The website for the late Sir Martin Gilbert, the official Churchill biographer, has been entirely revamped. It provides information of the life and career of Gilbert as well as information on and excerpts from the dozens of books he authored, including on Churchill, the two world wars, the Holocaust, Israel, Jewish history, and the Twentieth Century. The site also has three blogs (Sir Martin’s writing, Sir Martin in the news, Sir Martin’s Web Citings) and a newsletter. The site is available here.
On July 18, 1960, the then 85 year old Sir Winston Churchill arrived at the Greek resort of Glyfada aboard the yacht Christiana that belonged to the shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. Churchill and his wife Clementine were aboard the yacht for their month long Mediterranean summer cruise. Accompanied by a party that included both his secretary Anthony Montague Browne and his nurse Roy Howells, Churchill and Clementine had begun their vacation by flying from London to Venice on July 10th. In Venice they toured the canals before sailing aboard the Christiana on the afternoon of July 13th. Churchill thoroughly enjoying the luxury and relaxation offered by the yacht and between 1958-63 would cruise aboard the Christiana on eight occasions. On this trip his host, Ari Onassis, would join him for the first days before leaving for Monte Carlo. Others aboard the yacht were the famous ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn and her husband Dr. Roberto Arias, a Panamanian who had been charged in his country the year before for plotting a coup. On July 14th Churchill went ashore on the Yugoslav island of Split to meet with Marshal Tito. With the British ambassador, Sir Michael Creswell, in attendance, the Yugoslav leader gave Churchill a most cordial reception and the pair discussed the Second World War and only briefly touched on current events. Churchill then sailed aboard the yacht to Dubrovnik and Corfu before passing through the Corinth Canal. After reaching Glyfada, the cruise continued to Athens on July 19th and then crossed to Crete where Churchill went ashore twice: the first time at Canea where he was the guest of the Liberal leader Sophocles Venizelos and the second time at Heraklion where he was driven to inspect the ruins at Knossos. On July 22nd the yacht reached Rhodes before returning to Athens six days later after which there were a further six days of cruising. On this last stage of the cruise the Churchills were joined by their daughter Diana. On August 4th the Churchills, having completed their cruise, arrived back in England having flown in to London airport from Athens aboard a Comet aircraft.
In 1954 the members of Parliament commissioned a portrait of Winston Churchill by Graham Sutherland to present to the then prime minister on the occasion of his 80th birthday which would take place that year. Commencing in late August, Churchill sat eight times for Sutherland to paint his portrait. The completed painting was presented to Churchill by Clement Attlee, on behalf of both Houses of Parliament, in a ceremony held on Churchill’s 80th birthday on November 30, 1954 at Westminster Hall. (The portrait is unveiled at 2:37 on the above video). The portrait proved controversial. While praised by some art critics, it was disliked by the public and despised by Churchill and his family. At the time, Churchill said, “The portrait is a great example of modern art. It certainly combines force and candor,” but privately remarked that he thought it made him look “half-witted.” The portrait was never seen again after the presentation and in January 1978, after the death of her mother the month before, Churchill’s daughter Lady Soames revealed that Clementine Churchill had destroyed the painting on her own initiative prior to Winston’s death in 1965. Sutherland called the destruction “without question an act of vandalism.”
In a recent article in the Daily Telegraph the actual fate of the Sutherland portrait is revealed by Sonia Purnell, author of First Lady: The Life and Wars of Clementine Churchill. During her research, Purnell discovered a tape housed in the Churchill Archives in which Grace Hamblin, Clementine’s private secretary, describes burning the portrait to fulfill the wishes of Lady Churchill. The article is available here.
An 18-carat gold Dent pocket watch inscribed by Winston Churchill has been sold at auction for £12,000. Churchill presented the watch to G. Wallace Carter in 1910 after the first of the two general elections held that year. The Liberal Party won both elections. The BBC News has a report on the auction sale with photographs of the watch.
Winston Churchill was an avid air enthusiast who took flying lessons before and after the First World War. As prime minister during the Second World War, he flew thousands of miles to attend conferences and inspect the frontlines in Africa, Italy, and North-West Europe. Occasionally on these trips Churchill was permitted to take the controls of the aircraft from the pilot for a short period. A recent article in the Daily Mail has photographs taken of Churchill at the controls of a Dakota aircraft in 1944. The article is available here.