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Articles
The Churchill Day Book: “Nothing Surpasses 1940”
- By BRADLEY P. TOLPPANEN
- | May 6, 2024
- Category: Churchill in WWII Resources
The Churchill Day Books
Knowing where Churchill was and what he was doing daily is invaluable to researchers, students, scholars, or just the curious. The Day Books, designed to do that, were the vision of Dalton Newfield, editor of Finest Hour from 1970 to 1975. After his death in 1982, the work was periodically revived but proved formidable. In the digital age, The Churchill Project revives the effort. Published so far (see “References” on our home page are 1928, 1935, 1940 and 1943; we are working on 1931-34. We invite any reader intrigued by helping us log all of Churchill’s days for other years to contribute. Please contact [email protected].
Dalton Newfield’s objective was a single reference pinpointing Churchill’s location and activity for every day of his life. He was undaunted by the fact that it would need to cover 33,000 days. Given the scope, detail is avoided. That is provided by the Official Biography, other biographies and specialized studies, and digital links included below.
A year to live over
“This tremendous year,” as he called it, was always the one Winston Churchill would choose to relive. He became prime minister at an age when most retire, after a forty-year political career including triumphs and high achievements but also disasters and bitter controversies.
He went to bed on the night of May 10th in a desperate hour. Yet he did so with a feeling of relief. He felt, he wrote, “as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial.”
Clearly, this was the iconic year of Churchill’s life. It is the year usually associated with him in the popular imagination—the one most often depicted in books, film and television. It was also the year Churchill convinced his government to reject a negotiated peace and to fight on to the end.
Nineteen forty was also the year of Dunkirk, “invasion summer,” the Battle of Britain, the Blitz, and Churchill’s greatest and most dramatic speeches: “Blood, toil, tears and sweat,” “Finest Hour,” “Fight on the beaches” and “The Few.” It was the year “the old lion with her lion cubs” stood alone “against hunters who are armed with deadly weapons.”
January
1: London. (Through 13 June, overnights at Admiralty House, since he does not wish to disturb the ailing Chamberlain at 10 Downing Street.)
2-3: London; War Cabinet.
4: London; War Cabinet; departs for France; arrives British Embassy, Paris.
5: Paris; meets with General Gamelin and Admiral Darlan at Vincennes.
6: Visits Maginot Line; meets with General Georges at French Army Staff headquarters at La Ferte-sous-Jourrare.
7: La Ferte-sous-Jourrare; inspects RAF Advanced Air Striking Force headquarters near Rheims.
8: Rheims RAF headquarters; travels to Arras to meet General Gort and inspect units of Gort’s British Expeditionary Force (BEF).
9: BEF headquarters; returns to London.
10: London; reports to War Cabinet.
11: London; War Cabinet; Military Coordination Committee.
12: London; War Cabinet.
13. London; travels to Portsmouth, inspects German magnetic mine at torpedo school HMS Vernon.
14-17: London; War Cabinet; Military Coordination Committee.
18: London; War Cabinet; interviewed by Manchester Guardian.
19: London; War Cabinet.
20: London; War Cabinet; radio broadcast: “[T]e joybells will ring again throughout Europe, and when victorious nations, masters not only of their foes, but of themselves, will plan and build in justice, in tradition, and in freedom, a house of many mansions where there will be room for all.”
21-23: London; War Cabinet; Military Coordination Committee.
24: London; War Cabinet; addresses Conservative Party’s 1922 Committee.
25-26: London; War Cabinet.
27: Manchester; broadcasts from Free Trade Hall: “[L] us to the task…. Fill the armies, rule the air, pour out the munitions, strangle the U-boats, sweep the mines, plough the land, build the ships, guard the streets, succour the wounded, uplift the downcast and honour the brave.”
28: London; lunch with Brendan Bracken.
29-30: London; War Cabinet.
31: London; War Cabinet and House of Commons.
February
1-3: London; War Cabinet.
4: London; departs for Paris.
5: Paris; meeting of Anglo-French Supreme War Council.
6: Paris; returns to London.
7: London; War Cabinet; House of Commons.
8: London; War Cabinet.
9: London; War Cabinet; Military Coordination Committee.
10-13 London; War Cabinet.
14: London; War Cabinet and House of Commons.
