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The Rt. Hon. Sir Nicholas Soames, MP will speak on his grandfather Winston Churchill in the 2017 Stoll Lecture. The talk will be held on the evening of October 12, 2017 at the Cabinet War Rooms. Information on the lecture is available here.
29 Friday Sep 2017
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A one-day seminar “Winston Churchill: Aspects in Focus” will be held on September 13, 2017 at the Polish Hearth Club in South Kensington, London. The morning sessions include “Churchill and the First World War” by John Lee, “Churchills and the Isle of Wight” by Anthony Churchill, “Winston Churchill and his Doctor, Lord Moran” by Tania Crasnianski, “Churchill’s Pneumonias 1943-1944” by Allister Vale, and “Broken Hip Treatment 1962: The Middlesex Hospital” by John Mather. In the afternoon the scheduled presentations are Anthony Mather and Barry De Morgan speaking on Churchill’s funeral, Elisa Segrave and John Warburton on “Bletchley Park & the National Museum of Computing,” and Celia and John Lee on “Winston and Jack Churchill.” The website for the seminar is here.
09 Saturday Sep 2017
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inChurchill, Roosevelt, & Company: Studies in Character and Statecraft by Lewis E. Lehrman (Lincoln at Peoria: The Turning Point) studies the course of the Anglo-American relationship during the Second World War by focusing on the personalities of the American president, British prime minister, and other senior figures in the UK and American governments. The author recounts the successes and warmth in the relationship as well as the “rumors, jealousies, misunderstandings, and bureaucratic rigidity [that] affected relations between the United States and Britain during World War II.” Among the cast of senior figures covered in the book are Joseph Kennedy, Harry Hopkins, John Gilbert Winant, Lord Beaverbrook, Lord Lothian, Lord Halifax, George Marshall, Dwight Eisenhower, Anthony Eden, Averell Harriman, Edward Stettinius, and other lesser known individuals. While generally favorable about the character and personal habits of Winston Churchill, Lehrman is critical of Franklin Roosevelt for his disorganized administration, duplicitousness, need to be liked, and “breezy charm and superficiality.” While not breaking new ground on the subject of the Anglo-American war-time relationship, Churchill, Roosevelt, & Company is a well-written, detailed, and interesting study.
05 Tuesday Sep 2017
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Roy Howells was Winston Churchill’s nurse during the last years of his life. Originally from Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Howells completed two years of national service and in 1953 began a three-year nursing course at Dulwich hospital. After he had qualified, Howells left the hospital to become a personal nurse and in April 1958 he took the position of nurse to Churchill in succession to Ivan Shepherd. Howells was first introduced to Churchill at Chartwell as the 83-year old former prime minister was “wearing glasses and drinking brandy and soda.” Howells remained with Churchill for nearly seven years, attending to him in England and accompanying him on the holidays to the south of France and cruises on Onassis’s yacht. During that time Churchill never managed to get his nurse’s name right, calling him “Howes.” In addition to his nursing duties Howell took on many other tasks including helping Churchill dress and feeding the pets. He was the first to attend to Churchill on his two falls: on November 15, 1960 when Churchill tripped at his London home and broke a small bone in his back and on June 28, 1962 when Churchill fell at the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo and broke a bone in his left thigh. Howells was present when Churchill died at home at 28 Hyde Park Gate, London on 24 January 1965. The nurse later received 250 pounds in Churchill’s will. Howells later wrote a memoir of his service with WSC titled Simply Churchill in Britain and Churchill’s Last Years in the United States.
01 Friday Sep 2017
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The theme of the Summer 2017 issue of the Finest Hour: The Journal of Winston Churchill and His Times is “Churchill and the Royal Navy.” Articles include “Winston Churchill and the New Navalism,” “Churchill and Social Reform in the Royal Navy: Punishment, Pat, and Promotion,” “Winston’s Dunkirk Circus,” “Churchill’s Grand Strategy,” “Did Churchill Overrule His Naval Advisers? The Admirals Have Their Say,” “Winston is Back! Churchill’s Second Stint as First Lord of the Admiralty Reconsidered,” “Churchill, the Royal Navy, and the Bismarck.” The website of the Finest Hour is here.