August 6, 2025

In his 1987 memoir Churchill’s Bodyguard, Edmund Murray told the story of how he prevented what would surely have become a legendary meeting in Monte Carlo around 1961. In the next issue of Finest Hour, Murray’s son Bill tells how he responded when he learned the story and set his father straight about what he should have done. We begin with the elder Murray’s account:

One evening Sir Winston decided to go the Casino after dinner. There were just the two of us as we made our way by car from Cap d’Ail to the Sporting Club d’Été, only open during the summer months. As we went towards the gaming-rooms, Sir Winston saw the bar on the right-hand side and decided he would like to sit awhile in one of the very comfortable easy chairs, some four or five yards from the actual bar. The place was almost empty, except for one man at the bar. I got a whisky and soda for Sir Winston and placed it on the table by his chair and then went to fetch my own drink.

I looked at the Old Man as he sat there and thought he looked rather sad and lonely. Just as I was about to go and sit beside him, I saw a friend enter the club. It was the Queen’s doctor, Lord Horace Evans. Just the person, I thought, and hurried to ask him if he would care to have a whisky and soda with Sir Winston. He was delighted, and I made the re-introduction as Lord Horace shook hands and sat down beside Sir Winston.

Happy, I retired to the bar, where I prepared to keep watch. The two men were chatting amiably together as I replenished the glasses and sat at the bar once more. I had taken the trouble to remove at a considerable distance all the chairs and tables close to my protégé to preclude anyone listening in on the conversation between the two men, but I still kept myself ready for emergencies.

Then I saw out of the corner of my eye that the man at the bar had put down his drink. He turned to walk towards Sir Winston’s table. Casually I rose and, without looking in the man’s direction, went towards Sir Winston. When only a few feet from him I turned towards the man approaching. He was in a dinner jacket, and I recognized him immediately, but I had already begun to ask him very politely if I could help him.

“That’s okay,” he said, “I’m just going to say hello to my friend Sir Winston.” The voice was very American.

“Well, sir,” I said, “I’m from Scotland Yard and as you can see, Sir Winston is engaged in conversation at the present moment and cannot be disturbed. Could I have your name please?”

If looks could kill, I would have been dead immediately, as the man glared at me, then turned and walked out of the Casino. It was Frank Sinatra.

Murray’s son Bill picks up the story:

Dad told us the story when he returned to England from Monte Carlo. I was about ten or eleven at the time, but even then, I thought Dad had made a mistake. He knew Sir Winston was fond of watching films in the cinema at Chartwell, and I felt that what Dad should have done was introduce Sinatra to the Great Man and his guest while making up a story about a Sinatra film they had recently watched.

With just a brief conversation and a handshake, Sinatra would have been happy and Dad’s friend for life, especially when he reached for the crocodile skin cigar case in his right breast pocket for one of the famous cigars that he carried and gave it to Sinatra. When I grew brave enough to share my childhood thoughts with Dad in later life, he agreed with me.

Read more of Bill Murray’s recollections about growing up as the son of Churchill’s bodyguard in the next issue of Finest Hour by becoming a member of the International Churchill Society. Rates start as low as $29 / year. CLICK HERE to join.