August 2, 2015

Finest Hour 167, Special Issue 2015

Page 04

By David Freeman


The World Remembers

It took forty-seven years for The Churchill Centre to produce the first-ever special issue of Finest Hour. It took only six months for us to produce the second. The winter 2015 issue (#166) commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Churchill’s death was planned well in advance. Yet the level of international interest in the events marking the occasion this past January far exceeded anything anticipated. An appropriate record needed to be created, and so here it is.

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Members of the Churchill family participated in events across Britain and North America. On the facing page Randolph Churchill introduces us to what took place in London and his astonishment at the number of people who turned out to watch. Edwina Sandys spoke about her grandfather at the National Churchill Museum of the United States in Fulton, Missouri, where along with the British ambassador a service of remembrance was held.

Upon the mighty Thames, to borrow President Eisenhower’s phrase, MV Havengore sailed once more as it did fifty years ago when it bore Churchill’s coffin up the river. Rodney Croft explains the special tribute that took place this time at Tower Bridge.

At the Houses of Parliament, a wreath-laying ceremony was held in the Members’ Lobby before the statue of Churchill by Oscar Nemon that flanks the entrance to the House of Commons. Prime Minister David Cameron expressed the gratitude of the nation. Another service followed in Westminster Abbey (see cover).

In Toronto, Canadians recreated the original order of service from Sir Winston’s State Funeral. The Churchill Centre of Australia met in Sydney and received a letter from Prime Minister Tony Abbot. Across the water in Auckland the Governor General of New Zealand hosted Fellows of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.

The BBC produced both radio and television salutes that can still be enjoyed through the Internet and which are reviewed herein. Yet this is only a beginning.

Sir David Cannadine, Chairman of Churchill 2015, explains for us that the events of January initiated what will be a year-long series of activities and exhibits. From Chartwell, Katherine Barnett describes the exhibition put together exclusively at Churchill’s beloved home.

Complementing the photographs of Bladon today published in Finest Hour 166, we reproduce in this issue some historic photos of the original gravesite. Finally, Robert Courts, Bladon resident and member of The Churchill Centre, captures for us the ambience of Churchill’s final resting place.

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