Frenchmen—re-arm your spirits before it is too late. Remember how Napoleon said before one of his battles17 : “These same Prussians who are so boastful to-day 16
Alsace-Lorraine had been part of Imperial Germany since the end of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71 to the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, when Alsace-Lorraine was restored to France. 17 Churchill discreetly did not mention that Napoleon’s famous Order of the Day was made on June 14, 1815, two days before the Battle of Waterloo, in Avesnes-sur-Helpe, France (eight miles due west of his campaign headquarters in Beaumont on the Belgian border). The original French translation of Churchill’s BBC broadcast incorrectly stated that Napoleon had said these words ‘avant une de ses victoires’ (before one of his victories!). Duchesne’s correct translation refers to ‘avant une de ses batailles’ (‘before one of his battles’, without mentioning which battle). Napoleon’s Order of the Day before the Battle of Waterloo, translated by the author:
12 were three to one at Jena, and six to one at Montmirail.18” Never will I believe that the soul of France is dead. Never will I believe that her place amongst the greatest nations of the world has been lost for ever! All these schemes and crimes of Herr Hitler’s are bringing upon him and upon all who belong to his system a retribution which many of us will live to see. His story is not yet finished, but it will not be so long. We are on his track, and so are our friends across the Atlantic Ocean, and your friends across the Atlantic Ocean. If he cannot destroy us, we will surely destroy him and all his gang, and all their works. Therefore have hope and faith, for all will come right. Now what is it we British ask of you in this present hard and bitter time ? What we ask at this moment in our struggle to win the victory which we will share with you, is that if you cannot help us, at least you will not hinder us. Presently you will be able to weight the arm that strikes for you, and you ought to do so. But even now we believe that Frenchmen wherever they may be, feel their hearts warm and a proud blood tingle in their veins when we have some success in the air or on the sea, or presently – for that will come – upon the land. Remember we shall never stop, never weary, and never give in, and that our whole people and Empire have vowed themselves to the task of cleansing Europe from the Nazi pestilence and saving the world from the new Dark Ages. Do not imagine, as the German-controlled wireless tells you, that we English seek to take your ships and colonies. We seek to beat the life and soul out of Hitler and Hitlerism. That alone, that all the time, that to the end. We do not covet anything from any nation except their respect. Those Frenchmen who are in the French Empire, and those who are in so-called unoccupied France, may see their way from time to time to useful action. I will not go into details. Hostile ears are listening. As for those, to whom English hearts go out in full, because they see them under the sharp discipline, oppression, and spying of the Hun – as to those Frenchmen in the occupied regions, to them I say, when they think of the future let them remember the words which Gambetta, that great Frenchman, uttered after 1870 about the future of France and what was to come : “Think of it always : speak of it never.”
Soldiers, Today is the anniversary of Marengo and Friedland, which twice decided the destiny of Europe. Then, as after Austerlitz, as after Wagram, we were too generous, we believed the words of princes whom we had allowed to stay on their thrones! Today, however, allied against us, they are attacking the independence and the most sacred rights of France. They began the most unjust of aggressions. Let us meet them, man to man, as we used to do before. Soldiers, at Jena, against these same Prussians, now so arrogant, you were one against three; at Montmirail, six against one… Our enemies are mad. They have been blinded by their own optimism. They have not the slightest chance of oppressing and humiliating the French people. If they enter France, they will find only their graves. Soldiers, we have before us many forced marches, battles and dangers. But with courage and endurance we will be victorious, and we will enjoy once again the rights, honour and prosperity of our country. For every true Frenchman, the choice before us now is to conquer, or to perish. 18
Napoleon won the Battle of Jena in October 1806, and the Battle of Montmirail in February 1814.
13 Good night then: sleep to gather strength for the morning. For the morning will come. Brightly will it shine on the brave and true, kindly upon all who suffer for the cause, glorious upon the tombs of heroes. Thus will shine the dawn. Vive la France ! Long live also the forward march of the common people in all the lands towards their just and true inheritance, and towards the broader and fuller age.
