March 7, 2015

Finest Hour 158, Spring 2013

Page 5

Quotation of the Season

DELIGHT IN SMOOTH-SOUNDING PLATITUDES, REFUSAL TO FACE UNPLEASANT FACTS, DESIRE FOR POPULARITY AND ELECTORAL SUCCESS IRRESPECTIVE OF THE VITAL INTERESTS OF THE STATE, GENUINE LOVE OF PEACE AND A PATHETIC BELIEF THAT LOVE CAN BE ITS SOLE FOUNDATION….ALL THESE CONSTITUTED A PICTURE OF…FATUITY AND FECKLESSNESS WHICH, THOUGH DEVOID OF GUILE, WAS NOT DEVOID OF GUILT.”
—WSC, THE GATHERING STORM, 1948

Spurned Violet?

LONDON, NOVEMBER 23RD— Writing in the Daily Mail, Michael Shelden suggests that 21-year-old Violet Asquith flung herself from a cliff in September 1908 in despair over being “ditched” by Winston Churchill, who had married Clementine Hozier earlier that month. Wet and bedraggled, Violet was found on a ledge under a cliff in Cruden Bay, Scotland, where the Asquiths had been spending their holiday.

Shelden claims to have found evidence “buried in the Asquith family papers at the Bodleian Library in Oxford” that Violet had “not wandered off and fallen by accident,” as Prime Minister Asquith put it, but had thrown herself from the cliff over her loss of Winston—with whom she had walked those very paths a month before. But all he offers so far is supposition.

Violet, Shelden believes, was desperately in love with Churchill, who considered her an ace-in-the-hole should his pursuit of Clementine falter. But the only proof he offers is a remark from WSC to his friend Lord Dalmeny: “I behaved badly to Violet, because I was practically engaged to her.”

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Violet had invited Churchill to Scotland on August 17th. When his engagement to Clementine was announced two days before, Churchill “sent her a note” postponing his trip. Violet, Shelden writes, was “utterly devastated.” Churchill did go to Cruden Bay on August 24th, “with the wedding less than three weeks away”—a “last-minute dash [to] explain his decision face-to-face. In fury, Clementine threatened to call off the wedding.” Violet “refused” to attend Churchill’s wedding and on September 19th fell from the very same cliffs, causing a desperate search by her parents. Later her father prohibited her from joining Churchill on the platform at Dundee, implying that he did not want to encourage her continued infatuation.

It is well-known that Violet was Churchill’s lifelong admirer, and reasonable to suppose she may have been less than chums with his wife, who held an extreme dislike for her father after he sacked WSC from the Admiralty in 1915. But that proves nothing. We have seen no letters showing Churchill being drawn to Violet, as he was to Pamela Plowden or Ethel Barrymore. It was more of a hero-acolyte relationship.

Finest Hour consulted its battery of the knowledgeable. Professor David Dilks replied that the Asquiths frequently criticized Clementine, but this is irrelevant to Shelden’s argument. Professor Paul Addison, author of Churchill on the Home Front, said that according to the editors of Violet’s letters, her father’s demand that she not appear on the same platform with Churchill “stemmed from Asquith’s dissatisfaction with Churchill’s unauthorized interventions into foreign policy. In alliance with Lloyd George, WSC was then vigorously opposing increases in the naval estimates….” This is a very plausible explanation.

Paul Addison adds: “Churchill would not have wanted to tie his fortunes by marriage to those of Asquith or any other politician. Did he lead her on? Were they ever romantically linked, except perhaps in her imagination? Did he in any sense ditch her? There are obscurities here so let’s hope that Michael Shelden has better evidence than we read thus far.”

Honored in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM, NOVEMBER 4TH— A new bronze Churchill bust made from a cast by Oscar Nemon was unveiled today at the Moses Montefiore Garden at Mishkenot Sha’ananim, central Jerusalem, accompanied by the first of a planned annual Churchill lecture series.

