Q & A

Q: After the Battle of Omdurman in 1898, Churchill provided skin from his left forearm to one Dick Molyneux. Do you know what happened to him?

A reader has written to ask if Alfred, Lord Tennyson was Churchill’s favorite poet. We don’t know if Tennyson headed Churchill’s list, but he certainly ranked high.

There is a long story of the friendly relations between Great Britain and Turkey. Across it is a terrible slash of the last war, when German intrigues and British and Turkish mistakes led to our being on opposite sides. We fought as brave and honourable opponents. But those days are done, and we and our American Allies are prepared to make vigorous exertions in order that we shall all be together.

Q: What are the best works to read for information on Churchill at the Admiralty before World War I, specifically his decision to convert the Fleet from coal to oil?

A colleague writes of an amusing Churchill remark in Oldham (his then-constituency), dated 19 January 1903 in Richard Langworth’s quotation book, Churchill in His Own Words, page 113: "I have always cherished the hope that the removal of the War Office from the dilapidated rabbit warren which they occupy in a street whose very name is Pall Mall would inaugurate a new and brighter era of Administration."

The arts are essential to any complete national life. The State owes it to itself to sustain and encourage them….Ill fares the race which fails to salute the arts with the reverence and delight which are their due.

"Power will go to the hands of ras­cals, rogues, free­boot­ers; all Indian lead­ers will be of low cal­i­bre & men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight amongst them­selves for power and India will be lost in polit­i­cal squab­bles. A day would come when even air and water would be taxed in India.”

Q: In review­ing the 1940-45 vis­i­tors books at Che­quers, I was struck by how often Pro­fes­sor Freder­ick Lin­de­mann was there—far more than any­one except Churchill fam­ily and staff, more than Bracken and Beaver­brook, let alone the Chiefs of Staff. Lin­de­mann prac­ti­cally lived there and was present when­ever Churchill was. What do you make of him and what's best to read on him?

One the tragedies of Churchill’s career was the failed 1915 assault on the Dardanelles. Had Churchill, our correspondent asked, personally seen the Dardanelles beforehand? The short answer is yes, but the long answer sheds fresh light on an important aspect of Churchill’s character.

What were Churchill's remarks on the death of Mustapha Kemal (Ataturk)?

While Churchill and Hitler never met, they had a near encounter at a Munich hotel in the 1930's. During the evening Churchill dined with Ernst Hanfstaengl, Hitler’s foreign press secretary, to whom Churchill made the famous remark: "Tell your boss from me that anti-Semitism may be a good starter, but it is a bad sticker."