15: Plymouth; welcomes HMS Exeter, arriving home after the Battle of the River Plate: “You had the fortune to be on the spot when the opportunity came.”
16: London; War Cabinet; orders HMS Cossack to enter Norwegian waters and rescue prisoners from the Altmark; spends most of night in the Admiralty War Room awaiting developments.
17-19: London; War Cabinet.
20: London; War Cabinet and House of Commons.
21-22: London; War Cabinet.
23: War Cabinet; speaks at Guildhall at luncheon for ship’s companies of the HMS Exeter and HMS Ajax: “And to Nelson’s signal of 135 years ago, ‘England expects that every man will do his duty,’ there may now be added last week’s not less proud reply: ‘The Navy is here!’”
24: War Cabinet; attends ice hockey match at Wembley.
25-26. London; War Cabinet.
27: London; War Cabinet; House of Commons, presents Naval Estimates; departs by train for Scotland.
28: Arrives Glasgow; joins King and Queen on visit to Clyde Shipbuilding yards; returns to London by special train.
29: London; War Cabinet; speaks at Lobby correspondents’ lunch; attends Mary Churchill’s debutante ball.
March
1-2: London; War Cabinet
3: London; meets with Sir Horace Wilson, advisor to Neville Chamberlain.
4-5: London; War Cabinet.
6: London; War Cabinet and House of Commons; departs by train for the Clyde.
7: Clyde; embarks on HMS Rodney for inspection tour of fleet at Scapa Flow.
8-9: At sea and at Scapa Flow on board HMS Rodney.
10: Overnight train Scotland to London.
11: Arrives London; War Cabinet; flies to Paris; meets with Gamelin and Daladier.
12: Paris; flies to London; War Cabinet.
13-16: London; War Cabinet, Military Coordination Committee.
20: London; War Cabinet; House of Commons.
21: London; War Cabinet
22: London; meets with Chamberlain and Lord Halifax.
23: London; dines with Randolph and Pamela Churchill, Diana and Duncan Sandys.
24: London; dines with Lord Beaverbrook.
25: London; dines with Randolph Churchill.
26-27: London; War Cabinet.
28: London; meeting of Supreme War Council at 10 Downing Street.
29: London; War Cabinet; interviewed by W.P. Crozier, editor of the Manchester Guardian.
30: London; radio broadcast, “A Sterner War.”
31: London; meets with Chamberlain and Halifax.
April
1-3: London; War Cabinet.
4: London; War Cabinet; depart by air for Paris; meets with new French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud.
5: Paris; meets with Daladier, who remains French Defense Minister.
6: Paris; meets with General Gort at BEF headquarters.
7: Returns to London.
8: London; War Cabinet and Military Coordination Committee.
9-10: London; War Cabinet and Supreme War Council discuss German invasion of Denmark and Norway.
11: London; War Cabinet; speaks in Commons on the Norway campaign: “There never was a time when the Navy was treated more kindly by the British nation or by the House or when it was regarded with more admiration, nay, I will say affection.”
12-15: London; War Cabinet and Military Coordination Committee.
16: London; War Cabinet; House of Commons
17: London; audience with King George VI; War Cabinet and Military Coordination Committee.
18: London; War Cabinet.
19: London; War Cabinet; addresses ship’s company on homecoming of HMS Hardy: “Your countrymen are well content with the manner in which you have discharged your duties.”
20-21: London; War Cabinet.
22: London; departs for Paris.
23: Paris; Supreme War Council; London; Military Coordination Committee.
24-25: London; War Cabinet.
26-27: London; War Cabinet; Supreme War Council.
28-30: London; War Cabinet.
May
1: London; War Cabinet; interviewed by William Crozier, editor of the Guardian.
2-6: London; War Cabinet.
7: London; War Cabinet; House of Commons
8: London; House of Commons, winds up for the government in the Norway Debate: “I take complete responsibility for everything that has been done by the Admiralty, and I take my full share of the burden.”
9: London; War Cabinet; meets with Chamberlain and Halifax at 10 Downing Street; Chamberlain says will resign, and that his successor should be Churchill or Halifax.
10: London; War Cabinet; Germany invades the Low Countries and, subsequently, France; Chamberlain resigns; WSC accepts invitation from HM King George VI to become prime minister and to form a government.
11: London; War Cabinet; War Cabinet; audience with the King.
