journal of the churchill center and societies - Winston Churchill

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Wit& Wisdom / LUCE LUCID ON LEONARD In an article entitled "10 Friends," Forbes FYI (supplement to the regular Forbes magazine), Autumn 2000, William E Buckley, Jr. profiles Clare Boothe Luce, relating a story that Mrs. Luce apparently told him. -Scott Mantsch "She interwove, with her instructions on how to paint, recollections of her experience with canvas and oils. Just after the war she went with her husband to England and spent the weekend with Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill at Chartwell. 'I tried to be especially ingratiating because Harry [Luce] wanted U.S. rights for Life magazine of Churchill's war memoirs. So passing through one gallery I said, "These are wonderful paintings." He said, "I'm glad you like them, but only one of them is painted by me."' "She flashed her sly, infectious smile, and then a little snort of laughter. 'I thought, Oh dear, that makes me sound very sycophantic. I asked which one was his, and he pointed to a pastoral scene, a field of some sort. I thought I'd better do something to establish my critical independence. I said I liked it but I thought it was too—placid, lacking in movement. Three weeks later in New York the same painting arrived, but on it were three sheep bouncing about. His note read, 'Is that any better' Harry told me later that my effrontery probably ended up costing Time Inc. $ 1 million more than they'd have had to pay for his memoirs." THE SHORT-SNORTERS Mark Weber, Tucson, Arizona, advises that Churchill was a Short- Snorter according to Michael Daunt OBE, a test pilot for the early Gloucester jet aircraft in 1942-43. On 19 April 1943 a demo of the plane was laid on for Churchill. Daunt states: "Not very many pilots had then flown the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans; those that had started up the Short-Snorter Club. Each member carried a dollar bill on which was written his name and the fact that he was a Short-Snorter. If it so happened that one or two members were gathered together and one failed to produce his bill, he then had to buy drinks for all present. Short-Snorters meeting for the first time would not only challenge, but also sign each others' dollar bill." On this flight, Daunt taxied back to where Churchill was standing and was introduced to him. Having heard that WSC was an Honorary Member of the Short-Snorters Club, he asked if the PM had his dollar bill, and would he honour him with a signature Churchill produced his bill and they exchanged signatures. Mark has found Daunt's $ 1 Canadian bill with Daunt's name and "Short Snorter April 14. 1943." There are at least nineteen signatures on the bill, including "W S Churchill." Mark reminds us of a similar honor, the Loyal Order of the Winkle, of which Churchill was also a member, having received his winkle in Hastings, a scene pictured in Finest Hour awhile back (perhaps someone will remind us where). Churchill was obliged always to carry his winkle. If another member was to command, "Winkle Up," any member unable to produce his winkle had to buy drinks for the assembly. The Duke of Edinburgh was among the club's distinguished members. It is not on record that Churchill was ever called upon to "Winkle Up," but if he were he would surely fail, since he rarely bothered to carry change in his pocket.... Which suggests as ephemeral the lovely story about Lloyd George outside the Chamber of the House of Commons, accosting the passing Churchill at one of the newly installed pay-telephones: "Winston, can you loan me sixpence so I can ring a friend" Churchill (after a lengthy display of fishing in his pockets): "Here, David, is a shilling —now you can ring all your friends." DEFINITELY AW OUR MAN At a shop in Woodstock, Oxford, Churchill Center treasurer Craig Horn had the good taste to pass up this postcard, c.l 914 and captioned "Young Winston. Our First Lord." The editor, clearly with no taste or propriety at all, paid £5 for it, sent a copy to Lady Soames, and stood back. Her reply: "I am sorry you wasted £5 on that totally un-lookalike picture supposedly of my father in infancy— revolting little child not remotely alike, and dressed all wrong for the period! I am ashamed of you!" The editor protested that he bought the card as a public service to remove it from the market. Lady Soames was not impressed. Barnum was right: there's a sucker born every minute. Mi FINEST HOUR 108/28
Gli impses: LATE ENCOUNTERS WITH CHRISTINA (1) Cuban Connections Maurice Baird-Smith DFC Iwas the last President of The Royal Dutch Shell Group in Cuba, leaving when the company was nationalized by Fidel Castro. It so happened that at around this time, Sir Winston Churchill was cruising the Caribbean aboard Aristotle Onassis's yacht Christina with Onassis and Anthony and Nonie (his first wife) Montague Browne. Over sixty years before, Churchill had gone to Cuba as an observer and reporter covering the Cuban revolt against Spain. He naturally expressed an interest in Castro's revolution, and Onassis agreed to divert Christina to Havana so that Churchill could talk to "El Jefe." Unfortunately, the British Foreign Office persuaded Sir Winston not to go to Cuba—in my opinion, a silly mistake. He might have had some positive influence. Who knows One day a very agitated Cuban—I've forgotten his name—came to see