The French text translated by Duchesne and spoken by Churchill on the BBC (the text which should have been published in Into Battle)
Pendant plus de trente ans, dans la paix comme dans la guerre, j’ai marché avec vous et je marche encore avec vous aujourd’hui, sur la vieille route. Cette nuit, je m’adresse à vous dans tous vos foyers, partout où le sort vous a conduits, et je répète la prière qui entourait vos louis d’or. « Dieu protège la France » Ici, chez nous, en Angleterre, sous le feu du Boche, nous n’oublions jamais quels liens et quelles attaches nous unissent à la France. Nous continuons à lutter de pied ferme et d’un cœur solide, pour que la liberté soit rétablie en Europe, pour que les braves gens de tous les pays soient traités décemment et pour amener ainsi le triomphe de la cause qui nous a fait ensemble tirer l’épée. Quand des honnêtes gens se trouvent bousculés par les attaques et assommés par les coups que leur portent des coquins et de vils malfaiteurs, ils doivent prendre bien garde de ne pas se laisser aller à se dresser les uns contre les autres. Les Allemands essaient toujours de provoquer des querelles, et naturellement, dans le malheur, dans la guigne, bien des choses arrivent, et font le jeu de l’ennemi. Il nous faut simplement faire de notre mieux, et prendre les choses comme elles viennent. Ici, dans cette ville de Londres, que Herr Hitler prétend réduire en cendres, et que ses avions bombardent en ce moment, nos gens tiennent bon. Notre Royal Air Force a fait plus que tenir tête à l’ennemi. Nous attendons l’invasion, promise souvent et de longue date. Les poissons aussi ! Mais bien sûr, nous n’en sommes encore qu’au début. Aujourd’hui, en 1940, comme toujours, et malgré quelques pertes, nous avons la maîtrise des mers. En 41, nous aurons la maîtrise de l’air. N’oubliez pas ce que ça veut dire. C’est beaucoup. Herr Hitler, avec ses chars d’assaut et ses autres armes mécaniques, et aussi, n’oubliez pas, grâce aux intrigues de sa cinquième colonne avec les traîtres et les sots, a réussi pour le moment à conquérir la plupart des races les plus belles de l’Europe ; et son petit complice Mussolini, plein d’espoir et d’appétit, continue à trotter craintivement à son côté. Tous deux veulent découper la France et son Empire, comme une poularde. L’un veut la cuisse, l’autre l’aile ou peut-être une partie du blanc. Non seulement l’Empire français sera dévoré par ces deux vilains messieurs, mais l’Alsace-Lorraine va une fois encore repasser sous le joug allemand – et Nice, la Savoie et la Corse, la Corse de Napoléon, seront arrachées du beau domaine de la France. Mais Herr Hitler ne songe pas seulement à voler le territoire des autres peuples, et à en distraire quelques morceaux pour les lancer à son petit camarade.
14 Je vous dis la vérité, et il faut que vous me croyiez : cet homme de malheur, ce monstrueux avorton de la haine et de la défaite, n’est résolu à rien moins qu’à faire entièrement disparaître la nation française, qu’à broyer sa vie même, et son avenir. Il se prépare, par toutes sortes de moyens sournois et féroces, à tarir pour toujours les sources de la culture et de l’inspiration françaises dans le monde. S’il est libre d’agir à sa guise, toute l’Europe ne sera plus qu’une Bochie uniforme, offerte à l’exploitation, au pillage et à la brutalité des gangsters nazis. Si je vous parle aussi carrément, excusez-moi, mais ça n’est pas le moment de mâcher les mots. Ce ne sont pas les conséquences de la défaite que la France va aujourd’hui avoir à subir de la main des Allemands. Elle va parcourir toutes les étapes d’un anéantissement complet. Armée, Marine, Aviation, Religion, Lois, Langage, Culture, Institutions, Littérature, Histoire, Traditions, tout va être effacé par la force brute de l’armée triomphante, et par les ruses scientifiques et basses d’une police secrète impitoyable. Français ! Armez vos cœurs à neuf avant qu’il ne soit trop tard. Rappelez-vous de quelle façon Napoléon disait, avant une de ses batailles : « Soldats, à Iéna, contre ces mêmes Prussiens aujourd’hui si arrogants, vous étiez un contre trois, à Montmirail un contre six. » Je refuse de croire que l’âme de la France soit morte, et que sa place parmi les grandes nations puisse être perdue pour jamais. Tous les complots et tous les crimes de Herr Hitler sont en train d’attirer sur sa tête et sur son régime un châtiment que beaucoup d’entre nous verront de leur vivant. Il n’y aura pas si longtemps à attendre. L’aventure suit son cours. Nous sommes sur sa piste, et nos amis de l’autre côté de l’Atlantique y sont aussi, et vos amis de l’autre côté de l’Atlantique y sont aussi. Si lui ne peut pas nous détruire, nous, nous sommes sûrs de le détruire, avec toute sa clique et