September 26, 2013

Finest Hour 104, Autumn 1999

Page 46

By CURT ZOLLER ([email protected])


Test your knowledge! Most questions can be answered in back issues of Finest Hour or other Churchill Center publications, but it’s not really cricket to check. 24 questions appear each issue, answers in the following issue. Questions are in six categories: Contemporaries (C), Literary (L), Miscellaneous (M), Personal (P), Statesmanship (S) and War (W).

985. When Churchill first went to America in 1895 he was met at the quay by what friend of his American relations? (C)

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986. Who wrote the introduction to the abridged (1968) edition of Marlborough? (L)

987. Lord Randolph Churchill placed all his papers under a trusteeship. To whom were these papers consigned upon his death? (M)

988. In 1943 Roosevelt and Churchill met in Casablanca. What was Churchill’s code name during the first part of the trip? (P)

989. What did WSC see as the two main objectives of Boer strategy in the Boer War ? (S)

990. In one of his articles, Churchill wrote about a war: “The French not yet revised, the British water-logged, the Americans remote. Thus the year closed.” What year was it? (W)

991. About which one of his friends did WSC comment: “He had all the canine virtues in a remarkable degreeโ€”courage, fidelity, vigilance, love of chase.” (C)

992. The River War was generally praised, but which weekly said: “Only this astonishing young man could have written these two ponderous and pretentious volumes…”? (L)

993. What were the horse racing colours of Lord Randolph Churchill (and his son)? (M)

994. In one of his early writings, published by Pall Mall, Churchill described a day at Sandhurst. He signed it with what pseudonym? (P)

995. What was WSC’s opinion of Ladysmiths tactical position during the Boer War? (S)

996. Young Churchill wrote to his mother about a sham battle he participated in with about 12,000 regular troops. His “army” consisted of 3500 men, two batteries of guns and a regiment of cavalry. Did they win? (W)

997. Why did T. E. Lawrence refuse the Commandership of the Bath and the Distinguished Service Order from the King? (C)

998. In January 1947 Churchill wrote an article on the chance of another world war. What was its title and where did it run? (L)

999. Churchill’s biographer, Sir Martin Gilbert, is credited with over 46 books in his latest publication, History of the Twentieth Century. How many did he write entirely about Churchill: 10, 16, 26 or 46? (M)

1000. Accepting leadership of the Conservative Party in 1940, Churchill claimed to have “always faithfully served two public causes.” What were they? (P)

1001. In what year did Churchill say in a Commons speech: “A European war cannot be anything but a cruel, heart-rending struggle, which if we are ever to enjoy the bitter fruits of victory, must demand, perhaps for several years, the whole manhood of the nation, the entire suspension of peaceful industries, and the concentration to one end of every vital energy in the country”? (S)

1002. Which famous battle was Churchill referring to when he wrote about “the looseness and flexibility of all formations…and the encircling movement of the Allies, foreshadowing [the battle of] Tannenberg”? (W)

1003. What newspapers did Lord Beaverbrook control? (C)

1004. In what year did the American popular magazine Collier’s Weekly publish Churchill’s first article, and what was its title? (L)

1005. Before extracts of Churchill’s books appeared in Life, he wrote many articles for what other popular American weekly? (M)

1006. In Thoughts and Adventures (Amid These Storms) Churchill expresses his opinion of people who get drunk. What was it? (P)

1007. In Marlborough, Churchill comments on the interaction of military and political instruments of power in grand strategy, declaring, “His life is a ceaseless triple struggle.” What were the three struggles? (S)

1008. In his speech in Liverpool on 23 April 1901, what were Churchill’s three critiques of St. John Brodrick’s Army Reform? (W)

ANSWERS TO LAST TRIVIA (#961-984)

(961) Churchill never spoke with President Kennedy. Anthony Montague Brown spoke with JFK. (962) The revolutions discussed in HESPare the Glorious Revolution of 1688 in Britain, the American Revolution of 1776 and the French Revolution of 1789. (963) The statue unveiled by Queen Elizabeth and President Jacques Chirac is in Paris, beside the Seine. (964) Winston’s brother’s name was John Strange Spencer Churchill. (965) The only major Cabinet post WSC didn’t fill was Foreign Secretary. (966) USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81), is a guided missile destroyer.

(967) Prime Minister Mackenzie King met Churchill in 1900 during WSC’s tour of Canada. (968) The “locust years” comment was based on the Bible, Joel 3:25: “…and I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten.” (969) Churchill’s coffin was carried up the Thames on the launch Havengore. (970) Churchill London residences with the blue historical plaque are: 33 Eccleston Square; 2 Sussex Square; 11 Morpeth Mansions; and 28 Hyde Park Gate. (971) Churchill said at Teheran, “In war-time, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.” (972) WSC commented about Admiral John Jellicoe’s
contributions to the success of World War I.

(973) “It would have been better had he never lived” referred to Stanley Baldwin, whom WSC blamed for Britain’s lack of preparedness at the outset of WW2. (974) A letter under “flying seal” was a Foreign Office notation, meaning the recipient should read it and send it on. (975) Churchill’s complaint about America was “…toilet paper too thin, newspapers too fat.” (976) His prescription called for “the use of alcoholic spirits at meal time…the minimum requirement to be 250cc.” (977) Churchill declared, “I believe from the bottom of my heart that no Socialist system can be established without political police,” which allegedly contributed to his 1945 defeat. (978) The quotation is from “Shall We All Commit Suicide?” in Thoughts and Adventures (Amid These Storms), page 245.

(979) The first woman Member of Parliament was Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor (Viscountess Astor). (980) Churchill referred to his father, Lord Randolph, as a boy and as a man. (981) The three government leaders who met at the 1953 Bermuda Conference were President Eisenhower, Prime Minister Churchill and French Prime Minister Joseph Laniel. (982) Churchill’s dark moods were called “Black Dog.” (983) In 1937, Churchill spoke in support of non-intervention in the Spanish Civil War. (984) The “Zuckerman Plan” stressed concentrated, precise attacks on rail targets in France prior to the D-Day invasion. 

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