me in the Shell Office. He had never met Churchill but was a great admirer, to the point that he kept him supplied with the finest Cuban cigars, along with gift bottles of the very best Cognac. Churchill had sent him some of his paintings, which the Cuban treasured greatly. The Cuban was frightened that his property might be confiscated in Castro's rapid communization process and that he might lose his paintings in the process. Could I help him I was convinced that Shell itself was going to be confiscated, but felt I might not be the best person to do what he asked— namely to ship the paintings out of Cuba to a safe haven. I told him I would speak to the Dutch or British Ambassador. I can't remember which agreed to help, but in any case, all went well. I have often wondered where those paintings are today. A related story told to me by Sir Winston's son-in-law, Christopher Soames (later Lord Soames) was that, though Sir Winston was a connoisseur of cigars, he wasn't so of Cognac. So, Christopher used to decant the Cuban's good Cognac and replace it with a run-of-the-mill product! This may well be an apocryphal story but is worth recording as Christopher and Winston Churchill enjoyed a very warm and close relationship. Mr. Baird-Smith (mbairdsmit@aol.com) is retired from the Shell International Oil Company, and divides his time between Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and the south of France. He first related these experiences to Charles Plan of the CC Board of Governors. Mr. Crookshank, a member of ICS UK,was aide-de-camp to the Governor of Gibraltar. His story was brought to our attention by Paul Courtenay, Hon. Secretary of ICS UK. (2) Reminiscences from the Rock John Crookshank Having been lucky enough to see and hear Winston Churchill in the House of Commons during his last period in power after the 1951 Conservative victory, I was even luckier to meet him, albeit in a menial capacity, when he visited Gibraltar in the late 1950s, aboard Aristotle Onassis's sleek, converted Canadian corvette Christina. I was ADC to the Governor. By 1958, when the graceful, all-white Christina first called at Gibraltar with her somewhat special passenger, he was elderly and infirm. Nevertheless, these visits to the Rock were memorable for Gibraltar. For Churchill, they probably comprised the last direct impressions he ever received of the Empire which had meant so much to him, and for which he had striven for so long and so hard. Christina would pick up a mooring in the naval base near what is now the entrance to Queensway Marina. On one such visit in September 1958, when the Governor was returning to Gibraltar from a day at sea in the new fleet carrier HMS Eagle, we passed quite close to the stern of Christina. The crew, their faces aglow with excitement, manned every vantage point to look down at the diminutive figure on the yacht's quarterdeck. Sir Winston looked up with obvious pride as the long grey wall of the carrier slid past. Once when we collected Sir Winston from Christina for a drive to the airport, Gibraltarians thronged the narrow streets to catch a glimpse of him. Another time, when he dined at "The Convent" (the Governor's residence), huge crowds packed Convent Square. At dinner he waxed eloquent about Eden and Suez with the Governor, Sir Charles Keightley, who had commanded the aborted British military operation there. That same year Lady Churchill passed through Gibraltar on her way to stay at Tangier with the British Consul General, Bryce Nairn, and his wife, Margaret—old friends from 1944 in Marrakech where Bryce Nairn had been British Consul. During the stopover at Gibraltar, Lady Churchill had coffee with John Revell, the RAF Group Captain commanding the station, who asked rather earnestly: "May we be permitted to ask how Sir Winston is" Lady Churchill responded quick as a flash: "I think he must be very well because I read in my Daily Mail this morning that he was having lunch two days ago with Miss Greta Garbo and wearing a new white alpaca suit—when he left London he did not have a new white alpaca suit!" $! FINEST HOUR 108/29
Page 1 and 2: JOURNAL OF THE CHURCHILL CENTER AND
Page 3 and 4: AUTUMN 2000 JOURNAL OF THE CHURCHIL
Page 5 and 6: DATELINES QUOTE OF THE SEASON "...I
Page 7 and 8: DATELINES Trust has a dual responsi
Page 9 and 10: Local and National... keep the Yank
Page 11 and 12: DATELINES Franta Belsky 1921-2000 B
Page 13 and 14: Churchill's Greatness (4) EXPLODING
Page 15 and 16: 'Serious thought ousts Einstein and
Page 18 and 19: 100-75-50-25 YEARS AGO One hundred
Page 20 and 21: Churchill s World HOTEL LA MAMOUNIA
Page 22 and 23: i IIaa I aa^a a Designed in 1922 by
Page 24 and 25: Winston S. Churchill to Clementine
Page 26 and 27: 2000 Heritage Fund Appeal: A Specia
Page 30 and 31: FROM BRITISH CASSANDRA TO AMERICAN
Page 32 and 33: • / • • ' ! • " ' • • .
Page 34 and 35: CASSANDRA TO HERO... York Times, wr
Page 36 and 37: Watch Tkis Space! CABINET WAR ROOMS
Page 38 and 39: Succeed Admirably, Fail Anyway Rich
Page 40 and 41: Light Souffle... celebrity as Presi
Page 42 and 43: JUST PUBLISHED Bibliophiles are roy
Page 44 and 45: The Second World War... that had li
Page 46 and 47: CHURCHILLIANA "IN WHAT SHAPE THEY C
Page 48 and 49: INSIDE THE JOURNALS "I passed out o
Page 50 and 51: CHURCHILLTRIVIA By Curt Zoller (zcu
Page 52: IMMORTAL WORDS The Japanese onslaug

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