12: London; War Cabinet; attends a Privy Council at Buckingham Palace where members of his new coalition government take oaths of office; audience with the King.
13: London; War Cabinet; enters House of Commons for first time as prime minister, flanked by Attlee and Chamberlain on the front bench. Speech to the House: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat…. You ask, What is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory.”
14: London; War Cabinet.
15: London; War Cabinet. Holland surrenders; Reynaud telephones: “We are defeated; we have lost the battle.”
16: London; War Cabinet; flies to France; arrives British Embassy, Paris; meets with Reynaud, Daladier and Gamelin, who says there are no French reserves.
17: British Embassy, Paris; flies to London; War Cabinet; audience with the King.
18: London; War Cabinet; Chiefs of Staff meeting.
19: London; visits closed-up Chartwell briefly but called back; War Cabinet; first radio broadcast as prime minister: “Today is Trinity Sunday. Centuries ago words were written to be a call and a spur to the faithful servants of Truth and Justice: ‘Arm yourseves, and be ye men of valour….’”
20: London; War Cabinet.
21: London; War Cabinet; House of Commons.
22: London; departs for Paris; meets with Reynaud and Ministesr of Defense General Weygand; returns to London; War Cabinet.
23: London; War Cabinet; House of Commons, speaks on war situation.
24: London; War Cabinet; Defense Committee.
25: London; War Cabinet.
26: London; morning service at Westminster Abbey for the Day of National Prayer; War Cabinet.
27: London; War Cabinet.
28: London; War Cabinet; in House of Commons speaks on surrender of Belgium, warns of “hard and heavy tidings to come”; audience with the King; tells meeting of non-War-Cabinet ministers: “If at last this long story is to end, it were better it should end, not through surrender, but only when we are rolling senseless on the ground.”
29-30: London; War Cabinet decides to fight on.
31: Flies to Paris and British Embassy; meets with Reynaud, Pétain and Weygand.
June
1: Flies from Paris to London; War Cabinet; audience with the King; arrives at Chequers for the first time as Prime Minister.
2: Chequers; returns to London; Chiefs of Staff meeting; War Cabinet.
3: London; War Cabinet; chairs meeting of non-War-Cabinet ministers.
4: War Cabinet; learns of successful evacuation of 338,000 Allied soldiers at Dunkirk; House of Commons, speech: “We shall go on to the end…. We shall never surrender.”
5: London; War Cabinet; audience with the King.
6: London; War Cabinet; House of Commons; views film of Dunkirk at cinema.
7: London; War Cabinet; visits Chartwell.
8: London; War Cabinet.
9: London; War Cabinet; meets Charles de Gaulle for first time.
10: London; War Cabinet.
11: London; War Cabinet; flies to Briare, France; meets with Reynaud, Petain, Weygand, and de Gaulle.
12: Briare; discussions with French leaders; returns to London; War Cabinet; audience with the King.
13: London; flies to Tours, France; meets with Reynaud and French cabinet; returns to London; War Cabinet.
14: London; War Cabinet; moves living quarters from Admiralty to No. 10 Downing Street.
15: London; War Cabinet; drives to Chequers.
16: Chequers; returns to London; War Cabinet; entrains at Waterloo for a meeting with Reynaud at Concarneau; before train leaves, receives cable that French government is near collapse and no meeting is possible.
17: London; War Cabinet; House of Commons speech, later repeated in radio broadcast: “The news from France is very bad.”
18: London; War Cabinet; audience with the King; repeats his Commons speech in a broadcast: “Let us therefore 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.’”
19: London; War Cabinet.
20: London; War Cabinet; speaks at Secret Session meeting of the House of Commons.
21-24: London; War Cabinet.
25: London; War Cabinet; House of Commons, speaks on war situation; audience with the King.
26: London; inspects coastal defenses from Southwold to Harwich.
27: London; War Cabinet.
28: London; War Cabinet; drives to Chequers.
29: Chequers.
30: Chequers; returns to London; War Cabinet.
July
1: London; War Cabinet.
2: London; War Cabinet; tours coastal defenses; first meeting with Major-General Bernard Montgomery; returns to Downing Street.
3: London; War Cabinet; audience with the King.
4: London; War Cabinet; speaks in House of Commons on the destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kébir. “It is with sincere sorrow that I must now announce to the House the measures which we have felt bound to take….”