tous leurs travaux. Ayez-donc espoir et confiance. Rira bien qui rira le dernier. Maintenant, nous autres Britanniques, qu’avons-nous à vous demander aujourd’hui, dans ce moment si dur ? Ce que nous vous demandons, au milieu de nos efforts pour remporter la victoire que nous partagerons avec vous, c’est que, si vous ne pouvez pas nous aider, au moins vous ne nous fassiez pas obstacle. Le jour viendra où vous pourrez, et où vous devrez, renforcer le bras qui frappe pour vous. Cependant nous comptons que les Français, où qu’ils soient, se sentiront le cœur réchauffé et que la fierté de leur sang tressaillira dans leurs veines chaque fois que nous remporterons un succès dans les airs, sur mer, ou, plus tard – ça viendra – sur terre. N’oubliez pas que nous ne nous arrêterons jamais, que nous ne nous lasserons jamais, que jamais nous ne céderons, et que notre peuple et notre Empire tout entier se sont voués à la tâche de curer l’Europe de la pestilence nazie et de sauver le monde d’une nouvelle barbarie. Ne vous imaginez pas, comme la radio contrôlée par l’France essaie de vous le faire croire, que nous autres Anglais cherchons à saisir vos navires et vos colonies. Ce que nous voulons, c’est frapper jusqu’à ce qu’Hitler et l’hitlérisme passent de vie à trépas. Nous ne voulons que ça, mais nous le voulons sans cesse, nous le voulons jusqu’au bout. Nous ne désirons rien de quelque nation que ce soit, si ce n’est le respect. Parmi les Français, ceux qui se trouvent dans l’Empire colonial et ceux qui habitent la France soi-disant inoccupée peuvent, sans doute, de temps à autre, trouver l’occasion d’agir utilement. Je n’entre pas dans les détails. Les oreilles ennemies nous écoutent. Les
15 autres Français, vers qui l’affection anglaise se porte d’un seul mouvement, parce qu’ils vivent sous la stricte discipline, l’oppression et l’espionnage des Boches, je leur dis : Quand vous pensez à l’avenir, rappelez-vous les mots de ce grand Français que fut Gambetta. Il les prononça après 1870, à propos de l’avenir : « Pensons-y toujours. N’en parlons jamais.19 » Allons, bonne nuit. Dormez bien, rassemblez vos forces pour l’aube, car l’aube viendra, elle se lèvera brillante pour les braves, douce pour les fidèles qui auront souffert, glorieuse sur les tombeaux des héros. Vive la France ! Et vive aussi le soulèvement des braves gens de tous les pays qui cherchent leur patrimoine perdu et marchent vers les temps meilleurs. How is it that the incorrect text was published in Into Battle through eleven impressions and reprints, as also in Blood, Sweat and Tears in America and Canada? To this day, it remains the only French text of the October 21, 1940 broadcast which is readily accessible. We can only speculate. But there is no need for this ‘chain of error’, uncorrected since February 1941, to continue any longer. If ever there is a reprint of Into Battle it should use the Duchesne text, as spoken by Churchill, with an introductory note of explanation.
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February 8, 2012
The Irish Times - Wednesday, February 8, 2012
What did Churchill really think about Ireland? l'
ANALYSIS: On this day 100 years ago in Belfast Winston Churchill was attacked by a loyalist mob trying to stop him promoting Home Rule, but his vision was of an Ireland loyal to Britain, writes PAUL BEW WINSTON CHURCHILL made his first public appearance in Ireland in 1878. In 1877 Disraeli had sent his family into a form of internal exile – the Duke of Marlborough was appointed viceroy in Dublin Castle and his son Randolph decided to act as his aide. Randolph’s wife Jenny – proud mother of cherubic Winston – painted his portrait and placed it on public display at a Dublin exhibition, to the joy of the local press. He also learned his first political lesson. His nanny warned him against the dangers posed by the Fenians, reasonable advice as in 1882 republican assassins murdered Lord Frederick Cavendish, the incoming chief secretary, in the nearby Phoenix Park. Churchill’s relationship to Ireland is encapsulated for many by a few famous phrases – his celebrated reference to the integrity of the quarrel of the dreary steeples in Fermanagh and Tyrone, and his sharp critique of de Valera and neutrality in the fight against Hitler. But what did Churchill really think about Ireland? Churchill’s conversion from Conservatism to Liberalism owed everything to domestic social pressures in Britain and nothing to the Irish question. At the moment of conversion in April 1904 he signalled to the Liberals of northwest Manchester that he was not impressed by the great Gladstonian theme of Home Rule: “I remain of the opinion that a separate parliament for Ireland would be dangerous and impractical.”
