Great Contemporaries: Richard Haldane, “Prodigy, Paragon and Philosopher-Statesman”

With his many achievements, Haldane stood as warning that the apex of politics, there was no such thing as friendship. Except perhaps with Churchill.

Throwback to vanished age, Sassoon served his country in war and peace, and entertained the glitterati at his palatial mansions. He died too young.

In wartime, Eisenhower related to Churchill as junior to senior. As President, the relationship vastly changed, but ties of sentiment were still there.

Never Flinch, Never Weary chronicles a time when mankind stood “uncertainly poised between world catastrophe and a golden age.”

Churchill never said this: he was far too fastidious to apply such a term generically. He knew his fascists, and identified them more specifically.

The “golden years” are not always golden, but Winston Churchill’s long life offers perspective and encouragement to those of “a certain age.”

How Lord Alfred Douglas was convicted and sent to jail, but was mollified by later events; how he praised his former enemy, and was forgiven.

Churchill's racial epithets were extremely rare. Most of the few that do exist come from only one source—which leads one to question how reliable it is.

How Winston Churchill was invited to opine, and Lord Alfred Douglas was affronted by what he saw as an obvious conspiracy with Jewish financiers.

Churchill rarely painted scene with someone else, and only once with a field marshal. Their Lake Como oils offer a glimpse of friendship and technique.

Among his generals, Churchill thought Alexander “the best we had.” Alex for his part was ever faithful, saying, “I can’t simply refuse Winston.”

If we allow our monuments and memorials and place-names to be torn down because of our present-day views, it speaks to a pathetic lack of confidence in ourselves.