March 24, 2017

Much of his writing was done at Chartwell, the country house he bought in 1922 and then gradually, and at great expense, renovated. You too can see the same desk – and study, library, drawing room – at Chartwell. Downstairs at Chartwell, there’s a room with maps on the wall and a telephone exchange; this is where all his researchers – junior (and less junior) academics from Oxford, research fellows – worked away, day after day, searching out nuggets of information and documents, looking for material for Churchill to weave into his books.

Over sixty thousand books to supplement their research were housed in the Library, its towering shelves laden with volumes. Churchill used a special table – an upright desk – built to his design, for checking his drafts, for making all those changes that enhanced his writing and his speech-making; polishing them, incorporating all his favourite words and phrases, always with an eye – and an ear – for the most powerful and emotive emphasis and effect. See Boris Johnson’s The Churchill Factor, particularly Chapter 6, ‘The Great Dictator’, where he points out that Churchill produced not only more words than Charles Dickens, or more words than Shakespeare – but more than both of them put together!