17 His support for the Home Rule Bill in 1912 was always qualified by a view that a substantial partitionist concession should be made to Ulster unionism. This sympathy for their case was combined with exasperation when he felt they rejected reasonable offers of compromise, exasperation which led him to agree to speak to a Belfast nationalist meeting at the Ulster Hall on February 8th, 1912. The Ulster unionists regarded this as an act of gross provocation. At this venue Winston’s father Randolph had declared in 1886 his passionate identification with their cause. In the end the venue was shifted to Celtic Park in Belfast. Nevertheless an angry Belfast loyalist crowd waited for Churchill and his wife Clemmie outside his hotel in Berry Street. “The roar that greeted the attempt to start the motor car was as angry as had been heard in Belfast for many a day.” Within the narrow confines of the tiny and enclosed Berry Street the car was jostled by beefy shipyard workers including ironically one William Grant who was to be minister of public security in the Ulster unionist government during the second World War. The Northern Whig , a local liberal unionist paper, wished to downplay the level of threat and argued that the crowd merely wished to send a strong political message. But “it was as rough a five minutes as anybody could desire until at last, with a final rush, the police got the car around the corner and all danger was at an end”. Perhaps not all dangers, however. In March Clementine Churchill had a miscarriage and one can only imagine Churchill’s anger when at a 1917 dinner Lloyd George twitted him that he fully deserved his Belfast reception. Churchill’s speech in Belfast has been rather neglected by historians. Unlike 1904, he now defended the creation of a Dublin parliament: “History and poetry, justice and good sense, alike demand that this race, gifted, virtuous and brave, which has lived so long and endured so much should not, in view of her passionate desire, be shut out of the family of nations and should not be lost forever among indiscriminate multitudes of men.” He saw the new relationship of Great Britain and Ireland as fostering “the federation of English speaking peoples all over the world”. He assumed that the growing Westminster subvention of Ireland undermined the case for significant economic powers for a Dublin parliament. The new loyal Ireland would constitute a strategic security asset for Britain. Churchill threw himself into the treaty negotiations arising from the Sinn Féin revolution of 1918-21. Accused by Liberal prime minister Asquith of dealing with these issues in a purely pragmatic rather than a Gladstonian high-minded fashion, Churchill replied with a comment marked by a deep sense of political history, self-knowledge and an eye for cant. He argued, with some precision, that Lloyd George’s 1920-21 government had done exactly what Gladstone had done in 1880-82: announced determination to fight nationalist violence, then performed an about face, capitulated to it, and negotiated with its leaders.
18 During the treaty negotiations Churchill bonded closely with Michael Collins at London dinner parties. His intentions were twofold – to ensure that the new Ireland would retain links, especially on defence, with Britain and to bolster understanding between Collins and Sir James Craig, the new Northern Ireland prime minister. When Collins showed occasional signs of backsliding from Churchill’s view of this deal, Churchill had no hesitation in throwing military support behind the Ulster unionists. In 1926 he visited Belfast and spoke now as an honoured guest in the Ulster Hall and praised his father’s speech of 1886 whilst still indicating a longterm hankering for a united Ireland linked to Britain. The electoral rise of de Valera, and with it the dominance of Anglophobic separatism in Irish politics, blighted Churchill’s hopes as did the amazing (to him) decision by the Chamberlain government to evacuate the strategically significant port facilities in Ireland to placate de Valera and to convey the idea to Hitler that negotiation not war was the way to resolve historical disputes. On April 3rd, 1940, at a moment of extreme vulnerability, much obsession existed in Whitehall about getting Dublin onside. Churchill met David Gray, Roosevelt’s cousin and the incoming US ambassador to Dublin, and told him he would not be party to any attempt to override the wishes of the Ulster unionists to secure this end. As late as 1948 Harold Nicolson and Sir John Maffey, the British ambassador in Dublin, had to tell Seán MacBride in the Kildare Street club that Churchill’s apparent sympathy for Irish unity was only on the basis of an Ireland more closely linked to Britain. Today with de Valera’s once hegemonic party now in disarray and Collins’s party never stronger, an Irish government is reconsidering the role of the thousands of Irish soldiers who left the Irish Army for the British army in 1940. Today Ireland is increasingly nervous about Germany – the gallant allies of the men of 1916 – and its ambitions, and at a time when Ulster unionists were never more über-reasonable. In the past weeks unionist First Minister Peter Robinson made a piece of history by being an honoured guest at a Gaelic football match. What would Churchill think? Paul Bew is professor of politics at Queen’s University Belfast, and an Independent (cross bench) member of the House of Lords. He has just published Enigma: A new Life of Charles Stewart Parnell (Gill and Macmillan 2011).
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World War I soldiers brightened the trenches with glowworms.
One of the most unlikely nonhuman contributions to World War I was made by Lampyris noctiluca, more commonly known as the European glowworm, which emits light through bioluminescence. Huddled in dank, dark trenches, enlisted men and officers alike turned to the incandescent insects for help, collecting them in jars by the thousands. These instant but ephemeral lanterns allowed soldiers to examine intelligence reports, study battle maps or simply read comforting letters from home. According to a 2010 study, just 10 glowworms can provide the same amount of illumination as a modern-day roadway light. (Image: Dysmorodrepanis/Wikimedia Commons) AN ORIGINAL DRAWING BY CHURCHILL, AGED 18 Churchill, Winston (1874 - 1965) A compelling original ink drawing by Winston Churchill, accomplished by him in 1892 at the age of eighteen, whilst still a student at Harrow School. The young statesman has drawn an appealing image of a boxer sat exhausted on a chair in the corner of a boxing ring, being wiped down by one man and thrown a towel by another. He captions the picture, 'The Losing Side' and has signed boldly in fountain pen ink, adding the date. Drawn on a 9" X 7" sheet that has been laid down to card. Some age-toning, especially to the inner section where the picture was presumably once framed, otherwise in fine condition. This appears to be the earliest-known artwork by Churchill, with it's title ('The Losing Side') decidedly ironic in light of the man's future achievements. Apparently the young Churchill gave this picture to the owners of a sweet shop close to Harrow School, and it remained in their family until its sale. See adam@andrusier.com ÂŁ12,500
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Winston Churchill addresses Congress, Jan. 17, 1952 On this day in 1952, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressed a joint meeting of Congress in the House chamber.
