“Churchill & the Irishman” Provides Rare Insight
For the first time ever there is an exhibition dedicated to the life and career of Brendan Bracken, the publisher and politician who provided the closest political support Winston Churchill received during his Wilderness Years. The exhibit opened this month at the Little Museum of Dublin and includes rare personal letters from Bracken, who ordered his own papers destroyed before his death in 1958. This is a rare glimpse of a rare man. Read More >
Churchill Collectables: Sir Joseph Porter Statue
By BRIAN KRAPF
This bisque statue measures three inches tall and depicts Churchill in a Victorian naval officer’s uniform. The piece has no maker’s markings, but the bottom is incised “Sir Joseph Porter.” When I acquired this piece several years ago, I had no idea of who Sir Joseph was. I could not immediately identify him as a British porcelain manufacturer and thought perhaps this unique item was a private commission. Research confirmed the identity of Porter and a very interesting reason for including his name on the piece.
Read More >
Renown Darrah/Harwood Collection of Churchilliana Moves
to Stratford Armouries in Shakespeare’s Hometown
Winston Churchill and William Shakespeare, the two Greatest Britons, are now both celebrated in the Bard’s home of Stratford-Upon-Avon as the Straford Armouries have become host to one of the finest collections of Churchilliana in existence. Jack Darrah (seen above studying his inventory) gathered many of the best and rarest pieces celebrating Churchill’s life and is now pleased to see them permanently housed in a museum that preserves many elements of British military history. Read More >
New Bust Unveiled at California’s Chapman University
L–R: Richard Stack, Juan Rosillo, James L. Doti, David Freeman
Chapman University has dedicated a new bust of Sir Winston Churchill on its campus in Orange, California. The latest addition to a large and growing collection of busts spread around the school depicting giants of history, the Churchill bust came about as a result of a gift by the Hugh and Hazel Darling Foundation to benefit the university’s law library, which is now named for the Darlings. Whenever a gift of an endowed chair is made, Chapman University allows the donor to name an individual whose bronze sculpture will be placed on campus to inspire the students. In this instance, Darling Foundation Trustee Richard Stack asked that the bronze bust be of Churchill, who was a hero to Hugh and Hazel Darling. Read More >
Longtime Proprietor of The Churchill Book Specialist
A friend to collectors of Churchill books around the world, Mark Weber died from complications of a stroke in Tucson, Arizona on 21 June. He is survived by his wife Avril who assisted him in the business of gathering and selling virtually all editions of books by Churchill from low-cost reading copies to fine first editions. Mark began collecting Churchill books in the 1980s after a chance encounter with the late Michael Wybrow, a noted Churchill book authority himself. Mark put together his own first catalogue in 1988, and the business expanded quickly into a demanding second job. Read More >
Candice Millard to Speak on Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape and the Making of Winston Churchill
New York Times best-selling author Candice Millard will discuss her new book about Winston Churchill’s exploits in the Boer War during a lunchtime session at the Thirty-second International Churchill Conference, which takes place at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D. C. from 27–29 October. Millard’s first two books covered Theodore Roosevelt’s post-presidential adventures in the Amazon and the assassination of President James A. Garfield. Her talk promises to be a highlight of a busy conference that marks the opening of the National Churchill Library and Center at George Washington University.
Read More >
Churchillian, Friend, Veteran, and Philatelist
A Remembrance by RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
In 1992, when I told Celwyn of my Latvian forebears and my wish to visit the Baltic, he said he knew it well, volunteered to accompany me, and made all arrangements for a tour. Generously he showed me places I never expected to see. I remember our strolling Bralu Kapi, Latvia’s Arlington, where heroes lie—and Celwyn musing, from his own experience, about what they must have gone through. Read More >
