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The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College > Search results for 'birkenhead'
Great Contemporaries: Lord Attlee on “The Churchill I Knew,” Part 1
01
May
2018
1
Churchill and Fisher (Or: Charlie Brown and the Football)
16
Mar
2018
Great Contemporaries: Bring Back Jacky Fisher! Part 1
29
Jan
2018
By BARRY GOUGH
The name of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher, commonly known as “Jacky,” was on the lips of everyone who cared about the Royal Navy. Fisher’s resignation in May 1915, at a critical stage of the Dardanelles campaign, had led to Churchill’s removal as First Lord of the Admiralty. That post constituted the political head of naval administration, with a prominent position in Cabinet. It offered unbounded influence in all aspects of war direction. Fisher had been at that time First Sea Lord, the senior naval officer. Churchill brought the famous Admiral out of retirement in October 1914 to put zeal and drive into naval affairs. Fisher arrived at a time of misadventure.
Great Contemporaries: Brendan Bracken
01
Dec
2017
4
By RON CYNEWULF ROBBINS & RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
There was no more enigmatic figure in Churchill’s life than Brendan Bracken, who cloaked his birth and upbringing with mystery while hinting broadly that he was the great man’s illegitimate son. It is well-authenticated that close friendship, not errant fatherhood, encompassed their relationship. But Churchill, with characteristic impishness, apparently never gave the direct lie to Bracken’s implied claim. This annoyed Churchill’s wife and peeved his son, Randolph, who spoke satirically of “my brother, the bastard.” To quell the noisome rumor Churchill quipped: “I have looked the matter up, but the dates don’t coincide.”
Great Contemporaries: Jan Christian Smuts
01
Dec
2017
2
Poor, Dear Randolph: An Appreciation of Churchill’s Son
15
Nov
2017
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
He combined two qualities: generous loyalty to those he loved, and an acid tongue and pen for those he didn’t. Most of the latter, I tend to think, richly deserved what they got. Randolph Churchill’s public persona was based on the latter quality. In the mid-1950s, surgery revealed that a tumor on his lung was benign. His friend Evelyn Waugh burst into the bar at White’s Club: “They’ve cut out the only part of Randolph that isn’t malignant!”
Frederick Lindemann: Churchill’s Eminence Grise?
06
Sep
2017
8
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
A popular weekly half hour podcast, Revisionist History takes aim at shibboleths, real and imagined. This episode is Churchill’s turn in the barrel. The villain, aside from Sir Winston, is his scientific adviser, Frederick Lindemann, later Lord Cherwell, aka “The Prof.” You’ve probably never heard of him, says narrator Malcolm Gladwell. You should have. It was Lindemann who made Churchill bomb innocent German civilians and starve the Bengalis. Accompanied by background music, uplifting or ominous as required, Mr. Gladwell unfolds his case. He claims to have read six books on Lord Cherwell (whose title he mispronounces). But his only two quoted sources are the British scientist C.P. Snow (very selectively; Snow admired Churchill); and Madhusree Mukerjee, author of a widely criticized book on the Bengal Famine. There are no contrary opinions or evidence.
The Other Club: Founded by Churchill and F.E. Smith
12
Sep
2016
By FRED GLUECKSTEIN
In 1911, a time of great political division, Churchill and F.E. Smith founded The Other Club, a collegial dining group for members of both parties. It's still going strong.
Great Contemporaries: Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook
17
Jun
2016
Irish Matters: “Churchill’s Final View”
04
May
2016
9
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
Irish self-determination is something Churchill is alleged to have opposed. The truth is quite different. Readers will do well to understand the nuances.
“There was Once a Man”: A Visit to Chartwell, 1955
29
Feb
2016
3
1914: Churchill’s Try for Peace
22
Jan
2016
By MAX E. HERTWIG
Churchill’s faith in personal diplomacy—solving intractable problems by meetings at the highest level—was famously expressed during his World War II meetings with Stalin and Roosevelt. It surfaced again in 1953-55, when he strove unsuccessfully to promote what he called “a meeting at the summit” with Eisenhower and Stalin’s successors. Less widely known, however, is Churchill’s 1914 proposal for a “conference of sovereigns” or heads of state (including, it seems, French President Raymond Poincaré) in an effort to head-off World War I. The scheme failed, but certainly not for Churchill’s lack of trying.