The occasion marked the third time that Churchill spoke before Congress — more than any other foreign leader. The first time was in 1941, soon after the United States entered World War II. He spoke again in 1943, as the struggle with Germany and Japan reached a critical phase.
Churchill, who had came up with the Cold War term “Iron Curtain” to describe the Soviet Union’s hold on Eastern Europe, called on the Democratic-led lawmakers to support Western European rearmament in the face of Moscow’s continued threats in the region. U.S. and British interests were then in less-than-perfect alignment. After Iran nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., the British focused on the need to coerce Tehran to pay full compensation. But Washington saw Cold War risks in overly pressuring Iran. The two governments also disagreed on issues such as the choice of a standard rifle for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the location of NATO headquarters. The most immediate points of friction, however, were centered in the Far East, where there were differences about their strategic interests in Korea, where the stalemated war had entered its third year; future relations with China and Taiwan; and the nature of a peace treaty with Japan. Nonetheless, Churchill held that the Anglo-American alliance — known as the “special relationship” — was still the key to ensuring the security of democratic governments throughout the world. “Bismarck once said that the supreme fact of the 19th century was that Britain and the United States spoke the same language,” Churchill said. “Let us make sure that the supreme fact of the 20th century is that they tread the same path.” SOURCE: OFFICE OF HISTORY AND PRESERVATION, CLERK OF THE U.S. HOUSE
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71493.html#ixzz1jlEkEYh7
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London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games
Winston Churchill ÂŁ5 Coin Pack
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Winston Churchill ÂŁ5 Coin Pack
The Fancy and Mason London just teamed up for this edition of 25 gem of a poster featuring a chilled out Winston Churchill. Seriously, Churchill was kind of chill under pressure wasn’t he? Definitely enough to wear that tee
24 There's a book collection: Dr Seuss Goes to War.
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Informal Churchill Sketches
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CHURCHILL IN THE NEWS
SECRET HISTORY BY LAUREN DAVIS JAN 29, 2012 3:00 PM
This dieselpunk life pod kept Winston Churchill from dying mid-flight By 1947, Winston Churchill was 73 years old, overweight, a profuse smoker, and had already suffered two heart attacks, less than ideal health conditions for a man who flew all over the world. So to keep Churchill in the air and among the living, a pressurized pod was designed for Churchill's personal plane. This photo comes from a 1947 issue of LIFE Magazine, and the caption explains that Churchill's doctors recommended that he never fly above 8,000 feet. That prohibition wasn't possible, since Churchill often needed to take off for Washington, Moscow, Yalta, or Casablanca on a moment's notice. Fortunately, though, Churchill had a special plane assigned for his transport, so a pressure chamber could be built right into the plane. The chamber kept the pressure inside the pod at the equivalent of 5,000 feet, while still allowing Churchill to enjoy his favorite vice: a good cigar. The air circulation system was built with the globetrotting smoker in mind. [LIFE Magazine via Nerdcore]
Contact Lauren Davis
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LĂŠgende: On 11 May 1948, commenting on the outcome of the Congress of Europe in The Hague, Leslie Gilbert Illingworth, British cartoonist, illustrates the importance of the role played by the former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, as he bears the torch of the European ideal across a continent devastated by the war. Source: National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth Ceredigion SY23 3BU. http://www.llgc.org.uk/, Leslie Gilbert Illingworth, ILW01425 Churchill carries the Council of Europe torch, 11 May 1948. Copyright: (c) Leslie Illingworth Associated Newspaper / Solo Syndication, London
Launch of Edwina Sandys Art
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Let's Do Launch
Manhattan has gone dotty for a new book on Edwina Sandys, the flame-haired painter, sculptor and granddaughter of Winston Churchill. Quite right, too, says Anthony Haden-Guest
THE MANHATTAN PUBLICATION of Edwina Sandys’ Art was celebrated by so many parties that it was like a fire in a fireworks shop, and as I write they are still going off. Sandys first astonished me in London, as a member of the Chelsea Set, that scene-setter for the Swinging Sixties, a variegated and colourful group of which she was by no means the least vivid member. And — full disclosure — I should add that I came to know her because she frequented the Bistro, a small restaurant off Sloane Square run by a formidable woman. OK, that was my mother. Sandys was an artist and was married to Piers Dixon, the son of Pierson Dixon, the then British ambassador to Paris. They lived in a house on Chester Row in which their two sons, Mark and Hugo, were born. It’s not coincidental that her grandfather was one of the 20th century’s better-known amateur painters, Winston Churchill. .
