May 13, 2013

FINEST HOUR 142, SPRING 2009

BY PAUL H. COURTENAY AND THE EDITOR

ABSTRACT
A potpourri of grist that didn’t fit elsewhere

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2024 International Churchill Conference

Join us for the 41st International Churchill Conference. London | October 2024

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THE DEBATE WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR

At 7 pm on Thursday 3 September—the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II—Intelligence Squared will be hosting a debate at the Royal Geographical Society in Exhibition Road, London, on the motion: “This House believes Winston Churchill was more of a liability than an asset in the Second World War.” Professor Norman Stone and Pat Buchanan will be proposing the motion and Sir Martin Gilbert, Professor Anthony Beevor and Andrew Roberts will be opposing it.

We look forward to this as much as Churchill and Lloyd George (above right) confronting Commons old boys in 1905. Lloyd George: “I say, Winston, what are we going to do to those poor old duffers?” WSC: “We’ve made them take a back seat already, they’ll have to learn to like it.” (Pall Mall, 1905, John Frost Collection.) —PHC

NUN SO FINE (OR: UNCLE REBUS)

When my wife Sara was at school in the 1940s and early 1950s, her geography teacher was a nun, Sister Mary Barbara (Vernon), an artist who also designed Bunnikins china. Sara recently found this rebus which her teacher had drawn as part of a lesson on Canada. I am sure it will take our readers only a few microseconds to decode. Who will be the first to provide the answer? —PHC

Note: For those who lack a Winchester education (to borrow a jibe by WSC), a rebus is a puzzle in which words are represented by pictures or individual letters; for instance, apex might be represented by a picture of an ape followed by the letter “x.” —Ed.

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’: 28 SEPTEMBER 1929

During Winston Churchill’s visit to California (page 28) he went fishing for marlin off Catalina Island. With the usual Winstonian luck he hooked a 180-pounder in next to no time. It was, of course, the catch of the day, and everyone was amazed. There was no room in Churchill’s article herein for the photo, but it’s too good to miss.

14 AUGUST 1971

Out of a dusty file drops a brochure marking the 25th anniversary of Churchill’s investiture as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports—the first membership flyer we ever produced, We had 300 members and offices in Australia, Britain and the United States.