5: London; War Cabinet.
6: London; inspects First Canadian Division; visits Chartwell.
7-8: London. War Cabinet.
9: London; War Cabinet; tours aircraft factories.
10: London; War Cabinet; audience with the King.
11: London; War Cabinet; tours defenses on southeast coast from Dover to Whitstable; observes enemy-held French coast.
12: London; War Cabinet; inspects RAF Hurricane squadron; drives to Chequers.
13: Chequers.
14: Chequers; inspects RAF establishment at Halton; War Cabinet; radio broadcast: “The War of the Unknown Warriors”: “And now it has come to us to stand alone in the breach, and face the worst that the tyrant’s might and enmity can do.”
15: London; War Cabinet.
16: London; War Cabinet; audience with the King.
17: London; inspects Royal Navy at Portsmouth and defenses on Hampshire and Dorset coasts; War Cabinet.
18: London; War Cabinet; House of Commons.
19: London; War Cabinet; drives to Chequers.
20-21: Chequers.
22: London: War Cabinet.
23: London; War Cabinet; House of Commons; audience with the King.
24: London; Defence Committee.
25: London; War Cabinet.
26: London; War Cabinet; interviewed by Manchester Guardian.
27-28: Chequers.
29. London; War Cabinet; audience with the King.
30: London; War Cabinet; House of Commons, speaks in Secret Session; entrains for the north at Kings Cross.
31: Inspects coastal defenses in the northeast including near Hartlepool; returns to London.
August
1: London; War Cabinet.
2: London; War Cabinet; drives to Chequers.
3-4: Chequers.
5: Chequers; returns to London; War Cabinet.
6: London; War Cabinet; audience with the King.
7: London; inspection tour of East Anglia.
8: London; War Cabinet.
9: London; War Cabinet; drives to Chequers.
10-11: Chequers.
12: Chequers; returns to London; War Cabinet.
13: London; House of Commons; War Cabinet; luncheon with the King and Queen.
14: London; War Cabinet.
15: London; War Cabinet; House of Commons; observes air battle at Fighter Command, Stanmore.
16: London; War Cabinet; drives to Chequers.
17-18: Chequers.
19: London; War Cabinet.
20: London; audience with the King; Commons speech: “The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen…. Never in the course of human conflict was so much owed, by so many, to so few.”
21-22: London; War Cabinet.
23: London; War Cabinet; inspection of Kenley Aerodrome; interviewed by Manchester Guardian; drives to Chequers.
24-25: Chequers.
26: Chequers; returns to London; War Cabinet.
27: London; War Cabinet; audience with the King.
28: London; inspects coastal defenses in Kent: observes aerial battles over Dover: sees bomb damage in Ramsgate; returns to London.
29: London; War Cabinet.
30: London; War Cabinet; drives to Chequers, stopping at Fighter Command.
31 Chequers; observes air battle at No. 11 Group, Fighter Command, Uxbridge.
September
1: Chequers; observes operations room at No. 11 Group, Fighter Command, Uxbridge.
2: Chequers; returns to London; War Cabinet.
3: London; War Cabinet; attends Evensong in Westminster Abbey on the anniversary of the outbreak of the war; audience with the King.
4: London; War Cabinet; inspects New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Hampshire.
5: London; War Cabinet; House of Commons statement on war situation.
6: London; War Cabinet; drives to Chequers
7: Chequers.
8: London; visits bomb damage in London.
9: London; War Cabinet.
10: London; War Cabinet; tours bomb damage in London; luncheon with the King and Queen at Buckingham Palace, which was damaged by bombing.
11: London; War Cabinet; radio broadcast, “Every man to his post.”
12: London; drives to inspect coastal defenses.
13: London; War Cabinet; drives to Chequers, calling in at Dollis Hill and No. 11 Group, Uxbridge.
14: Chequers; returns to London for Chiefs of Staff meeting.
15: London; drives to Chequers via No. 11 Group, Fighter Command, Uxbridge: “Presently the red bulbs showed that the majority of our squadrons were engaged…. What losses should we not suffer if our refuelling planes were caught on the ground by further raids of ‘40 plus’ or ‘50 plus’! The odds were great; our margins small; the stakes infinite.”
