Living in London

“We are all worms. However I am fairly certain that I am a glow-worm.”

              —  Winston Churchill

A few weeks ago we watched the HBO film called “The Gathering Storm. It is about Winston Churchill’s life just before WWII began. We are exploring an emerging interest in Winston Churchill and we were completely entranced by the film. Albert Finney is amazing in the lead role, and I’d recommend the film just for his performance. Of course, the other performances are wonderful as well, and the subject matter was fascinating. We have been working on a Churchill theme ever since!

What a huge character this man was! Far from perfect, or even proven right about many things in retrospect, he is still bigger than life. He served under six monarchs, won sixteen terms in Parliament, and was Prime Minister twice. A prolific author and journalist who published over 40 titles in his lifetime, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He experienced an amazing range of history during the violent 20^th century – participating in the last great cavalry charge against the dervishes in the Sudan campaign, making a daring escape from a prison camp in Pretoria during the South African war, leading Britain and the world through WWII, and then seeing Britain on to becoming a nuclear power. He is reputed to have started every day with a cigar in bed and then held court sitting propped up in bed – including giving dictation to his secretaries and holding discussions with senior military advisors. His consumption of champagne is legendary, and he drank it daily at both lunch and dinner.  About Pol Roget (his favourite champagne) he said “I deserve it in victory and need it in defeat.

Following on the theme, we recently visited the Cabinet War Rooms and the Churchill museum. The War Rooms are located underground for protection from bombs, and are realistically preserved. It is easy to picture yourself trying to live and work there, around the clock, during the war. The audio tour is very helpful in portraying life “underground.”  The Museum is quite a contrast to the realistic 1940’s era Cabinet War Rooms – very high tech, multi-media based, and gives a thorough overview of Churchill’s entire life before and after the war.

Our next step is to visit Chartwell, Churchill’s family home in Kent for about 40 years, and a place about which he once said “A day away from Chartwell is a day wasted.” 

The web is loaded with great information about Winston. Here is a link that is a great place to start.