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‘I often watched him painting,’ says Sandys, who frequently stayed in the Churchills’ country house, Chartwell, as a child. ‘He was totally absorbed.’ She came to understand that for him the act of painting was not merely a way of removing himself from the mundane, from the cares of office, but it was also a way of channelling his extraordinary appetite for life. Churchill was also that rarity among politicians, a powerful writer, and she loves a vintage Churchillian quote: ‘History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.’ US House to vote on Churchill statue for capitol WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives was set to vote Monday on installing a bust or statue of Winston Churchill in the US Capitol to mark 70 years since his World War II address to lawmakers there. The resolution, offered by Republican House Speaker John Boehner, states that the US Capitol "does not currently appropriately recognize the contributions of Sir Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom." The measure notes that the storied wartime prime minister addressed a joint session of the US Congress on December 26, 1941, just weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that led Washington to enter World War II. "Churchill's persistence, determination and resolve remains an inspiration to freedom-fighters all over the world" and Britain "remains and will forever be an important and irreplaceable ally to the United States," the resolution says. The US Senate would also need to endorse the move.
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Churchill's mission to rescue the war horses and how he made officials bring tens of thousands home By CHRIS HASTINGS Last updated at 10:06 PM on 31st December 2011
Winston Churchill intervened to secure the safe return of tens of thousands of war horses stranded in Europe after the First World War. The heroism of the million-strong army of horses that served alongside British troops – often in hellish conditions – is celebrated in Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster War Horse, which opens in the UK this month. And now, historic documents uncovered by The Mail on Sunday reveal many of them were to owe their lives to Churchill’s compassion.
Heroes: Churchill was incensed at the treatment of tens of thousands of Britain's war horses in 1919
British military chiefs were heavily dependent on horsepower to carry men, supplies and artillery, and spent more than £36 million during the war to buy up 1.1 million horses from Britain, Canada and the United States. More...
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Made in Britain: It's time we were reminded of the heroes and heroines who have made our country great
War Office documents found in the National Archives at Kew show that tens of thousands of the animals were at risk of disease, hunger and even death at the hands of French and Belgian butchers because bungling officials couldn’t get them home when hostilities drew to a close. Churchill, then aged 44 and Secretary of State for War, reacted with fury when he was informed of their treatment and took a personal interest in their plight after the 1914-1918 war.
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Outraged: The leader fired off angry memos to officials to the the Ministry of Shipping who failed to get the horses back promptly
He secured their speedy return after firing off angry memos to officials within his own department and at the Ministry of Shipping, who had promised to return 12,000 horses a week but were struggling to get a quarter of that number back. In a strongly worded missive dated February 13, 1919, Churchill told Lieutenant-General Sir Travers Clarke, then Quartermaster-General: ‘If it is so serious, what have you been doing about it? The letter of the Commander-InChief discloses a complete failure on the part of the Ministry of Shipping to meet its obligations and scores of thousands of horses will be left in France under extremely disadvantageous conditions.’ Churchill’s intervention led to extra vessels being used for repatriation, and the number of horses being returned rose to 9,000 a week. Terry Charman, senior historian with the Imperial War Museum, says Churchill was an animal lover and his motivation could have been based purely on animal-welfare concerns. ‘It is quite possible he could have been moved by the plight of the animals,’ he said. ‘He loved everything from cats to canaries. There is a famous story that on one occasion he was unable to carve a goose which had grown up at his home in Chartwell.
Moving: Albert (Jeremy Irvine) and his horse Joey are featured in 'War Horse', Spielberg's emotional piece
32 ‘He would certainly have been aware of the work carried out by the horses, because, prior to his appointment as Secretary of State, he had served on the front line with the artillery.’ But other more pressing military concerns would also have played their part. Prime Minister Lloyd George had specifically appointed Churchill to the position of Secretary of State in January 1919 to speed up demobilisation. Churchill would have been mindful that delays in recovering the horses would have been a serious distraction from the main job at hand. Spielberg’s War Horse is based on the bestselling 1982 children’s book by Michael Morpurgo and tells the story of one boy’s attempts to be reunited with his horse Joey after the animal is sent to the front lines in France.
Plans for Winston Churchill centre in Israel spark controversy Sir Winston Churchill’s views on Israel are the subject of heated debate after plans are disclosed for a centre to be opened in his honour in Jerusalem.
The Churchill Centre will cater for Israelis with an interest in the great statesmen but has stirred opposition in some quarters. Photo: PA
By Tim Walker 7:30AM GMT 11 Jan 2012
Almost half a century after his death, Sir Winston Churchill is still capable of stirring up controversy. The latest surrounds plans to set up a Churchill Society and build a Churchill Centre in Jerusalem, with the backing of Sir Martin Gilbert, the eminent biographer, who is Jewish.
