![]() ![]() Eighteen years later, speaking in the Albert Hall on American Thanksgiving day, November 23, 1944, Tennyson was again on his mind: “‘Let the great world spin for ever down the ringing grooves of change.’ as Tennyson said many years ago.” In 1926, Churchill inserted Tennyson’s patriotic poem “Soul of England” in the British Gazette during the General Strike. Likewise in Lord Randolph Churchill, 4 Churchill leads a chapter with a line from Tennyson: “To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield….” Henty, which Churchill had read as a young man. ![]() 3 This was the title of an 1899 novel by G.A. An example is his first chapter in Ian Hamilton’s March: 2 A Roving Commission, which he later used as the subtitle (and American title) of his autobiography, My Early Life. In his own books, it was not unusual for Churchill to reach into his amazing memory for a favorite passage or title by a great author. He read “ The Charge of the Light Brigade” as a boy, and memorized some famous Tennyson lines, possibly from books of quotations, in his massive self-education as a young cavalry lieutenant in India in 1895-97. Should I like his books?”ĭespite this, Churchill did have earlier acquaintance with the poet. Violet: “It wasn’t my phrase, it was Tennyson’s.” ![]() WSC: “What is it you once called yourself-‘red in tooth and claw’? I like to see you plunge your claws-those delicate and rosy claws-into the vitals of a foe.” It appears that he began reading Tennyson in depth at around that time, as Violet Bonham-Carter recalls: 1 In 1908, Churchill’s old Harrow head master, Bishop Welldon, gave him a set of Tennyson’s works as a wedding present. We don’t know if Tennyson headed Churchill’s list, but he certainly ranked high. She said: “The working class has a long memory.A reader has written to ask if Alfred, Lord Tennyson was Churchill’s favorite poet. ![]() When I was watching Winston Churchill’s funeral as a child, I asked my mum why, if he was such a great man, people did not vote for him after the war. His father’s reply was: “You should have pointed your rifle and shot the coffin.” While serving with the Royal Air Force Regiment in the 1960s I asked my driver, the son of a Durham miner, what his father’s response had been when he told him he had been a member of the squadron that lined Churchill’s funeral route. Priyamvada Gopal points out that many working-class communities felt a strong animosity towards Churchill. In fact his personal popularity was at 80%, something current leaders can only dream of much of the reason for the defeat was the general mistrust of the Conservative party and its prewar appeasement policy – in addition to the thought that Clement Attlee’s new deal would be much more beneficial to returning soldiers, factory workers and their families. Priyamvada Gopal suggests Churchill lost the 1945 election because “the uncritical Churchill-worship that is so dominant today was not shared by many British people”. They should also know that a brief Google search quickly reveals that Churchill’s responsibility for the 1943 Bengal famine and “his willingness to mobilise military force during industrial disputes” is not exactly uncontested territory.Īnd no – I wouldn’t have voted for Churchill’s party in 1945 either. There isn’t space on this page to elaborate how remarkable an outcome this was, but I suggest that people extend their reading beyond the opinion pages of the Guardian to include the third volume of William Manchester’s Churchill biography, The Last Lion. However, Churchill’s statue in Parliament Square was not erected to celebrate the enlightened views of a social liberal but to recognise a war leader who achieved what few people believed was possible when he took office in 1940: the unconditional defeat of Nazi Germany. The reputation of any historical figure is not enhanced if his supporters simply go into denial over how he truly viewed the world. ![]()
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