"Is it right," the guard asked Churchill, "that a dirty Kaffir [native] should walk on the pavement [sidewalk] without a pass? That's what they do in your British Colonies. Brother! Equal! Ugh! Free! Not a bit. We know how to treat Kaffirs....They were put here by the God Almighty to work for us. We'll stand no damned nonsense from them. We'll keep them in their proper places."
After recording his guard's opinions Churchill states his own: "What is the true and original root of Dutch aversion to British rule? It is the abiding fear and hatred of the movement that seeks to place the native on a level with the white man. British government is associated in the Boer farmer's mind with violent social revolution...the Kaffir is to be declared the brother of the European, to be constituted his legal equal, to be armed with political rights...nor is a tigress robbed of her cubs more furious than is the Boer at this prospect." After the statements of his captor, Churchill concludes, "[he and I had] no more agreement...Probing at random I had touched a very sensitive nerve."
Now it is accurately said that Churchill's view of native Africans was not that of, say, Martin Luther King, Jr. half a century later. Churchill was paternalistic, and held, if not in these pages then in My African Journey, that immediate equality was impractical and unworkable. But his views in the Ladysmith are in striking contrast to those of most contemporary Britons. Of course, whatever improvements might have evolved in a South Africa under British suzerainty, the Union of South Africa in 1910 led to something different.
By combining the Boer-dominated Transvaal and Orange Free State with the British Cape Colony and Natal in a Union where only whites could vote and Boers outnumbered Britons, Great Britain established the Boer patrimony which the Boers had failed to achieve by arms; and from that Union grew the policy of Apartheid. It is interesting to find Churchill in 1899 representing the same essential approach to native emancipation as the South African reformers of the early 1990s and agreeable to know that Nelson Mandela is an admirer of Winston Churchill.
After a 10-day sea voyage hidden in great secrecy, Churchill landed on U.S. soil and hurried to the White House, where he remained for the better part of three weeks. It was a highly productive visit. The two leaders hammered out the basic framework for deciding how to wage, and ultimately win, the war. More importantly, they a cemented a deep personal trust in each other. Fighting side by side would have been harder for both countries without it.
But one highlight of Churchill's time in Washington, the one that gave Americans a much-needed dose of optimism, had nothing to do with the war. In fact, it involved a touchingly simple peacetime ritual. Roosevelt invited Churchill to join him for the lighting of the National Christmas Tree on Christmas Eve. The event was carried live from coast to coast on radio. Millions of Americans were listening to hear what Churchill had to say. And here's what he told them: This is a strange Christmas Eve. Almost the whole world is locked in deadly struggle, and, with the most terrible weapons which science can devise, the nations advance upon each other … Therefore we may cast aside for this night at least the cares and dangers which beset us and make for the children an evening of happiness in a world of storm. Here, then, for one night only, each home throughout the English-speaking world should be a brightly lighted island of happiness and peace.
Let the children have their night of fun and laughter. Let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play. Let us grown-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures before we turn again to the stern task and the formidable years that lie before us, resolved that, by our sacrifice and daring, these same children shall not be robbed of their inheritance or denied their right to live in a free and decent world.
Churchill's words touched Americans. He reminded them not only what the war was about, but what Christmas itself is about, too. He persuaded people to set aside their fears and worries for just one precious night.
December 26 is Boxing Day if you live in the U.K. and some of its former dominions, Saint Stephen’s Day in Ireland (and elsewhere), and for Californians who love thoroughbred horse racing, the day after Christmas is traditionally opening day at Anita Park.
December 26 is also the date when Winston Churchill became the first British prime minister to address the United States Congress. In happened in the waning days of 1941, as America entered -- some would say, finally entered -- the Second World War.
It’s extraordinary when you think about it, but with his beleaguered island under the gun from Nazi Germany, and the ocean between England and America infested with enemy submarines, Winston Churchill braved stormy winter seas after the Pearl Harbor attack to sail to the land of his mother’s birth. The prime minister traveled aboard a British battleship, the HMS Duke of York, docking at the U.S. Navy port in Norfolk, Va., 150 miles from the place that would be his home away from home for the next three weeks: the White House.
Churchill, it’s no exaggeration to say, had been exhilarated by the Japanese bombardment of Pearl Harbor, and by Hitler’s subsequent -- and stupid -- miscalculation to declare war on the country that had just been attacked.
Gary Oldman has revealed plans to play Winston Churchill again after his performance in the award-winning Darkest Hour.
The Dark Knight actor, 60, admitted that he's only 'scratched the surface' with the iconic history figure and that there's 'another chapter'.
Talking on Radio 4's Today programme, Gary said: 'I've only scratched the surface. I think that there's another chapter here. Maybe a movie, maybe something on television.'
The Oscar-winning actor has already started rehearsals for playing Churchill once again in a stage adaptation of one of his short stories from 1947.
He said: 'I've been working with Randolph [Churchill's great-grandson] and I've adapted, with their kind permission, the short story The Dream. I've been talking about maybe doing it as a sort of two-hander onstage.'
Elizabeth and her husband King George VI embodied the spirit of British stoicism and pluck during the major conflict. In 1940, as London was bombed relentlessly by the Germans, Elizabeth and the King would tirelessly tend to those affected by the bombing offensive, visiting bombed civilians, devastated factories and members of the armed forces
“The Queen Mother was always someone who wanted to be involved in society and community.”
Ms Tominey added: “Famously during the Blitz, she said that she was glad that Buckingham Palace had been bombed because she wanted to look the East End in the face.
“I think, similarly, they were very much in tunes with their times
“And the Queen particularly, I think, she understood the notion of not being seen to be splashing cash at times when things were difficult for other people.”
After Britain entered war in 1939, many of London’s children were evacuated to avoid the frequent aerial bombing.
One senior politician urged the King to take Elizabeth, then 13 and her sister Margaret, nine, to Canada.