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An affiliate of the worldwide Churchill Centre, the society’s purpose will be to allow Israelis with an interest in one of the 20th century’s greatest statesmen to share information and views with other like-minded individuals. Russell Rothstein, an American immigrant to Israel behind the plans, says: “Churchill’s long-standing support of Zionism and friendship with the Jewish people make it particularly appropriate that the modern state of Israel have a local organisation devoted to his memory and to preserving his thoughts, words and deeds for future generations.” Sir Martin says: “Churchill was very familiar with the Old Testament. He wrote about the Children of Israel who 'understood and adopted ideas which even ancient Greece and Rome, for all their power, failed to comprehend. “He was familiar with the Zionist ideal and supported the idea of a Jewish State. “When a wave of anti-Semitism swept through the UK following the bombing of the King David Hotel in 1946 and the hanging of the two sergeants in 1947, Churchill said he abhorred anti-Semitism”. Not everyone, however, agrees. Professor Eli Shealtiel, an Israeli Churchill scholar, points out that the wartime leader was an intensely complex character. “He was no stranger to the latent anti-Semitism of his generation and class,” Shealtiel says. “In any event, he lost interest in Zionism after his close friend Lord Moyne was assassinated by Stern Gang extremists in Cairo in November 1944.” Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2080777/Churchills-mission-rescue-war-horses-officials-bring-tens-thousands-home.html#ixzz1i9xEEbQB
Photo by Bernie Crawley: Artur Voggenberger with his two dogs Guchi and Jodi
‘True gent’ who baked cakes for Winston Churchill and Prince Charles Josh Pettitt, ReporterSaturday, January 14, 2012 10:00 AM
Artur Voggenberger was a reluctant conscript to the German army in World War Two, but his baking skills also saw him called into service by the Royal family and Winston Churchill The Austrian’s culinary whiz’s journey started in humble surroundings as a potwasher on an Austrian mountain. After serving time as a hotel houseboy for two years, Mr Voggenberger, who died on December 27 aged 86, eventually earned his spurs in the kitchen and his mastery of patisserie emerged.
34 He also met his future wife Ann at the hotel, who later sent him a letter with a work permit, a train ticket and a job offer. Although Mr Voggenberger was already engaged to the daughter of a newspaper publisher in Innsbruck, he took his chances and took up digs in Camden Mews with Ann and did not look back. Mr Voggenberger was soon baking for Churchill out of Madame Floris’ kitchen in Soho. The cake he created for the revered politician’s 88th birthday was emblazoned with the words “I am not to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire”. Mr Voggenberger was called on again by the former Prime Minister to cook for him at his private residence. He went to work at Fortnum & Mason, cooking for embassies and at Buckingham Palace – baking a birthday cake for Prince Charles himself. After his spell at the department store, he went on to teach at a college in Lewisham. His niece Eva-Maria Goldmann said: “He felt very much at home in the Torriano pub, sipping pints of Pedigree, generously buying rounds of drink, a glint in his eye and a proffered handshake to regulars who looked on him as family. “On special occasions he could be seen proudly unveiling cakes of such deliciousness that they seemed to come from another world.” Drinking buddy Bernie Crawley said: “He was old school and just the most incredibly kind gentleman you could meet. “He had a word and a handshake for everyone.”
Winston Churchill library to be created in DC Published January 19, 2012 | Associated Press
WASHINGTON – An international group seeking to preserve the legacy of Winston Churchill announced plans Thursday to create the first U.S. research center devoted to the longtime British leader. The new National Churchill Library and Center will be established between 2013 and 2015 at George Washington University with an $8 million pledge from the Chicago-based Churchill Centre. Rare books and research materials will be transferred to the university's library and housed in a new street-front center with exhibit space, officials told The Associated Press. University President Steven Knapp said the center will become a destination for students and scholars of the former British prime minister, along with tourists visiting Washington's many museums, archives and libraries. Churchill is widely admired for his leadership of Britain during World War II. "We're going to be able to study the 20th century through the study of one of the towering figures of the 20th century, Winston Churchill," he said. "The idea here is to look at him not just in isolation but also setting him in his life and times." Born in 1874, Churchill's career in politics spanned 60 years, serving in Britain's parliament, numerous executive posts and as prime minister for 10 years. He died in 1965. The Churchill Archives Centre at the University of Cambridge in Britain is the primary repository for his documents and personal papers with over 1 million items. Other major Churchill institutions in the United Kingdom include the Churchill War Rooms and Museum and Chartwell, the Churchill family's home. Much of Churchill's memorabilia has never been shown in the United States, so the new center could borrow materials from the British institutions for public programs and exhibits. Members of the U.S.-based Churchill Centre will build a collection to be housed in Washington, said Lee Pollock, the group's executive director. Several members have personal collections they seek to donate to a permanent library, rather than sell. The Washington collection could amass more than 1,000 volumes, he added. The gift will also create endowments to support a professor and a curator position devoted to Churchill and 20th century British history. From the gift, $2 million is devoted to renovating space for the Churchill center at the university library, and $1 million will fund exhibits and programs.
