February 23, 2025

A Message from ICS President Randolph Churchill

The International Churchill Society (ICS) is grieved to learn of the death of its founder Richard M. Langworth. Richard established ICS in 1968 and served as editor of Finest Hour for more than thirty years. ICS President Randolph Churchill has released the following statement:

The Churchill family is deeply saddened to have lost a great and loyal friend. Richard Langworth, the founder and for many years the guiding light of the International Churchill Society, was always present for us. When I was a child, he was revered by my parents and by my great aunt Mary Soames. With Richard and his wife Barbara we all had great camaraderie.

The first time Richard invited me to speak to his fellow Churchillians, I was in my 20s. I drove to the Old Bell pub near Henley, where the Langworths had gathered twenty or so travelling companions on a blazing hot summer day. Consequently, a few minutes into my remarks, I passed clean out—and that was my introduction to the International Churchill Society!

Through his relentless pursuit of the truth, forensically tracking down the original source texts of Sir Winston Churchill’s many famous sayings and speeches, Richard performed the greatest of tributes to the memory of my great-grandfather. As Churchill said, “Words are the only thing that last forever.” Thanks to Richard’s dedication, they certainly will.

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Richard leaves us with his soon-to-be published and completely refreshed book of quotes, which will be entitled Churchill: Master of Language. I am sad that I will never have a signed edition, but, when it is published, a copy will rightly sit alongside my books about Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert and Lord Roberts.

We are saddened by the loss of a dear friend and one of Sir Winston’s greatest champions, but we are comforted to know that Richard has got to meet with his hero at last. Their conversation is likely to go well beyond painting.

An obituary will appear in the March edition of the Churchill Bulletin, which will be published next week.