September 23, 2023

Churchill in the Kitchen

The third in our exciting series of interviews produced in partnership with the National Trust Chartwell is now available. Known as the Chartwell Chats, this episode takes a uniquely delicious approach to exploring the world of Sir Winston Churchill in depth. If you are hungry for some tasty history, you will enjoy this half-hour video in which Katherine Carter, the Collections Manager at Chartwell, sits down in the kitchen with food historian Dr. Annie Gray to discuss what’s cooking, or was cooking, in Churchill‘s kitchen. To view the video, please click here.

Gray is a well-known, author, broadcaster and consultant who specialises in British food and dining from c.1600 to the present day. She has written several books on the history and culture of food including The Greedy Queen: Eating with Victoria and The Twelve Birds of Christmas. She also appears regularly on radio and television programmes such as The Great British Bake Off, The Kitchen Cabinet, and Inside the Factory.

In 2020, Gray turned her attention to Georgina Landemare, Winston and Clementine Churchill’s longest serving cook, who famously published directions for her cuisine in 1958 in Recipes from No. 10, with a foreword by Clementine Churchill. Taking inspiration from this, as well as original research into the Churchills’ staff at Chartwell, Dr. Gray wrote Victory in the Kitchen: The Life of Churchill’s Cook.

The Chartwell Chats series is a joint project between the International Churchill Society–United Kingdom (ICS-UK) and the National Trust (NT). Costs for each episode are evenly divided between the two non-profit organizations. If you are interested in helping to sponsor the series, please contact ICS-UK Executive Director Andy Smith here.