One Woman’s Churchillian Odyssey
By LYNDY BERRYHIL
One of the Churchill Centre’s newest members encountered unexpected obstacles on her path to the 2015 Churchill Conference but persevered undaunted.
Winston Churchill once said, “Never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”
I first encountered Churchill’s writing in 2014 at the International Churchill Conference in New Orleans, which I attended with other students from a community college in my home state of Mississippi. At the conference banquet, I met my good friend Kenneth Childs. He introduced himself as an attorney. I replied that I would not hold that against him. After I insulted his profession, we struck up a friendship. He asked if I was interested in attending the 2015 conference in Britain and very generously offered to pay for a plane ticket so that I could. In true Churchillian spirit I could not turn down an adventure. I made all the arrangements knowing it would be the experience of a lifetime. Little did I know just how much of an adventure it would prove to be. Read More >
The thirty-second International Churchill Conference took place from 26–29 May in Oxfordshire. With the Heythrop Park Hotel serving as General Headquarters, events also took place at nearby Ditchley Park, Blenheim Palace, and Bladon. Speakers included London Mayor Boris Johnson, Sir David Cannadine, and Andrew Roberts, but most people agreed that the highlight of the conference was the presentation made by the Imam Ahmed Abdel-Rahman El-Mahdi. To watch his speech, please 
In the winter of 1940-1941, shortly after the British had sunk the French fleet off Mers-el-Kebir, the newly exiled leader of the Free French, Charles de Gaulle, was a lunch guest at Downing Street. When the subject arose of how to prevent the remaining French fleet from falling into German hands, Clementine Churchill said she hoped it would support the British effort to defeat the Nazis whereupon de Gaulle replied that it would give the French more satisfaction to turn their guns on the British. Clementine was outraged and said so and although Winston tried, diplomatically, to smooth over the outburst, she was not placated. 
