March 20, 2015

Lady Churchill had again suffered from shingles, but as usual organized a splendid Christmas and New Year’s at Chartwell, and a family outing, including Sir Winston, to see Sarah perform in Peter Pan in London. They then wintered in Marrakech, to which many changes, unfavorable in their view, had occurred since their visits of the late 1940s. But the visits of family and friends seemed to raise Sir Winston’s spirits. Lady Churchill wrote Mary,”…Papa is blooming in his health. His memory fails a little more day by day and he is getting deaf, But he is well. I have learnt to play poker and enjoy it very much”

Two years before at Beaverbrook’s villa, WSC had met Aristotle Onassis and his wife Tina. Onassis greatly admired WSC and invited him to cruise on his yacht, Christina, a converted British frigate. On 29 February they boarded the vessel for an Atlantic cruise which eventually took them to the Canary Islands,

Prior to leaving for the south, the senior Conservative leader had told the Executive of his Woodford Conservative Association that the party should do what it thought was right, “not what it fancies will be immediately popular.” From his own experience he had learned that “the British people are reluctant to give any party a vote of gratitude for what has been done.”

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