ST HOUR - Winston Churchill

Notable Churchillians: Randy BarberINTERNATIONAL DATELINESWill the real Randy Barberor WinstonChurchill please stand up?This is the teasing questionGarnet R. (Randy) Barber isasked when he poses beside apicture or sculpture of hishero, Winston Churchill.Randy himself jokes that neitherhe nor WSC ever met a . ^ carbohydrate they didn't like!Randy honours the Churchill legacy the same way he does everything else: withgreat energy. He is the President oflCS Canada and chaired the recent conference inToronto; he is active in the Other Club of Ontario and represents ICS Canada at boardmeetings of The Churchill Center. He will play a key role in the Churchill Center fundraisingcampaign in Canada.Like Churchill, Randy's interests are eclectic. Naturally, like all Churchillians, hecollects and reads books, books, books; but he also has an astonishing collection of barbermemorabilia (no pun intended): razors, shaving mugs, strops, etc. One of his prize possessionsis an 1875 solid oak barber's chair which sits prominently in his living room. Healso has an abiding interest in Arthur Conan Doyle and Doyle's fictional creation, SherlockHolmes.He shares Churchill's fondness for scotch and, typical of Randy, he organizes annualnosings of single malts with friends. Although he has Churchill's affection for brandy, heindulges in another specialty, liqueurs from around the world, the more unusual the better.The contents of his liquor cabinet, which sit proudly with his barber's chair, must beunique in the world. He has also been known to smoke a cigar after dinner.Although he is a proud Canadian of English stock (his grandfather fought in thesame area of South Africa as Churchill) Randy is a student of the American Civil Warand eagerly seeks out aficionados to learn of their interests. His professional backgroundis just as varied. Many years ago he was manager of the rock group "Ocean," whose hit,"Put Your Hand in the Hand" was a million-seller. He worked with band booking agenciesand, at one time, booked entertainment for Holiday Inns across Canada. One singerhe booked was the Norwegian Nightingale, now his wife Solveig. Many of us saw herunforgettable performances at Banff and Toronto.When Randy is not indulging his hobbies he spends twenty-five hours a day withanother love of his life, politics. He is a former Vice-President of the Ontario ProgressiveConservative (Tory) Party, active in his local constituency and a City Councillor inMarkham, Ontario, just outside Toronto. He combines a political life with a strong socialcommitment in support of many charities including Diabetes and Arthritis Associations,and many cultural groups including community theatres and museums. He is an activefund-raiser for his political and charitable organizations.He is presently Vice-Chairman of the Ontario Alcohol and Gaming Commission,which licenses all establishments and organizations regarding alcohol and gambling.Randy's loyalties would have been sorely tested by Winston and Randolph Churchillwhen they visited Ontario in 1929, and circumvented our prohibition laws by carryingtheir refreshment around in hidden flasks.The real Randy would be pleased to stand up: if you can catch up to him!—John Plumpton (primary sources provided by Solveig Barber)UNSORDID CORRECTIONWASHINGTON, JUNE 8TH— Geneva Overholsterreports in The Washington Postthat Churchill Center member and 1995Conference speaker Professor ArthurM. Schlesinger, Jr. has struck a blow foraccuracy. In a letter to The New YorkTimes, Schlesinger reminds us that whatChurchill called "the most unsordid actin the history of any nation" was Lend-Lease, not the Marshall Plan. Nevertheless,reports Overholster, the MarshallPlan non-quote "ricocheted back andforth across the Atlantic, appearing inThe Daily Telegraph, The Scotsman, theAssociated Press, Reuters, AgenceFrance Press, CNN, ABC and NPR."Her own paper used it on May 25th, theTimes on the 27th. Times editorial writerKarl Meyer tracked the error down, andfound it had come from Sketches fromLife, a 1960 book by former Secretary ofState Dean Acheson. (The exact quote,from WSC's 17 April 1945 Commonsspeech on the death of Roosevelt, was:"...the extraordinary measure of assistancecalled Lend-Lease, which willstand forth as the most unselfish andunsordid financial act of any country inall history.")TWIN PEAKSNEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 9TH— In the 75thanniversary issue of Foreign Affairs variousluminaries, including FrancisFukuyama and Eliot Cohen, are askedto list the finest books of the last seventy-fiveyears. Fukuyama mentionsChurchill's The Second World War; EliotCohen mentions Marlborough: His Lifeand Times; and Stanley Hoffmann lamelydefends his preference for DeGaulle's War Memoirs over the Churchilloption. Has anybody ever got allthe way through De Gaulle's memoirs?Fukuyama (author of The End ofHistory and The Last Man) wrote thereview: "Although it produced manymore casualties than the First WorldWar, World War II retained a moralmeaning as a titanic struggle of goodagainst evil. And in the struggle, no figurewas grander or more heroic thanChurchill. His personal account of theinterwar years, when he braved ridiculeand isolation for standing up to the conciliatoryconsensus seeking to appeaseFINEST HOUR 96/8