Search

Jonathan Rose writes that the sea of Churchill's tastes was dominated by melodrama, but he misses the whale among the fish—Churchill's beloved Shakespeare.

Churchill knew his Shakespeare and had a near-photographic memory. Darrell Holley’s Churchill’s Literary Allusions tells us he alludes to Shakespeare more than any other English author. King John, Richard III and Hamlet are his most frequent references. Henry V also moved and inspired him. He also closely read Richard II, generally accepting Shakespeare’s portrayal of his cruelty and vindictiveness.

Richard Langworth looks at the importance of Shakespeare, especially "Henry V," on Churchill and his rhetoric during World War II.

Lincoln and Churchill not only knew and quoted Shakespeare; they were connoisseurs of his plays and critics of the actors.

In his book Churchill's Literary Allusions, Darrell Holley writes: "There is no English author whom Churchill alludes to as often as to William Shakespeare. Both by formal quotations, some quite lengthy, and by well-known phrases almost hidden in his text, Churchill makes allusion to many of Shakespeare's plays."

Along with numerous Churchill anniversaries—1915, 1940, 1945, 1965—2015 marks the 600th anniversary of King Henry V’s remarkable victory at Agincourt (25 October 1415), which Winston Churchill described as “the most heroic of all the land battles England has ever fought.”

Hitler appealed to everything that is darkest in the human heart. Churchill himself appealed to different passions. He summoned the virtues of the British people and helped them find strength within themselves. He sought to elevate rather than to debase; to raise Britons from a desire for security above all to a contemplation of the just and the noble; to embolden them to face sacrifice and death rather than see the armies of evil pound their booted rhythms on the earth.

"Our Island no longer holds the same authority or power that it did in the days of Queen Victoria. A vast world towers up around it and after all our victories we could not claim the rank we hold were it not for the respect for our character and good sense... I regard it as the most direct mark of God’s favour we have ever received in my long life that the whole structure of our new-formed Commonwealth has been linked and illuminated by a sparkling presence at its summit." —WSC to The Queen, 1955

How the exotic variety of Churchill’s hats enthralled generations of cartoonists; and how “Punch” had a field day for 80 years.

For Churchill as for Aristotle, the force he advocated was not for the sake of domination but to maintain freedom and peace.

Eden by Charlwood: “The morning had been golden; the noontime was bronze; and the evening lead. But all were solid, and each was polished until it shone after its fashion.”

In time for the 75th anniversary of Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech, Nancy Carver describes and memorializes that moment from an American perspective.