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Ralph Wigram
Q: Can you confirm a statement by Churchill biographer William Manchester that Churchill’s key informant on German rearmament in the 1930s, Ralph Wigram, committed suicide? I can find no evidence,...
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German Misquotes
I am a German author writing a book on false quotations, ranging from quotations slightly changed from the original to complete fabrications. The book deals with quotations in German, where the...
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Love Match: Peter and Alexandra
In July 1943, when King Peter II of Yugoslavia (aged 20) wanted to marry Princess Alexandra of Greece, Churchill defended the marriage but the Foreign Office had a problem with it. (Richard Langworth,...
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Richard Meinertzhagen and the “First Partition of Palestine”
Q: Erica L. Chenoweth’s excellent review of Dockter’s Churchill and the Islamic World, mentions the advice Churchill and other ministers involved in the Middle East received by “men on the spot,” like...
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Churchill and the Chanak Crisis
By encouraging the Greeks to attack Turkey during their struggle for independence, the British and Allies wanted to break apart Ottoman mainland and take Istanbul. Was Churchill against it, and how did...
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Churchill Quotes Without Credit
We have lately been sent several examples of quotations by Churchill which were actually coined by someone else, but which Churchill does not attribute to the author. Are these, we were asked, cases of...
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Churchill on Gandhi’s Death
Did Churchill have anything to say when Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948? —J.M., Rye, N.Y. We thoroughly checked Sir Martin Gilbert’s “wodges” of material for our upcoming document volume of...
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“Eels get used to skinning”: Origins of a Churchill Phrase
In his 1931 essay “Cartoons and Cartoonists” (republished in Thoughts and Adventures), Churchill made a curious remark: “Just as eels are supposed to get used to skinning, so politicians get used to...
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Churchill on Islam
A student asked us for some leads in researching Churchill’s views on Islam. We referred him to Churchill’s first two books (1898, 1899). These are often regurgitated today because some of them, when...
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Bolshevism: “Foul baboonery…Strangle at Birth”
Q: For my new book, Sevastopol’s Wars: The Crimea from Potemkin to Putin, I have vainly tried to find an authoritative reference to the oft-cited quotation, “Bolshevism must be strangled in its...
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Were “Soft Underbelly” and “Fortress Europe” Churchill Phrases?
“Soft underbelly” (of Europe, the Axis Powers, or the Mediterranean) was a famous Churchill expression, conveying his idea of attacking Germany through Italy, before the invasion of Normandy. Did he...
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Bismarck: “Now Lay Me Alongside of the Enemy”
On hunting Bismarck, Hitler’s most feared battleship, A.L. Rowse eloquently quotes not only Churchill, but the 18th century hero Admiral Hawke. Churchill told Rowse: “We had to get the Bismarck: the...
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Leeds, 1942: “We See the Ridge Ahead”
Attached are some pictures of my great-grandfather, the Lord Mayor of Leeds Hyman Morris, with Winston Churchill on the prime minister’s visit in 1942. Do you have any record of what the PM said on...
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Churchill’s Rhetoric: Recommended Books
What are the best sources dealing specifically with Churchill’s art of speechmaking? I’m currently reading Sir Martin Gilbert’s Churchill: The Power of Words, which is truly fascinating. I’m...
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Questions and Answers
Questions: The Hillsdale College Churchill Project receives piles and piles, usually by email. They cover every subject under the sun. We answer up to a question a day, and sometimes bring in experts...
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Churchill’s “Landship”: The Tank
In 1915, Churchill is said to have “illegally allotted” £70 ,000 in Admiralty funds for creating what became the tank. In what sense was this illegal? This was an assertion by the military historian...
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Whisky or Bourbon?
Did Churchill prefer scotch whisky to President Truman’s bourbon, and if so, what brand did he favor? I recently saw a one-man show called “Churchill” at the Solo Chicago Theater. It portrayed a...
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“Don’t ever tell people ‘I Told You So’”
Avoid telling people “I told you so,” said Churchill, who resisted “rubbing it in,” even when he was proved right. A reader of a Churchill remark to his daughter Mary, recounted by the historian John...
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“Malakand Field Force”: Best Copies for Modern Readers
Q: Our book discussion group is next reading Churchill’s first book, The Story of the Malakand Field Force, first published 1898. Since early editions are rare and expensive, we are recommending later...
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Teasing Churchill at Teheran
A reader asks, is there any source to the claim that Roosevelt engaged in teasing Churchill at the 1943 Big Three summit? The answer to that question is “how many sources do you require?” The work of...
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