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Incidentally, Clementine Churchill was a staunch life-long supporter of Liberal Party policies. Churchill was hated at times by people on both the left and right of politics because of his freethinking and fearlessly expressed opinions. His closest friends came in all political colours and Churchill functioned best in coalition governments. One needs only to look at the membership lists for his “Other Club” to see that he was comfortable in the company of vital minds with fully formed ideas no matter what their party affiliations. If Churchill had not been an individualist but a conventional party politician he could not have achieved what he did and we would not be holding him in such high regard today. My hope is that Winston Churchill’s memory will not be appropriated by the left or the right or the up or the down but will be celebrated as an icon of a individualism, rationalism and free speech who remained true to his own convictions in the face of enormous organized resistance. —STAN ORCHARD, VICTORIA, B.C. (HTTP://GROUPS.GOOGLE.COM/GROUP/CHURCHILLCHAT) THE ORDER OF ETCETERA _ JHX, Rt. Hoa. Sir it si out cisnpa^ i i»sx; UBsarmaooi ssw IT-OBWOT, unurcmu K^,UE^.F, 1S39-; Bon. Co!. »3M Otf. Yeo. Leonard Spenser), K.Q. 11 t. Hie 4th Queea'a Owa Htusats; Coileg«, Citiotirldgs. 19»8. lion. iSooeiser Aati-Tsok RegL, E.A. (T.A.), 1942- etaIda, 1849 j 607; 025.1846; C.il. 1822: F, - . _ joeeo's Own OKfordshtre Huiaaja; Ora^o Ian, 1M2. Oraisd Master Fnoirosc Ba. B. 8«ots Km., !84O; 488 (Cinque hirts) Cap Martin (A .'SO WOT. 1H74; e. «. of Bt Ufut.-Oi)v_cammsodSug 6th Itorel Beat* SiMS-; Hoa. Academician Estt*- HJljl. E«gt., &J.. (T.A.), 1»47; S»8 Fd. iwsdotph CLarchil!, 3rd *. of; Fusillere, Vanes, I0i« {medsb); rettesd, VlrK1nta, Kos. of B.4., I848J Oiij;Bjao s_bow.at Begt. E.A. (Backs and Oaf. Yeo.> TJl.; ikrlboroRgh: m* 1C08. CJf] I9lfl. M.HL (C.j OMhsm, 1000-04, (L.) aesaos, N. Ci idy Cbuichlll), 4. of late fj 1SKM-0B; (ft) K.W. Hinehe»t«, isnsis; Porte) Bn., E. 8aa»I ~ • C»p d'AJJ (, loite. K.C.B., Srd Dr»»c (L.) D«Dde»\l9O8.1S, !?; «ico! State far: n&airtlied MedeJ. 1B3« aod 1B49 M«mber of ron»» do ChS lurgy. Hos.Prcs. IU.K. Ai!*oo.; r'roa.' orre, IBM ideapatcbo. m< jf llils-F6i>. tOSt; Air sod. IB&O; NobelPrlKforLlteraturp, Cross «1th C'tu tlonil CJub; V! ~ - • - - srved as oriterly officer ioj Apt. tftidl; tod fnr theFuDd. 1B19-; ,. _pE)8S0(Jlf&* )f955; Freadom Rt., Ofdeu of 1lh Ttrah B^pefilUonarj Fc :. IB22; Clwnc?1!»r of Housa Aw&id (U^.A). 1855; Wlliiami- IJberttkut Me •rvwL attaebed 2lKt LB) -.'M«-8»; &U*t Lord eT oiu^s i&^jfcfo. 2&oo i a^7&nE»IIz) tfld^&a of Otty sveo Palme (XI iiprnjIUooarj Force, 1898, )9aS>-iO; Rrtiae Miniate. of ^dl&dsiph!&. 1&&6; Husi&oit&rt&o Award »7fo Palnw ( of th« TreB«nry, and Jlinfs'rr for 1 !>!•«. lOiS; GrenU Setgneiir of theFraaoej Mil.! f JKhArtoura (medal wltb cuup): 1910-45; UaJ.-r cf U» Oppos!- " Bodsos'a Bay Comjisny. IBM. Bon. We OnlnrofMU. S >ldlwor(C.) 189B; served ai Lit 5-Sl; STUBS Misiscsi- saa JTSIS. Mem. PTlcadnWp Vewraos Fire Bntftoe Com- 0.AA.F. Pilot' fricin Lt. EOTse; acted as eon M Treuorj. Oct. 1951-S Apr. 1945, Fmoeo-BritUb fios.. 1951; Psteoa. BQC^Spany of Alexandria, Virginia. U.8^.., I860. tton: Order « lorniog: Poet, South Africa, Jl m also Minuter of Defence. O«. Clab, I6S2; a Vles-Prea. Soa. of tha Frionda CXtt., 1961. Bm. Degreu: D.CX.: of tin High >koo prleoDfr. Brtloa 16 NOT^ but e»ca{ _ J51«I 1US2. kldrt ttrutbo ot Trial!? of Si. Georga'n sad DeaceBdaoM of (beOstord. 1625, &w*isster, U.S.A.. 1941. bin Alt ni i 2 D^&-i. preseot ftt actloot of Ados- Hornr. t«lS-; IXMtS Warden of the Clnriue EolghSa of_a» Garter. 185S; JHon. J>res. Sqcior of Laws: Queen's, Xfcslfaat, 102ft, IOBM. vsster** Spruit, Hass&r Hill, CJitFortt, IM1-; Lord Hector of Aberdeen plo. Monto ditto, and at Battlca of Spioo Sniversltv. 1B14-1X. at Kilinhuratj Univ.. ? Brfl_ Bus.. SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 1971 11/, WO. 2 #2J J ADMIRAL of the FUEL the EARL MOUNTBATIEN of BURMA KG PC GCVO D$0 etc. etc. from 9 photo by Kanh of Ottawa NBW HONORARY MEMBER FINEST HOUR 21, SEP- TEMBER-OCTOBER 1971— Probably the rarest order in the world is “The Order of Etcetera,” and it may be proudly held by our Patron, The Earl Mountbatten of Burma. Lord Mountbatten is one of the most (if not the most) decorated men in the world. So it is that a typical introduction will begin: “Knight of the Garter, Privy Councillor, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of India, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Indian Empire, Knight Grand Cross of the Victorian Order, Companion of the Distinguished Service Order, etc., etc., etc., etc.” This is an order he proudly shares with Sir Winston Churchill. The Society has been honored by the acceptance of Honorary