Churchill’s relationship with the Jewish community goes back to 1906-08, when he sat for the constituency of Manchester North-West, where a third of the voters were Jewish. Even before that, young Winston and his father, Lord Randolph, were notable for their open friendships with Jews despite the prevailing anti-Semitic atmosphere of their class and time. Throughout his career, Churchill was a staunch Zionist, supporting the Balfour Declaration favoring a Jewish national home in Palestine, which he visited twice.

Despite this history, Churchill has been little commemorated in Israel. There is a small Churchill Forest near Nazareth, two Churchill Streets, a cul-de-sac on the Hebrew University campus in Jerusalem, and a small side street in the coastal city of Netanya.

Initiative for a more central memorial was originally that of Jerusalem Foundation trustee Anthony Rosenfelder, who was influenced by Sir Martin Gilbert’s book, Churchill and the Jews. When he read it, Rosenfelder said, “I realised just how outsized Churchill’s contribution had been throughout his life, both in his personal views and politically, and it seemed strange that none of Israel’s major cities had a large street or building named for him—certainly nothing of proportion to what this man had done for the Jewish people and Israel.”
—ANSHEL PFEFFER, JEWISH CHRONICLE

Honored at Home

LONDON, NOVEMBER 30TH— One of this city’s popular statues is that of Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt reposing on a park bench in New Bond Street. The two sit far enough apart for tourists to squeeze between them for a photographic remembrance.

Now the creator of that bronze, Lawrence Holofcener, has made a life-sized statue of a more youthful Churchill for permanent display at the Hyatt Regency’s Churchill Hotel on Portman Square. The subject sits casually in a comfortable chair in the hotel’s new Churchill Bar and Terrace, with a brandy snifter in his right hand and a cigar in his left, looking as if he is about to reply to a visitor’s question or engage in repartee. Fittingly, the piece is entitled, “In Conversation.”

The statue was unveiled today by Churchill descendants Celia Sandys and Randolph Churchill. Other Churchillians in attendance were Jack Darrah of Bletchley Park, Phil Reed of the Churchill War Rooms and Westminster’s Deputy Lord Mayor, Jan Prendergast.

Holofcener, truly a Renaissance man, began his career writing songs for Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows, and has extensive credits as a lyricist, playwright, actor, stage director and painter as well as a sculptor. “Rather than depicting Churchill as the war leader in his seventies,” he says, “I decided to represent him at a more youthful age, a man in his early fifties, not yet called to lead his nation, but already a successful author and politician. Creating a second sculpture of Winston Churchill is not just a commission; it is an honour.”

The Churchill’s general manager, Michael Gray, has invited Churchillians to “come in and visit with Mr. Churchill, and perhaps share a libation or cigar with him.”
—MARTIN M. COOPER,
CHURCHILLIANS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Another Other Club

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND— “Nothing in the rules or intercourse of the Club shall interfere with the rancour or asperity of party politics.” So reads Rule #12 of The Other Club, established by Churchill and his great friend F.E. Smith in London in 1911.

Fast forward 100 years to 2011 and the Churchill Dining Club is born on New Zealand’s North Island. The club is in no way political and there is a noticeable absence of rancour and asperity. But good conversation, robust discussion and vigorous debate are essential ingredients of its activities, and membership is open to both sexes.

The object is to assemble a group of people with an interest in the life and times of Sir Winston Churchill, so that all can learn more about him while enjoying the company of like-minded people. At the thrice-yearly meetings, following the model of its famous predecessor, attendance is limited to twenty-four, and the dinner is held in a private dining room.

At meetings every member is asked to share a brief Churchill story, and two members deliver a prepared ten-minute speech. Topics have included Churchill and de Valera; Churchill and the Jews; Winston and Clementine’s love story; Churchill and Chartwell; Churchill and Gallipoli; and: “Should Time magazine have made Churchill Person of the 20th Century?” (Of course! See FH 104 and 105.) During the evening we serve a fine meal and notable wines. (Marlborough, we hope! —Ed.) There is also a challenging quiz and cheerful repartee. Those so inclined may finish their evening off with brandy and a cigar.
—MIKE GROVES

Note: The Other Club of Auckland is affiliated with The Churchill Centre, which is represented by Mr. Groves in New Zealand. (See inside back cover.)

