Winston Churchill

Yeah, let's follow his example. Eat like he did-- meat pies, gourmet desserts-- drink a pint of brandy and smoke 15 big cigars daily.. and maybe we'll live 91 years, too.

 

Churchill indeed was a great friend not only to the US but also to many others who loved freedom.

Had we followed his advise instead of conceding so much to the ruthless Stalin, the history of post-WWII eastern Europe would have been considerably different than it was.

 

Whiest true that Churchill did do some great things at the time of the second world war don't get over enthused with the man.

As has been said, he had alcohol problems, had adulterous affairs, and did make other numerous errors.

No Austrlain or New Zealander will forget Galipoli, nor his abandonment of Aus/NZ in WW2.

Nor should you forget that the British didn't want him as PM at the end of WW2, and that he hung on to political leadership long after he should have retied.

As you may have noticed, I'm not a great Churchill fan, all I ask is that you don't get carried away with the hype and the lives of him written by his worshipers.

Regards
Bob

 

I wonder how many were alive during Churchill's term in office? I wonder how many faced his anger in London or the mines when he threatened to turn the "guns on the lot of them" when, in angst, the Londoners had had enough of daily bombing and marched on Downing Street.

Or a Canadian, when he knowingly allowed Canadian troops to go to Hong Kong and then abandom them to 5 years of prison, and many to death?

Churchill had a way with words, and this made him an appropriate leader in war, but we voted him out at end of war in favour of a Labour government.

I'll give him much credit for his wartime activities, but I never did like the man, and I prolly speak for a lot of Londoners in the East End who lived through those horrible years.

Yes, he had praise abroad, but they didn't have to live under him!

Cheers,

Jim

 

If only our leaders would have learned from Churchill's quagmire in Iraq - where many British lives were lost trying to "fix" Iraq and the British treasure almost went broke. But, alas, we didn't. Too bad for us.:tear:

 

And you were there during the war years, were you, in East London or in Wales. Nevermind all the writing, there are some of us who lived through his threats. And which Party was it,,,he crossed the floor so many times I forget his official party.

Downing Street was not that far from Plaistow, where I lived!

Cheers,

Jim

 

Her was only voted the greatest Brit who ever lived. By Brits!

He accomplished more in one lifetime than 100 ordinary men.

His accomplishments are legion. It absolutely amazes me at how he found the time to do all that he did.

He was a prolific writer and an accomplished painter. (His landscapes hang in the Louvre.)

He built his own house and was a very good stone mason.

His reputation for smoking and drinking are mostly urban legend. He did smoke between 10 and 15 cigars a day but they were usually not lit as he would just let them go out and he mostly chewed on them. He got into the habit of putting a little whiskey into his drinking water to sterilize it because of the bad water he had to drink in Africa and India and just continued the practice.

Was he a perfect man? Absolutely not. Was he a political opportunist? Absolutely yes. But as Jesus said "Woe be unto you when all men speak well of you"

BTW, how old were you Canadian Jim in 1940?

 

Thirteen, January 5th, 1940. Old enough to know what was going on and grew much faster through 5 years of war in London, thank you very much.

Voting in favour of any historical character always changes with time. Look how many showed favour to Diana after her death!

Cheers,

Jim

 

Is it true that on one side of the doorway into the House of Commons there's a statue of Churchill (and on the other, one of Lloyd-Jones)?

Is it also true that Churchill wrote these words at the end of a qualiifying essay for school admission: "I have nothing else to say about this that is either relevant or true"?

I sure hope both are true - they're my favorite pieces of Churchill trivia :laugh:

 

My favorite Churchill story is the conversation that supposedly occurred between him and Lady Astor (who wasn't exactly a fan of Churchill).

The two were at some ball when Lady Astor remarked, "Sir Winston, if I were your wife, I'd put poison in your tea!'

His reply: "And, my dear madam, if you were my wife...I'd drink it!" :thumbs:

 

Yes I guess you can call him great cos he did many things that helped shape history, so did Stalin and Hitler, but as an Australian I can not forgive him for using our lads as cannon fodder because of his arrogance....he did not give a continental for the poor British foot slogger for that matter, maybe it is a requirement for greatness...that to spend the lives of the poor and oppressed....

 

Say what you will, he was a man that God placed in power with perfect timing and abilities for the needs of the day!

Just suppose that Neville Chamberlain had been the PM during the war. 'Course then London would never have been bombed, it would have just been given to Hitler as a peace offering, I suppose!