Membership by Lord Mountbatten. In a long and thrilling career, he contributed in a notable way to the causes of the Empire and the free world, aided by his wife, Countess Mountbatten. It was our intention to present a thumbnail biography in this issue, and to that end we reviewed several books about Mountbatten in our library. We soon determined that there is no thumbnail that could do justice even to the barest outline of his wide and interesting career. Instead, we present his Who’s Who entry, and intend to bring you biographical sketches in future issues, particularly as they pertain to his relationships with Sir Winston, which were many and intimate. Meanwhile we offer Mountbatten’s address to the Edmonton Society which begins in this issue. (The speech is now available on our website: http://xrl.us/bbpod -Ed.) —DALTON NEWFIELD LONDON PLAQUES LONDON, AUGUST 6TH— Reader Keelan Morris asked why there is a blue plaque marking Churchill’s residence in Sussex Square, when the house he lived in was leveled in the Blitz (Ampersand, FH 138:58). We referred this conundrum to Stefan Buczacki, author of the admirable Churchill & Chartwell (reviewed in FH 138:52), who kindly replied and sent the accompanying photographs. Stefan Buczacki elaborates: “The house with the plaque in Sussex Square is not the original one in which Churchill lived—pretty obvious really! The present house dates from the 1960s. Moreover, notice that the plaque isn’t the official English Heritage version. ‘Official’ plaques are limited to one per person, but there are actually four Winston Churchill plaques in London, plus one for his father Lord Randolph Churchill. Unofficial plaques are on the site of the old 2 Sussex Square, on 33 Eccleston Square, and on 11 Morpeth Mansions (black, not the usual blue). “The Lord Randolph plaque is official while the official English Heritage plaque for Sir Winston is on his last house, 28 Hyde Park Gate—but contains inaccurate information. As stated in my book, it proclaims that Churchill lived and died there. Actually, he lived at 28 and 27, which he temporarily linked, and he actually died at 27, where the ground floor room had been converted to a bedroom for him. Lady Soames told me she had been aware of this longstanding error when I raised it with her, but no one else seems to have spotted it.” FINEST HoUR 140 / 9 THE PLAQUES: Above, 2 Connaught Place and 2 Sussex Square. Right: 28 Hyde Park Gate. Below, 33 Eccleston Square and 11 Morpeth Mansions. HISTORY #102 1/2 LONDON, MAY 10TH— On the 68th anniversary of Churchill’s becoming premier, the Headmaster of Brighton College told a conference that he wanted to inspire children with Britain’s legacy and influence on the world. Headmaster Richard Cairns said current history stops on only three occasions: 19th century women and the two World Wars. “We should stop being ashamed of being British,” he said. “The Story of Our Land” is a course taught six times a week to pupils aged 11 to 14, after which they will take exams in geography, history and religious eduction. Cairns said the education system is “so obsessed with testing skills that it has forgotten to provide a historical and geographic framework...Not only do children not know where Afghanistan is on the map but a quarter of them believe Winston Churchill is a fictional character....Our poor children have no sense of their history and no sense of the historical landscape that surrounds them. We’re hesitating about talking about the past because people did things we would not do today. Slavery existed—that was wrong—but Britain had an important role in the development of the world and children should be aware our culture spread across the globe, for good or ill.” “For g od or ill”? Will someone please send to Headmaster Cairns >>
D AT E L I N E S Churchill’s retort to Clement Attlee (Woodford, 12 October 1951), who said his Labour Party was having to clean up “the mess of centuries”: “This is what the Prime Minister considers Britain and her Empire represented when in 1945 she emerged honoured and respected from one end of the world to the other by friend and foe alike after her most glorious victory for freedom. ‘The mess of centuries’—that is all we were. The remark is instructive because it reveals with painful clarity the Socialist point of view and sense of proportion. Nothing happened that was any good until they came into office. We may leave out the great struggles and achievements of the past—Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, Parliamentary institutions, constitutional monarchy, the building of our Empire—all these were part of ‘the mess of centuries.’ Coming to more modern times, Gladstone and Disraeli must have been pygmies. Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill…and in our lifetime Balfour, Asquith and Morley, all these no doubt were ‘small fry.’” “NEVER SO GOOD” LONDON, MARCH 28TH— Actor Jeremy Irons, who won fame in “Brideshead Revisited” and other great roles, receives high marks for his portrayal of Harold Macmillan at the Lyttleton Theatre. (The play’s title is from “Supermac’s” 1957 remark that the British “never had it so good”). According to Benedict Nightingale in The Times, Irons portrays a “shrewd, canny, withdrawn figure who conceals a melancholy and even a despair beneath an urbane exterior.” (Macmillan’s wife carried on a long and not very quiet affair with Robert Boothby, Macmillan determinedly ignoring it.) Nightingale writes, “...the play is two or three cuts above the usual theatrical bio. There are consistently good supporting performances, from Anthony Cal’s vain, edgy Eden to Ian McNeice’s Churchill, who looks a bit like a bloated dwarf but does catch some of the giant character. Irons manages genuinely difficult feats. To be self-effacing yet in command. To aim for power without quite wanting it....To attain success yet see through it and, at times, wish for death. To watch what he suspects is his own moral decline. To be inscrutable. In short, to be Harold Macmillan.” AROUND & ABOUT In his review of Pat Buchanan’s Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War (National Review, June 30th) David Pryce-Jones, trying to be fair and balanced, listed what he said were Churchill’s real mistakes, including “the 1922 partition of Transjordan.” Finest Hour informed NR that what Churchill “partitioned” (in 1921) was Britain's Palestine Mandate: a Jewish homeland (not a state) west of the Jordan, and an Arab kingdom across the Jordan, i.e., “Transjordan.” We added: “Churchill persuaded Kings Abdullah (Jordan) and Faisal (Iraq) to respect the Jewish homeland, thinking he’d made good the “Twice- Promised Land” (Balfour to the Zionists, Lawrence to the Arabs). Churchill was convinced that Zionists and Palestinians would coexist for mutual and general advantage. Among Churchill's real faults, unbridled optimism was prominent.” Pryce-Jones bobbed and weaved, replying that, well, “it was a mistake in that the outcome was to ban Jews from ever living in a certain portion of Arab land,” and adding snippily, “I must have missed the moment when unbridled optimism became a fault.” Wrong again: the Zionists were quite happy with their part of Britain’s Palestine Mandate. The question of living in Transjordan scarcely arose. Churchill’s (impressive) achievement was to convince two Arab potentates to tolerate a Jewish Homeland in their midst. “Unbridled optimism” occasionally played Churchill false—the gold standard, Edward VIII, the French Army, Stalin—but on the big issues he was right. Jimmy Carter’s unbridled optimism gave us the Islamic Republic of Iran, and we’re still stuck with that one. As optimism goes, we tend to prefer the bridled variety. , THE DIRTY VICAR KEW, LONDON, MAY 5TH— In 1940, MI5 seized a vicar, Henry Tibbs of Teigh, Leicestershire, after being informed that he was preaching Nazi propaganda, the National Archives at Kew revealed today. Tibbs was said to have described Churchill as a “vile drug addict” in the pay of American Jews, and to have invited two members of the Gestapo to stay at his vicarage shortly before the outbreak of World War II, to help them spy on an RAF base. MI5 quoted the Irish-born Tibbs as saying “Germany is our natural friend” and “As soon as Hitler gets here the better.” Ultimately the charges were dismissed as having been the invention of an unfriendly rival vicar, but the report concluded that Tibbs “often lets his tongue run away with him.” Sounds like some of the stuff we’ve been reading during the never-ending American presidential election.... FINEST HoUR 140 / 10 LAST LAP FOR THE O.B. LONDON, AUGUST 25TH— Sir Martin Gilbert today began work on the completion of the Churchill official biography’s documentary companion volumes. The last published volume, 1941: The Ever-Widening War (volume three of the Churchill War Papers) was published in 2000 by Heinemann in Britain and Norton in the United States. A new publisher, Hillsdale College Press, of Hillsdale, Michigan, will be publishing the remaining seven volumes, as they are republishing all of the previous biographic and companion volumes. The new volumes cover the following: 1942 (including the fall of Tobruk and Singapore, Churchill’s first Moscow visit, the Battle of El Alamein). 1943 (including the Casablanca and Teheran conferences). 1944 (including Normandy , Churchill’s second Moscow visit, Yalta). 1945 January to July (including
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THE CHURCHILL QUIZ JAMES R. LANCAST
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Churchill Centre Regional and Local
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