16: Chequers; returns to London; War Cabinet; spends night in Cabinet War Rooms.
17: London; War Cabinet; House Commons; speaks to the House in Secret Session; audience with the King. “On September 17, as we now know, the Führer decided to postpone ‘Sea Lion’ [the invasion of Britain] indefinitely.”
18: London; War Cabinet.
19: London; War Cabinet; visits bombed areas of Battersea.
20: London; War Cabinet; drives to Chequers.
21-22: Chequers.
23: London; War Cabinet; audience with the King.
24: London; War Cabinet; luncheon at Buckingham Palace.
25: London; War Cabinet; visits bomb-damaged London docks.
26-27: London; War Cabinet.
28-29: Chequers.
30: London; War Cabinet; radio broadcast to people of Czechoslovakia.
October
1: London; War Cabinet; audience with the King.
2: London; War Cabinet.
3: London; War Cabinet held at Dollis Hill; cabinet reshuffled as the ailing Neville Chamberlain resigns from government and leadership of Conservative Party.
4: London; War Cabinet.
5-6: Chequers.
7: London; War Cabinet; meeting of Night Air Defence Committee.
8: London; audience with the King; House of Commons speech, “The George Cross.”
9: London; War Cabinet; unanimously elected Conservative Party leader by Conservative MPs and peers at Caxton Hall: after the election, speaks amid tumult of welcome.
10: London; War Cabinet; House of Commons; grandson Winston Spencer Churchill is born.
11: London; drives to Chequers.
12-13: Chequers.
14: London; War Cabinet.
15: London; audience with the King; House of Commons; War Cabinet; inspects bomb damage at Carlton Club.
16: London; War Cabinet.
17: London; House of Commons.
18: London; War Cabinet; drives to Chequers.
19-20: Chequers.
21: London; radio broadcast to the French people: “Français! Pendant plus de trente ans, en temps depaix comme en temps de guerre, j’ai marcbe avec vous et je marché encore avec vous aujourd’hui, sur la même route…. I repeat the prayer around the louis d’or, ‘Dieu protége la France’…. Here in London…we are waiting for the long-promised invasion. So are the fishes.”
22: London; War Cabinet; audience with the King; overnight train for Scotland.
23: Arrives Rosyth on Firth of Forth; inspects dockyard and defenses, including Polish forces; departs by train for London.
24: Arrives London; War Cabinet.
25: London; War Cabinet; drives to Chequers.
26-27: Chequers; christening of grandson Winston at Chequers church; repeatedly says, “Poor child. What a terrible world to be born into.”
28: returns to London; War Cabinet.
29: London; War Cabinet; audience with the King.
30: London; War Cabinet.
31: London; chairs Chiefs of Staff meeting.
November
1: London; War Cabinet; drives to Chequers,
2-3: Chequers.
4: Chequers; returns to London; War Cabinet.
5: London; audience with the King; House of Commons, speaks on war situation.
6: London; House of Commons; War Cabinet.
7: London; War Cabinet; both Houses of Parliament meet in Church House Annexe, Dean’s Yard, Westminster.
8: London; War Cabinet.
9: London; speech at Mansion House: “A long road to tread”; learns of the death of Neville Chamberlain; drives to Ditchley Park.
10: Ditchley, Oxfordshire.
11: Ditchley; returns to London; War Cabinet.
12: London; War Cabinet; audience with the King; House of Commons tribute to Neville Chamberlain: “[We here assembled this morning, Members of all parties, without a single exception, feel that we do ourselves and our country honour in saluting the memory of one whom Disraeli would have called an ‘English worthy.’”
13: London; War Cabinet; House of Commons; speech to executive of the National Union of Conservatives and Unionist Associations, Caxton House.
14: London; pall-bearer at funeral of Neville Chamberlain, Westminster Abbey.
15: London; drives to Ditchley.
16-17: Ditchley.
18: Ditchley; returns to London; War Cabinet.
19: London; War Cabinet; audience with the King; House of Commons.
20: London; War Cabinet; famously photographed in the Cabinet Room by Cecil Beaton; drives to Chequers.
21: London; War Cabinet; House of Commons speech, “Parliament in Wartime”; King George VI opens the new session of Parliament.
22-24: Chequers.
25: Returns to London; War Cabinet; audience with the King.
26-27 London; War Cabinet.
