Churchill.

At 21 I took a nurse out - at 91 I need a nurse to take me out!
Not quite that bad yet but it did cross my mind when I joined the family recently for a short woodland walk.

It was only about 2 miles in total, but I was relieved to get back to the car, because my legs became very stiff, and with knee pain as well.

But it was good to see the great grandchildren running happily and excitedly about like Spring lambs in the first signs of sunny warm weather.

Part of the pleasure of walks is conversation. One of the topics discussed was the film ‘Darkest Hour’ and Gary Oldman’s Oscar winning performance as Winston Churchill.

I was interested in Winston Churchill from my early twenties and gathered much information about him.

It started when I saw a quote of his ‘It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations’

That registered with me because I qualified on both counts. I had an elementary education at a small country school, leaving at the age of 13years and 9 months to become a baker’s rounds boy.

The 10 shillings a week it paid – todays equivalent = (GBP- 0.50p – USD-0.70) helped my family’s main low agricultural wage!

And I liked quotations and had in my possession ‘The Oxford Book of Quotations’

Churchill described how he read ‘Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations’ intently.

When I was offered the opportunity to get a foot on the management ladder in 1954 I decided I needed to improve my education, so attended evening classes two nights a week for 2 years.

On one occasion a homework task was to write an essay about someone famous. My article on Churchill got top marks. It has got lost over time, but I am pleased to write something about the great man again.

He is best remembered for his wartime leadership, and for his inspiring speeches.

‘He mobilized the English language and sent it into battle’ said John F Kennedy in 1963 when granting Churchill US citizenship.

Winston Churchill’s mother was American, and during a clash in the House of Commons Lady Nancy Astor reminded him of it, calling him ‘half alien’

Churchill invited to address the U S Congress in December 1941. -' I cannot help reflecting that if my father had been American and my mother British, instead of the other way round, I might have got here on my own'

Asked by Adlai Stevenson, in 1955 on what he based his oratorical style, Churchill told him 'America - and Bourke Cochran, who taught me to use every note of the human voice as if playing an organ'.

Video - Rediscovering young Winston's classical liberal American mentor, Bourke Cockran.

Cochran, a New York politician could play on every emotion and hold thousands riveted, yet it is Churchill who is remembered for his oratory.

I think that is because the Second World War provided the stage and the opportunity for his speaking powers to flourish, and the dire situation facing the country stretched and drew out their full potential.

Being gifted is not enough on it's own. The right opportunity is necessary for latent talent to reveal itself and be stretched by challenge.

Churchills fame also rests on his many books. These include. ‘The World Crisis’ (four volumes 1923- 9 )’Marlborough’ (four volumes 1933 -8) ‘The Second World War’ (six volumes 1948-54) and ‘ A History of the English-Speaking Peoples’ (four volumes 1956-8)

Altogether he published more words than Charles Dickens and Walter Scott combined.

He could also have found fame as an artist. He painted well enough for the painter Sir John Lavery to say 'Had he chosen painting instead of statesmanship. I believe he would have become a great master with the brush' and his work under the name Charles Morin was accepted by the Louvre.

He enjoyed bricklaying, even accepting an invitation to join ‘The Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers’.

For someone whose formal education was less than full, the list of achievements is especially impressive.

However it may be, Churchill suggested his slow progress was a blessing in disguise: ‘By being so long in the lowest form I gained an immense advantage over the cleverer boys.

‘I was able to devote more time to studying the English language. The essential structure of the ordinary British sentence ….. is a noble thing’

He is also well remembered for his quick wit, and many are the quotes that regularly appear in publications.

The best feature his verbal jousts with Lady Nancy Astor and Bessie Braddock M.P.

Nancy Astor was an American Citizen who moved to England in 1905 aged 26. In 1906 she married her second husband, Waldorf Astor’ a member of the British aristocracy.

She became the first British female MP in 1919.

One of the most frequently quoted exchanges between the pair occurred at Blenheim when the Astors and the Churchills were weekend guests of The Duke of Marlborough.

Churchill and Nancy Astor apparently argued ferociously the whole time, capping it with this exasperated outburst -

Nancy Astor ‘If I were your wife I would poison your coffee’
Churchill: ‘Nancy, If I were your husband, I would drink it.’

Other less publicised ones that I like –

Winston was addressing the House of Commons, a Member of Parliament called Wilfred Paling stood up and shouted, 'You dirty dog!'
The reply was swift. ‘Yes. And the Honourable Member should remember what dirty dogs do to palings!'