There are a few inaccuracies. For example:
The exact F E Smith quote is ''Winston can make do with the best of everything.''
The FDR incident was that Winnie appeared somewhere naked and FDR walked in and Winnie said ''The Prime Minister of Great Britain has nothing to hide from the President of the United States''. It is extremely unlikely that WSC would have deliberately taken the towel off.
On the wartime Cuban cigars sent to him: there were many but he wasn't allowed to smoke them for fear of poisoning.
His family called his siren suits his 'rompers'
Still, it is good that the book has been done.
Last edited by NJS (2012-04-29 11:52:23)
I'm frightened that anyone would want to know so much about someone they weren't in love with (and even then), but it sounds like an interesting book all the same and worth a read.
The historian M. O'Donoghue has researched some of the legendary Churchill anecdotes, such as the Churchill/FDR encounter:
"Churchill was given to reading to reading in the bathtub and, while staying at the White House, he became so engrossed in an account of the Battle of Fonteney that he forgot President Roosevelt was due to drop by to discuss the upcoming conference in Yalta. At the appointed hour, the president was wheeled into Churchill’s quarters only to be informed that the prime minister had not finished bathing. Roosevelt was about to apologize for the intrusion and depart when Churchill, puffing his customary cigar, strode into the room stark naked and greeted the nonplussed world leader with a terse, 'What are you staring at, homo?'"
+1. I hope that when I'm dust someone can tell a story about me that is half as good as this.
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/06/15/nothing-to-hide
WC and FDR were at opposite sides of the political spectrum. By that time, FDR was much more sympathetic to IS than to WC. He wasn't the only one. The left took a long time to turn on Stalin and the USSR. They were at their zenith of popularity then.
WC was on the cconservative side of imperial Britain. He was an aristocrat and an absolute believer in the imperial role of Britain.
Stalin played FDR like a fiddle.
I read somewhere that Churchill used several Savile Row tailors because he rarely paid his bills.
NJS - Yes. Churchill knew exactly what to expect from Stalin, or at least he says so in his book on WW2 (written after the war, and it's very possible he is making himself look more insightful than he was then. But I tend to trust him on this ground.)
Despite an aristocratic background—Churchill's first cousin was the Duke of Marlborough—he never had an abundance of money. "As one's fortunes are reduced, one's spirit must expand to fill the void," Churchill said. In fact, Mr. Singer initially subtitled the book "Living Well Beyond Your Means." Out of office, he supported himself by writing. After losing money in the 1929 stock market crash, he came perilously close to ruin more than once—even putting his beloved Chartwell Manor in Kent up for sale—and had to be bailed out by friends and supporters. "He knew how he wanted to live," Mr. Singer said. "He was always resourceful in finding ways to do it." Here, Mr. Singer shares his favorite Churchill quirks and images from the book, on shelves May 1.