28: London; War Cabinet; drives to Chequers.
29-30: Chequers.
December
1: Chequers.
2: Chequers; returns to London; War Cabinet.
3: London; audience with the King.
4: London; War Cabinet; Chiefs of Staff meeting.
5: London.
6: London; War Cabinet; drives to Chequers.
7-8: Chequers.
9: Returns to London; War Cabinet; meets with service ministers and Chiefs of Staff; inspects bomb damage to the Commons.
10. London; House of Commons; announces successful launch of British offensive in Egypt; audience with the King; War Cabinet.
11: London.
12: London; House of Commons; War Cabinet; drives to Chequers.
13: Chequers.
14: Chequers; leaves for Ditchely.
15: Ditchley; visits Blenheim Palace, Woodstock.
16: Ditchley; returns to London; War Cabinet.
17: London; War Cabinet; House of Commons.
18: London; visits Harrow, his old school: “Can any one doubt that this generation is in every way capable of carrying on the traditions of the nation and handing down its love of justice and liberty and its message undiminished and unimpaired?”
19: London; House of Commons; audience with the King.
20: London.
21-22: Chequers.
23: London; War Cabinet; audience with the King; radio broadcast to the Italian people: “We have never been your foes till now…. In the last war against the barbarous Huns we were your comrades.”
24: London; drives to Chequers.
25-26: Chequers.
27: Chequers; returns to London; War Cabinet.
28-29: London.
30: London; War Cabinet; visits bomb damaged Guildhall.
31: London; War Cabinet; visits bomb damage in the City of London.
Bibliography
John Barnes & David Nicholson, eds., The Empire at Bay: The Leo Amery Diaries 1929-1945 (London: Hutchinson, 1988).
Cabinet Conclusions, The Cabinet Papers, CAB 65, National Archives.
Churchill Engagement Diaries, 1940, CHAR 2/413, Churchill Archives Centre.
Churchill Engagement Diaries, 1940, CHAR 20/19, Churchill Archives Centre.
Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1948).
Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1949).
John Colville, The Fringes of Power: 10 Downing Street Diaries 1939-1955 (New York: Norton, 1985).
W.P. Crozier, Off the Record: Political Interviews 1933-1943 (London: Hutchinson, 1973).
Alex Danchev & Daniel Todman, eds., War Diaries 1939-1945: Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001).
Anthony Eden, The Reckoning (London: Cassell, 1965).
Martin Gilbert, ed. The Churchill Papers, vol. 14, At the Admiralty, September 1939-May 1940. (Hillsdale, Mich.: Hillsdale College Press, 2011).
Martin Gilbert, ed. The Churchill Papers, vol. 15, Never Surrender May 1940-December 1940 (Hillsdale College Press, 2011).
Martin Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill, vol. 6: Finest Hour 1939-1941 (Hillsdale College Press, 2011).
Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), 1803-2005. Online.
Robert Rhodes James, ed., Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches, 1897-1963, vol. 7 (New York: Bowker, 1974).
John N. Kennedy, The Business of War: The War Narrative of Major-General Sir John Kennedy (New York: Morrow, 1958).
Warren F. Kimball, Churchill & Roosevelt: The Complete Correspondence, vol. 1, Alliance Emerging, October 1933-November 1942 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984).
Alan Lascelles, King’s Counsellor: Abdication and War: The Diaries of Sir Alan Lascelles (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006).
John Martin, Downing Street: The War Years. (London: Bloomsbury, 1991).
Lord Moran, Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran, The Struggle for Survival, 1940-1965 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1966).
Nigel Nicolson, ed., The War Years 1939-1945, Diaries and Letters (New York: Atheneum, 1967).
Gerald Pawle, The War and Colonel Warden, Based on the Recollections of Commander C.R. Thompson, 1940-1945 (New York: Knopf, 1963).
Emma Soames, ed., Mary Churchill’s War: The Wartime Diaries of Churchill’s Youngest Daughter (New York: Pegasus Books, 2022).
The Times (London), 1940.
Ronald Tree, When the Moon Was High: Memoirs of Peace and War 1897-1942 (London: Macmillan, 1975).
The author
Bradley P. Tolppanen is Professor of Library Services at Eastern Illinois University. He is the author of a definitive study, Churchill in North America, 1929.
What a year and what a compendium!