May 14, 2018

Finest Hour 179, Winter 2018

Page 40

The Memorial Addresses to the Rt. Hon. Sir Winston Spencer Churchill Society, Edmonton, Alberta, 1965–1989, The Churchill Statue and Oxford Scholarship Foundation, 2004, 437 pages, US$17.20, CDN$21. ISBN 978–1551951150

Ronald I. Cohen, ed., The Memorial Addresses to the Rt. Hon. Sir Winston Spencer Churchill Society, Edmonton, Alberta, 1990–2014, The Churchill Statue and Oxford Scholarship Foundation, 2016, 458 pages, US$17.20, CDN$21. ISBN 978–1791364126

Available as a two-volume set from Alhambra Books in Edmonton. Telephone 1 (780) 439-4195.

Review by Terry Reardon

Terry Reardon is author of Winston Churchill & Mackenzie King, So Similar, So Different. He was honoured to be the speaker at the 2017 memorial dinner.

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Some, if not many, will be surprised by the fact that Western Canada has a significant place in the Churchill world. The first statue of Winston Churchill was unveiled in 1943 at Albert E. Peacock Collegiate in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and the oldest Churchill Society—and the only one started in his lifetime—the Rt. Hon. Sir Winston Spencer Churchill Society of Edmonton, Alberta, commenced in 1964.

While many societies take tentative steps in their early days, the Edmonton Society commenced its annual dinners in 1965 ambitiously and with a clear requirement of the speakers: they had to have known or worked with Winston Churchill. The Society also sponsors major scholarships to Oxford and Cambridge Universities, annual speech and debate competitions for high school students, and more recently a scholarship in Journalism. Furthermore the Society was instrumental in commissioning an Oscar Nemon statue of Churchill, which was placed in the subsequently named Sir Winston Churchill Square in Edmonton. This was unveiled by Lady Soames, the Patron of the Society, in 1989.

The Heroic Memory 1965–1989 contains the addresses of the speakers for the first twenty-five years, the list being a veritable Who’s Who of distinguished political, military, and family figures. Examples include Lady Soames (three times), Earl Mounbatten, Earl Alexander, Lord (Rab) Butler, Sir Fitzroy Maclean, and a trio of Private Secretaries: Sir John Colville, Sir John Peck, and Sir Anthony Montague Browne.

The anecdotes of the speakers give fascinating and at times amusing recollections of the Great Man. Sir John (Jock) Colville, for instance, said that one time Churchill exploded, “I hate the Foreign Office!” Colville responded that the previous evening he had hated the Treasury and asked which he hated the most. Churchill replied, “The War Office.”

The Heroic Memory 1990–2014 contains the addresses for the second quarter-century. While inevitably, with the passage of time, not all had (in one speaker’s words) “pressed the flesh,” they all have provided a fresh insight into Churchill’s life and times. The second distinguished list includes family members Nicholas Soames, Winston S. Churchill, Celia Sandys, Randolph Churchill, and a fourth and final appearance by Lady Soames. Others include Sir Robert Rhodes James, Lord Deedes, Sir John Keegan, Earl Jellicoe, John Lukacs, and Viscount Montgomery (son of Monty).

War hero Sir Michael Howard provides a first-hand account of being stationed at Chequers and enjoying the privilege of being invited to join the audience at the late night film shows, which the Prime Minister screened for himself and his guests. Howard recorded that the films were generally very bad B-movies but Churchill became a total participant in the drama. “‘Look out,’ he would growl, ‘he’s behind the door….Oh you fool.’ And a great dome-like head became silhouetted against the screen as he bounced up and down in the excitement.”

We are indebted to the Edmonton Society for reproducing these addresses, which should have a place in all Churchill libraries. Both books are strongly recommended.