Close, but No Cigar

LONDON, FEBRUARY 7TH— From footman to aristocrat, actor Thomas Howes plays it well. In the highly acclaimed BBC/PBS television series “Downton Abbey,” Howes was William, the footman who falls in love with kitchen maid Daisy, goes off to war and comes home to marry her on his deathbed. Switching roles entirely, he now takes on a youthful Winston Churchill in the “Murdoch Mysteries” television series.

Thomas complained that the stately home where the UKTV series is shot prevented him from lighting a cigar in a scene, which predictably turned it from lifelike to a damp squib.

“I was very keen to get the cigar in the show, as it is one of the iconic, visual signatures of Churchill.” Howes said. “But I was forced to pretend to light one before being distracted and shaking out the match, despite the fact it is in the script.” (FH sympathizes, having long taken the view that nobody dies when an actor playing Churchill lights a cigar for a three minute visual.)

Viewers of the period police show, screened on “Alibi” on Mondays at 9pm, saw Detective William Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) try to clear the name of the young Churchill after a visit to Toronto goes awry. WSC finds himself in trouble with the law when he wakes after a wild night to find he is the prime suspect in a friend’s murder.

Police arrive at the gory murder scene in a hotel to find a bloodied, very groggy and hung-over Churchill answering the door. The scene takes place just after Churchill’s return from the war in South Africa.

Howes, 26, watched hours of clips of the former prime minister for research: “I was told how ‘daunting’ it was to fill such shoes….the world and his wife have an opinion on how I should move and speak.

“I was told I must watch the films Young Winston and The Gathering Storm, along with lots of news footage. I viewed these clips over and over again just to try and get it right—noting where he places his hands when he speaks, and trying to adopt all the mannerisms, inflections and gestures. It was helpful that I’m doing a much younger, more active Winston, but it was still important he be recognisable as the famous person we all know he will eventually become.”

Churchill was famed for his wit and shrewdness, and Mr. Howes relished learning his often cutting badinage. “I’ve a great scene at a party, where I really get to lay in to critics. You know the story of a woman [Bessie Braddock MP] saying to Churchill, ‘You’re disgustingly drunk,’ and his reply, ‘But tomorrow I’ll be sober and you will still be disgustingly ugly.’ I was excited to do that scene, but I did get slapped.”

Being smacked is not the only physically taxing scene Thomas Howes had to endure during filming, as his alter-ego also is embroiled in a sword fight.

If he can keep playing Churchill roles, Howes says, he’ll have an incredibly long run: “This is the one part in the world that they can’t kill me off in until I am in my 80s. It’s fabulous.”
—LAURA CARO IN THE SUN

“Sterner Days”

TROWBRIDGE, WILTSHIRE, NOVEMBER 9TH— A Second World War veteran’s memories of the conflict include receiving a letter from Winston Churchill. Ken Foster, 87, served for four years—from the age of 17 to 21— as a wireless operator and was sent the signed note from the Prime Minister after his vessel, HMS Viceroy, sank a German submarine.

After the battle, officers found a canister in the water which should have contained inflatable rafts but instead held seventy-three bottles of schnapps. Foster, originally from Sheffield, said: “Captain D suggested that we send a presentation casket to Churchill with a few bottles, and then, a few months later, the PM sent two or three letters of thanks and I ended up keeping one.” The letter is now framed at the home he shares with wife Alma, 84.

WSC wrote: “Thank you so much for sending me the presentation case of brandy from the U-boat, which I shall keep as an interesting souvenir. Will you please convey my thanks to Captain D, Rosyth Escort Force, and the commanding officer and the ship’s company of HMS Viceroy, for all the trouble they took in producing the very handsome casket and offer them my congratulations on the successful attack.”

The former telegram boy’s service career also included being part of the crew of the ship which returned Prince Olav to Norway in May 1945, as part of the country’s liberation: “We just happened to be on hand when Prince Olav was ready to return. We picked him up from a naval base in Scotland and took him to Stavanger, Norway. We have been back twice and have received a hero’s welcome on both occasions.”

