May 10, 2010

NEW ENGLAND
Barnstable, Mass, 13 March 2010

Richard G. Osborne, an active member of the New England Churchillians, delivered a talk at St. Mary’s Church to an audience of 85 on Churchill’s life, stretching as it did from Queen Victoria’s cavalry to the Nuclear Age. While Shakespeare wrote that there were seven stages of man, giving an overall picture of Sir Winston’s life as an athlete, soldier, war correspondent, author, painter, politician, war leader and statesman required nine stages. Mr. Osborne singled out what he considered the unfair criticism Churchill received as the result of the Dardanelles. He told the audience that he regarded it as the most innovative strategy of the First World War whose failure was due to tactical execution by the Navy and Army.

The talk closed with a quotation from Churchill’s daughter Mary Soames: “I owe you what every English man, woman and child does – liberty itself” to which he added that this debt is also owed by liberty-loving people everywhere. A very active question and answer period followed, and several of the audience expressed an interest in joining The Churchill Centre.