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The Literary Churchill
Churchill’s Shakespeare: “Romeo and Juliet”
16
Aug
2023
By VALERIE LILLINGTON AND RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
Churchill wrote of his father, “Would he, under the many riddles the future had reserved for such as he, snapped the tie of sentiment that bound him to his party, resolved at last to ‘shake the yoke of inauspicious stars’….?” The line is from Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, Sc. 3, almost at the end of the play, where Romeo slays Count Paris....
Churchill’s Novels in Sterner Days: More than Mere Escape
17
Jul
2023
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
Churchill was motivated by H.G. Wells’s views of science in war: “The irresistible Juggernaut, driving through towns and villages as through a field of standing corn—a type which Armageddon itself could not achieve....” That was an accurate description of the Blitzkrieg that swept over France in May 1940, though WSC himself had his reasons to speak less alarmingly. He settled for a “remarkable combination of air bombing and heavily armoured tanks.” He was, after all, about to admonish Britons: “Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour.”
“Rough Men Stand Ready”: Neither Churchill nor Orwell
06
Apr
2023
2
By THE CHURCHILL PROJECT
While neither Churchill nor Orwell uttered the famous words, they certainly held the same attitude toward the defense of liberty. "A humanitarian is always a hypocrite," Orwell wrote. "It would be difficult to hit off the one-eyed pacifism of the English in fewer words than in the phrase, 'making mock of uniforms that guard you while you sleep.'"
Winston Churchill and the Etymology of “Iron Curtain”
19
Jan
2023
1
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
The evidence suggests that Churchill had a most prosaic source for phrase that quickly became his, © Fulton, 1946. But his many references to “iron curtain” make for an interesting line of enquiry. It shows (to our surprise) that Churchill used the term at least six times before he arrived to stun the world in Missouri.
Whatever Happened to Sir Winston’s Chartwell Library?
28
Apr
2022
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
Thirty years ago, we made a day-long visit to the Chartwell library. We were booksellers, and had encountered copies of the books Sir Winston’s son had removed. Invariably they contained a small oval label reading: “From the Library of Sir Winston Churchill.” We were anxious to know their origins, and how they fitted into the original scheme of things at Chartwell’s library.
Whom Did Churchill Regard as History’s Greatest Law-Giver?
25
Mar
2022
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
“Moses was the national hero who led the Chosen People out of the land of bondage, through the perils of the wilderness, and brought them to the very threshold of the Promised Land; he was the supreme Law-Giver, who received from God that remarkable code upon which the religious, moral, and social life of the nation was so securely founded.”
Churchill’s Animal Analogies: Enemy Crocodiles, 1907-1945
11
Mar
2022
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
The hard-used crocodile did have one favorable reference from Churchill. Britain developed a devastating, tank-like flame-thrower, which blasted flammable liquid with a range of 150 yards. “I am very glad that the Churchill Crocodile Flame Thrower has justified your hopes,” wrote Churchill in 1944. Here at least was one crocodile which earned his approval.
Literary Flourishes: “Take the Enemy into Consideration”
30
Dec
2021
Churchill’s Alternative History: Robert E. Lee’s Triumph at Gettysburg
12
Dec
2020
1
By PAUL K. ALKON and THE CHURCHILL PROJECT
Experience gave Churchill both a horror of war and the ability to imagine alternate scenarios. In what he called “the after-light,” it is shocking to realize that the worst possible outcome he imagined after the First World War came to be, just two decades later. Contemplating the causes of the war, Churchill with his historic imagination conjured up a scenario which might have prevented it—in 1863. Suppose, he asks us, Lee had won?
Sir Winston Churchill’s Three Outstanding War Books
03
Dec
2020
9
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
Churchill's best war books: “fascinating products of the human spirit, epic tales filled with the depravities, miseries, and glories of man.”
Tags:
Anthony Montague Browne,
Battle of Omdurman,
David Lloyd George,
Edward Grey,
Edward Marsh,
First World War,
Herbert Kitchener,
J.H. Plumb,
John Keegan,
Manfred Weidhorn,
Passchendaele,
Richard M. Langworth,
Robert Pilpel,
Robert Rhodes James,
Rudi Giuliani,
Second World War,
Somme,
Sudan,
Thucydides,
Winston S. Churchill,
“Angel of Deliverance”: Churchill’s Tributes to Joan of Arc
02
Nov
2020
1
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
Despite his encomiums to Joan, Churchill rated Napoleon higher, with Georges Clemenceau a close third—and, a bit farther down, de Gaulle.
Tracking Churchill’s Famous Slogan, “You can always take one with you”
03
Apr
2020
By THE CHURCHILL PROJECT
I have often wondered however what would have happened if two hundred thousand German storm troops had actually established themselves ashore. The massacre would have been on both sides grim and great. There would have been neither mercy nor quarter. They would have used Terror, and we were prepared to go all lengths. I intended to use the slogan “You can always take one with you.” - Winston Churchill