1 - Winston Churchill

BOOK REVIEWS"Glory that ShinesUpon our Tears"H. ASHLEY REDBURNU)N(iSINSELong Sunset: Memoirs of Winston Churchill's Last PrivateSecretary, by Anthony Montague Browne. London,Cassell Publishers Ltd., 1995, illustrated, 376pp, £20.Available in North America for $29 + $4 shipping fromICS New Book Service c/o the editorWHEN the reader opens this book he should dispensewith a bookmarker and start reading inthe early morning, for he will surely not put itdown before reading the last page. Lady Soames's fineintroduction gives a flavour of the feast to come and is adeserved tribute to an outstanding man. These memoirs,which are important as history, too, cover a life ofthree absorbing public careers which give a splendid insightinto one man's experience in the wartime RAF; asa postwar civil servant in the Foreign Office, includingspells in the British Embassy in Paris, and as one ofthe private secretaries at Number Ten for the greaterpart of Churchill's last premiership; and as courtier tothe Queen. His third career and possibly the most importantfor posterity was as Esquire and Ganymede toSir Winston for the last decade of that great knight's illustriouslife.I call AMB, as he refers to himself, an Esquire becausehe qualifies by his prowess in battle and devotedservice to his chivalrous knight. Like Sir Winston, hewas proud to serve his country in war and peace, and toact staunchly in her defense against fainthearts and detractors.In short, he is a true Englishman (of Ulsterblood) and a patriot. Despite the jibe that "patriotism isthe last refuge of a scoundrel," there is nothing wrongin being a patriot, whatever your country.Anthony Montague Browne reveals himself as a manof independent mind (from boyhood), forthright and uncompromisingin his views, a bon viveur and a bonraconteur, a good companion and friend — it must havebeen fun to live with him in the RAF, at University andin the Diplomatic Service. Despite the disparity in agesand in experience, he turned out to be the happiestchoice as companion and amenueusis to WSC in the lastdecade of his life, and fortunately for us, his chroniclerand Boswell. A man of wit and humour, he writes ashehas lived. "Le style est l'homme meme!"Mr. Redburn is a Finest Hour senior editor living in Dorset,England.In these pages we encounter many of the great figures,foreign as well as British, the statesmen, thepoliticians, public servants, diplomats, military menand others, including charlatans and careerists, whohave graced or disgraced this country since 1940. Hepresents in telling phrases the foibles of eccentrics, thepomposities of not a few, the hilarity of things goingwrong in high places, including his own mistakes, andthe serious errors of people and policies — some of theselatter by his own colleagues. As Vansittart saidscathingly, "The soul of our [Civil] Service is the loyaltywith which we execute ordained error." Not all the errorswere — or are — committed by the political masters.Macmillan's unfortunate "Winds of Change"speech was written by David Hunt, one of AMB's colleaguesand a friend, characterised memorably by LordLamston: "for the sake of a phrase he has cofounded aContinent" (p. 307). [Incidentally, AMB, who is notalone in considering the demise of the British Empireas not altogether a blessing, elsewhere quotes Isaiah insupport: "Thou hast multiplied the nations and not increasedthe joy."]AMB is a shrewd and discerning observer, a goodjudge of character. He writes affectionately of those whoserved him and those whom he served; without maliceof the people he disliked, except of men like Burgess thetraitor and Lord George Brown, and has the pungentphrase for the pretentious. He is not afraid to be vitriolicabout some of his own countrymen who failed intheir attitudes and some foreigners who would doBritain harm. He is a man of strong principles and expressesviews which, he admits, would have been inappropriatein the post of Private Secretary to the Queenwhich he wisely declined. He abhors socialism, the destructionof national identity, the shenanigans of politicallife today, the decline of British power and influencethrough the ineptitude of politicians and public servants,and lack of will of people in general. These stricturesmay appeal more to his and my generation andare derived from a heritage no longer regarded as offirst importance — service to the State, which once hadprimacy over self-service.Like so many truly brave men AMB is modest. Heleft University, determined to join the RAF. He drawsattention obliquely yet vividly to the perils and terrorsof pilot training during the war — before the advent ofsimulated cockpits, and pays deserved tribute to theskill and valour of the instructors, particularly theAmerican. Not all pilots and crews were killed in combat.Man is not equipped biologically to fly, and men inflying machines would consider apposite the words writtenby an Elizabethan sailor to his Queen: "The wingsof man's life are pinioned with the feathers of death."FINEST HOUR 89/40