Ken and his wife attended Trowbridge’s Remembrance Service, which holds huge significance for him; his older brother Gordon died serving as part of the King’s Regiment in Italy during the Second World War. “I hate the term at these events, ‘they gave their lives.’ Nobody gave their life. My brother didn’t give his life; he loved life and wouldn’t have given it away. For me, a more appropriate sentiment would be to say we are paying respects to those who lost their lives in serving the nation.”

Ken Foster was sent to the Pacific just as the war ended, serving for a year in Hong Kong. He also spent time in Sydney, Australia on the commander-in-chief’s staff. He later worked for the Post Office and as a war pensions officer, still meets old comrades. He is a member of the Trowbridge and District White Ensign Association.

Sir Martin’s Best

FEBRUARY 19TH— A correspondent on the Churchill Centre Chatroom (http://bit.ly/11QJw0M) asks, “What are the two best single-volume Churchill books by Martin Gilbert?”

Does it have to be only two? Every reply named In Search of Churchill, and one mentioned MG’s slim and eloquent Churchill’s Political Philosophy. Both are one-of-a-kind works, though hard to come by now. (Try bookfinder.com.).

In our 40th anniversary issue, FH named five one-volume works by Martin Gilbert as among the best fifty books of the past fifty years:

1) In Search of Churchill: A Historian’s Journey, 1994, 338 pages, Zoller A558. The answer to those who accuse Gilbert of being uncritical. Having examined more sources and people than anyone in the process of writing the Official Biography, Sir Martin says he came away even more impressed with Churchill’s intellect, generosity, statesmanship and humanity. Cited by Finest Hour as the best Churchill book of 1994, it is especially useful in showing just how the author found his amazing primary source material and ferreted out information from often obscure witnesses to history.

2) Churchill: A Life, 1991, 1066 pages, Zoller A528. Not an abridgment, as is often believed, this is a ground-up biography designed to be read in much less time than the Official Biography. Gilbert includes much information not known when the original volumes were written, especially the early volumes. Chronological, like the O.B., this is an indispensable trove of well-researched facts.

3) Churchill: A Photographic Portrait, 1974, 354 photos, Zoller A383. Complementing Lady Soames’s Family Album as one of the two best photo-documentaries published to date, this is less a photo collection than an archival documentation, with emphasis on the military-political side of WSC’s life. Sir Martin’s captions are expert and extensive. Highly recommended, it has been reprinted frequently over the years and is readily available.

4) Churchill and America, 2005, 504 pages. Churchill’s love of his “mother’s land” was evident from an early age and stayed with him for life, but he was not an uncritical lover. He deplored U.S. reluctance to engage in world affairs after World War I, and in Russia after WW2, and hoped for more than he got from the “special relationship.” Here is the whole story, good, bad and ugly, with the fastidious maps that are Gilbert’s hallmarks. Reading like a fast-paced novel, this book is now the standard work on the subject.

5) Churchill and the Jews, 2007, 384 pages. The subject is tracked individually and collectively, beginning with Churchill’s representing a heavily Jewish constituency and ending with his support for Israel, with vast detail on his Zionism, from the Balfour Declaration to the 1937 Peel Commission and WW2. No one is better able to write such a history, which eclipses the earlier works by Rabinowicz and Cohen.

Sir Martin Gilbert

LONDON, FEBRUARY 22ND— Last spring Sir Martin sustained an hypoxic brain injury that forced him into early retirement. He was in final preparations of the 1942 volume of the Churchill Documents, which Hillsdale College Press will publish this year.

Sir Martin has devoted his life to writing “true history.” Rather than using adjectives and adverbs ascribed by others, Sir Martin believes in presenting the facts, through chronology and context, and character, whether in a leader or a foot soldier, as can be revealed by his decisions and actions.  Sir Martin and I both want to thank all Churchillians for your friendship and readership through the years.
—ESTHER GILBERT