Late Afternoon

In my current capacity, it would be remiss of me not to observe the 50th anniversary of Sir Winston Churchill's funeral today. In the gym earlier in the week, one of the TV channels was showing a Churchill documentary with talking head contributions from his daughter Mary Soames, who passed away earlier this year. I had the privilege of meeting Lady Soames some time ago. Stephen Fry has discussed meeting Alistair Cook (the broadcaster, not the England batsman) and Cook informing him that he had shaken the hand of someone who had shaken hands with Bertrand Russell, whose aunt had danced with Napoleon. Following our handshake, I wondered to what extent I was now part of a chain that went back through the ages.

The programme featured a Churchill anecdote that I hadn't previously heard. Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery once talked with Churchill over dinner and asked him if he considered himself "to be in the evening of life". Churchill threw his cutlery down in a rage and replied "The late afternoon perhaps, but certainly not the evening!". By that reckoning, I myself am heading towards late morning and have high hopes for elevenses.

There have been attempts today to reappraise Churchill's contribution and Alex Thomson has written a blog about it here. This sort of thing doesn't come up much at the National Trust, as you can probably imagine. I was working the week it had been revealed that George W Bush had started painting and I was discussing this with a visitor. I said jokingly "So, all of history's most evil men are painters. Bush. Hitler. Churchill". She responded as if I'd just kicked a puppy to death.

It's exceedingly difficult to imagine what life must have been like in wartime Britain. Or to imagine a time when the sentiment "Keep Calm and Carry On" actually meant something. Thomson writes "Churchill was a far more complex character than the 2D war leader. Unquestionably the right man in the right place for that task, he was so often the wrong man in the wrong place for so many others". There's certainly truth in this statement. But it's difficult to gloss over the fact he was the right man in the right place at the most important moment in the 20th century. History has been kind to him, because he wrote it.

At Chartwell, we're marking the anniversary with the "Death of a Hero" exhibition which runs until November, featuring a number of fascinating collection items and a letter from David Cameron. In the letter the Prime Minister says he asks himself, "What would Winston do?". In which case, I suggest that he needs to ask himself that question much more often.

I'm back at work after an unofficial winter break on Sunday. I look forward to floundering in the face of questions from people who have seen all the programmes on Churchill that I haven't been able to catch up on yet.
But Churchill was a far more complex character than the 2D war leader. Unquestionably the right man in the right place for that task, he was so often the wrong man in the wrong place for so many others. - See more at: http://blogs.channel4.com/alex-thomsons-view/winston-churchill-50th-anniversary-funeral-commemorated/8865#sthash.HscL2ztw.dpuf
But Churchill was a far more complex character than the 2D war leader. Unquestionably the right man in the right place for that task, he was so often the wrong man in the wrong place for so many others. - See more at: http://blogs.channel4.com/alex-thomsons-view/winston-churchill-50th-anniversary-funeral-commemorated/8865#sthash.HscL2ztw.dpuf
But Churchill was a far more complex character than the 2D war leader. Unquestionably the right man in the right place for that task, he was so often the wrong man in the wrong place for so many others. - See more at: http://blogs.channel4.com/alex-thomsons-view/winston-churchill-50th-anniversary-funeral-commemorated/8865#sthash.HscL2ztw.dpuf
But Churchill was a far more complex character than the 2D war leader. Unquestionably the right man in the right place for that task, he was so often the wrong man in the wrong place for so many others. - See more at: http://blogs.channel4.com/alex-thomsons-view/winston-churchill-50th-anniversary-funeral-commemorated/8865#sthash.HscL2ztw.dpuf

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