35 "Americans are especially devoted Churchillians," Pollock said. The British icon is "probably the most collectible and collected statesman" of at least the last century, having written over 15 million words and about 50 different books as a historian and writer, he said. "No American president, perhaps with the exception of Lincoln, has ever been written about as much as Churchill," he said. Knapp said it is fitting to have a library devoted to Churchill in the U.S. capital where he addressed Congress and had close relationships with numerous presidents. Churchill thought of himself as a "personal bridge" between Britain and the United States, with an American mother and British father, Knapp said. His work with President Franklin D. Roosevelt helped draw the U.S. into World War II against Japan and Nazi Germany. "Of course that produced a tremendous alliance that had extremely important consequences," Knapp said. "Although he is from outside America, he in many ways stands for America's relationship with the larger world." ___ Online: Churchill Centre: http://www.winstonchurchill.org ___ Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/19/apnewsbreak-churchill-library-to-be-created-in-dc/#ixzz1jxFZI9Tn
Winston Churchill's friendship with Welsh miner revealed
Winston Churchill and Maj John Williams served together during World War I Continue reading the main story
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An unlikely friendship between a south Wales coal miner and one of the UK's most revered prime ministers is to feature in a TV documentary.
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Collier John Williams, from Aberavon, met Winston Churchill in the winter of 1915-16 when they were both serving officers in France during World War I. Later, Churchill helped Maj Williams find a job when he fell on hard times in the depression in the 1920s. His grandson tells the story, which will be revealed on S4C next month. Darn Bach o Hanes (A Little Piece of History) interviews Peter Williams, from Port Talbot.
Economic depression Continue reading the main story
After the miners' strike and the economic depression, my grandfather lost his work in the coal mine. He wrote to Churchill to ask for work in the Ministry of Defence� Peter WilliamsJohn Williams's grandson
He said his grandfather wrote to Churchill, who was living in California at the time, to ask for his help when he lost his job as a miner in the late 1920s. Maj John Williams, a miner by trade, had served with Churchill on the western front in the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers, when he was a Lieutenant Colonel and a sitting MP. Mr Williams said: "After the First World War, they stayed in touch. "After the miners' strike and the economic depression, my grandfather lost his work in the coal mine. He wrote to Churchill to ask for work in the Ministry of Defence." Churchill wrote back from Santa Barbara, California, and in a letter dated 1929, he said: "I'm extremely glad that you have obtained a post under the government as a result of my intervention. "When I return to England in mid November, I will write to you again to see how you are getting on. "Naturally, I would do anything I could but I have no influence with the present government.
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"Sincerely Yours, Winston Churchill."
A letter from Winston Churchill to Maj John Williams
Mr Williams said Churchill obviously had some clout as he pulled a few strings that helped his grandfather find a job in the Ministry of Labour near London. John Williams was so grateful that he named his son after Churchill, calling him Robert Winston Spencer Williams.
Miners' strike Darn Bach o Hanes producer Euros Wyn said it was an unlikely friendship, especially after Churchill's role in the Tonypandy Riots of 1910 when he sent troops onto the streets to support the police against the miners. Mr Williams said Churchill was "hated" in south Wales because of his condemnation of a miners' strike which led to the General Strike of 1926. He said: "My father had to bear his name for the rest of his life." The little known story of Churchill and his Welsh friend will be shown on S4C on 23 February at 21:00 GMT. English subtitles will be available.
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Sir Winston Churchill's belongings on show at Chartwell
The display includes a passport used by Churchill Continue reading the main story
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Personal items of Sir Winston Churchill have gone on public display for the first time at his former home in Kent. A passport used when he was Prime Minister is among the items on show at Chartwell near Westerham. The National Trust, which runs the museum, said the 40 items were being shown in the UK for the first time. Also on display are a dictation machine he used for his speeches, a silver paint box and a hairbrush. Many of the items had been in storage. Churchill lived in Chartwell for more than 40 years, from 1922 until his death in 1965.
'Evocative object' The museum opened a year later, in 1966, and is comprised of two rooms. Also on display are a diamond-encrusted sword given to Churchill by King Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia, a leather travelling globe and a dog bowl belonging to his pet Rufus. Many of the items were put into storage when Lady Churchill handed Chartwell to the National Trust.
Churchill lived in Chartwell for more than 40 years, from 1922 until his death in 1965
Alice Martin, the house and collections manager at Chartwell, said: "My particular favourite is Sir Winston's passport.
39 "I welled up when I first handled it. It's such an evocative object. "We all have a passport but they don't list our birthplace as Blenheim Palace and occupation as Prime Minister." The exhibition runs until November 1.
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Š Jason C. Mueller, 2011