The holidays were spent at Chartwell as Sir Winston recovered from the effects of his fall.
By mid-January he insisted on returning to the House of Commons. Despite the protests of his staff and family, he set off in his Humber Pullman, flying the flag of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.
Later in the month he attended a meeting of the Other Club at the Savoy Hotel with his special quest, Aristotle Onassis. The menu included a roast piglet from the litter of a sow once owned by Sir Winston and purchased by the Mayor of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. With compliments of the Mayor, the frozen piglet and the apple for its mouth were flown to London and specially prepared by the Savoy chef for the Other Club.
Other events attended by the Churchills were the annual dinner of the Royal Academy, a performance by their daughter Sarah in As You Like It at the Pembroke Theatre in Croydon, and frequent dinners in West End restaurants. All of this activity exhausted Lady Churchill and in March she entered St. Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, for a complete rest and thorough check-up.
For his part, Sir Winston joked about his ageing, but when he told David Ben Gurion that he was getting on, the Israeli Prime Minister replied: “You’re not old. Moses lived until he was one hundred and twenty.”
Get the Churchill Bulletin delivered to your inbox once a month.