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DATELINESTORONTO STATUE UPDATETORONTO, MARCH 25TH—Finest Hour 117included a report on afund-raising drive toimprove the areaaround the statue inCity Hall Square, onthe 25th anniversaryof its unveiling, by thepresent WinstonChurchill, on 31October 1977. Thegoal was $25,000 and,as noted in FH 123, $28,000 wasraised from donors in six provinces.After the installation of four plaquesrecounting Churchill’s life and achievements,eight park benches and trees,the site was rededicated by MayorDavid Miller on 6 June 2004, the 60thanniversary of D-Day.Last year Toronto announced a$40 million design competition to revitalizethe Square. Competition guidelinesstated that the Henry Mooresculpture “The Archer” could not betouched, but the Churchill statue was“relocatable,” either in the square or insome other part of Toronto.The International ChurchillSociety of Canada promoted retainingthe Churchill statue in the Square, andthis included radio and newspapercomments. In December a Toronto Suncolumnist questioned why a statue ofnon-Torontonian should be there.Another columnist, Joe Warmington,replied that without Churchill“Toronto as we know it today mightnot even exist.” He added: “It was aman named Churchill who was thebeacon, and it was Churchill who sentthe message that we would ‘never surrender.’That should be enough; but goover to the memorial and read some ofthe passages, and tell me you don’t getgoose-bumps.”On 8 March the winning designwas picked from forty-eight entries andwe are delighted to advise that the statueis to remain in City Hall Square, inan improved location. Our next task isto ensure that the four plaques aremoved with the statue—and, we trust,the park benches.—TERRY REARDONALEX HENSHAWLONDON, FEBRUARY 24TH— Alex Henshaw,who died on 24 February at the age of94, was the principal test pilot forSpitfires and Lancasters, and a famousdaredevil. Once he was asked to put ona show for the Lord Mayor ofBirmingham’s Spitfire Fund by flyingat high speed above the city’s mainstreet. Civic dignitaries were not happywhen he flew the plane upside downbelow the level of the Council House!Often, Henshaw would be called uponto demonstrate a Spitfire to groups ofvisiting VIPs. After one virtuoso performance,Churchill was so enthralledthat he kept a special train waitingwhile he and Alex talked alone.Henshaw for his part consideredChurchill “the greatest Englishmanof all time, the man who saved theworld.” —THE DAILY TELEGRAPHBORROWED FROM WELLS?LONDON, NOVEMBER 28TH— Churchill wasa closet science fiction fan who borrowedthe lines for one of his “mostfamous speeches” from H.G. Wells,said Dr. Richard Toye, who claimedthat the phrase, “The GatheringStorm” (the title of WSC’s first volumeof war memoirs) was written by Wellsyears earlier in The War of the Worlds.“It’s a bit like Tony Blair borrowingphrases from Star Trek or DoctorWho,” Dr. Toye said. “People look atpoliticians in the 20th century and presumetheir influences were big theoristsand philosophers. What we forget isthat Churchill and others were probablynot interested in reading that stuffwhen they got home after a hard day inthe House of Commons. Churchill wasdefinitely a closet science-fiction fan. Infact, one of his criticisms of Wells’ AModern Utopia (1905) was that therewas too much thought-provoking stuffand not enough action.”In 1901, Wells wrote a book ofpredictions, Anticipations, calling for ascientifically organised “new republic,”with state support for citizens. WinstonChurchill wrote to Wells: “I read everythingyou write,” adding that he agreedwith many of his ideas. Two days laterChurchill gave an address to theFINEST HOUR 135 / 10Scottish Liberal Council in Glasgow, inwhich he said the state should supportits “left out millions.”In 1931, Churchill admitted thathe knew Wells’s work so well he couldpass an exam in it. “We need toremember that there was a time whenChurchill was a radical Liberal whobelieved these things,” Toye explained.“Wells is often seen as a socialist, buthe also saw himself as a Liberal, and hesaw Churchill as someone whose viewswere moving in the right direction.”Wells advocated the idea of selectivebreeding, arguing that peopleshould only be able to have children ifthey met certain conditions such asphysical fitness and financial independence.Churchill told Wells he admired“the skill and courage with which thequestions of marriage and populationwere discussed.”Wells predicted the political unificationof “the English-speaking states”into “a great federation of whiteEnglish-speaking peoples.” Churchilloften argued for the “fraternal association”of those nations, and even wrotea four-volume History of the English-Speaking Peoples.—SARAH CASSIDY, THE TIMESChurchillian comment:In January Dr. Toye representedsomebody else’s words as Churchill’sown. Here he states that Churchill’swords were not his. WSC thus managedto commit opposite sins withequanimity. What a man!The notion that Churchill wastoo busy to do serious reading and preferredto indulge in science fictionwhen he “got home after a hard day inthe House of Commons” (hilarious toanyone steeped in WSC’s routine), issimply dumb. Anyone consulting thebooks Churchill read in his youth, forexample, know that his tastes ran fromAristotle to Shakespeare, Darwin toWynwood Reade. Certainly he read sciencefiction—even Henty novels. Andhis photographic memory stored hisfavorite phrases. That doesn’t mean hepicked up his essential philosophy fromsome novelist.At the time he wrote to Wellsabout the welfare state, Churchill >>