The Churchill Myths
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BOOKS, ARTS, AND CURIOSITIES Admiralty in 1911 on the eve of With the coming of film and With Winston Churchill: A the First World War and a chief radio, Churchill became a partici- Life in the News, Toye has made promoter of the “New Navalism” pant; however, he always favored another significant contribution (maintaining the vaunted might newspapers over other media. His to Churchill studies. Many other of the Royal Navy), he favored attitude toward the BBC could be books on Churchill go into his the Conservative-owned press, harsh, and he believed it was on relationship with the media, some which pushed for sharply higher occasion too negative, according more than others, but Toye’s is naval spending. He was no longer to Toye. The advent of television the first to focus solely on Chur- the radical social reformer and had little appeal for him, and he chill and the press. The book may friend of the Liberal media, but watched it only rarely during his not contain newly revealed facts, instead promoted naval reviews lifetime. He was never really com- but it does confirm Churchill’s and the launching of new ships to fortable before TV cameras and adeptness at manipulating the meet the increasing German naval had little interest in appearing on press. threat. television interviews, with their cameras and the glare and heat W. Mark Hamilton is author Much to the delight of the from the lights. of The Nation and the Navy: newspapers, Toye notes, Chur- Methods and Organization of chill took up flying lessons, which During the Second World British Navalist Propaganda, served his two-pronged goal: War, Churchill demanded a “re- 1889–1914 (1986). , getting front-page press attention sponsible press,” and though he and gaining public support for did not become an active cen- military aviation. His wife Clem- sor, he was critical of newspaper Print the Legend entine Churchill was not pleased stories that could damage the war with the flying lessons, but un- effort or could endanger Allied Steven Fielding, Bill Schwarz, derstood her husband well and relations. Toye acknowledges and Richard Toye, The Churchill was a strong media asset to him Churchill’s “authoritarian and Myths, Oxford University Press, throughout their lives. She shared repressive streak.” Interestingly, 2020, 224 pages, £20. ISBN with Churchill an unabated in- Churchill’s attitude toward the 978–0198851967 terest in current events and was American press always seemed a charming hostess at Chartwell, more comfortable and relaxed, Review by Alastair Stewart entertaining the “great and the evident by his demeanor in the good” of the media. press conferences with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and later ou would be more success- Newspaper-backed intrigue with President Harry S. Truman. ful in counting the stars in was not foreign to Churchill, and Ythe night sky than every Toye avers that on occasion, he Another continued focus of Churchill myth. Two twin irri- had no objections to conspiring the press was Churchill’s health tants blight Churchill scholarship: with the press lords for his polit- in his last years, during which ru- mawkish bon mots, which Chur- ical benefit. The press lords knew mors of his death were frequent. chill never said, or his pantomime they could count on Churchill Speculation abounded despite bogeyman notoriety. He is only to provide “good copy” for their considerable efforts by Churchill missing the Fu Manchu mous- readers; his flair for publicity and and his political allies to suppress tache or perhaps a white cat and a excellent command of the written information about his declining secret lair. word were most welcome. Even health and cognitive abilities from his strong interest in painting a series of what were thought to So The Churchill Myths by became part of his public image, be debilitating strokes and mini- Steven Fielding, Bill Schwarz and which he burnished with his essay strokes as well as severe hearing Richard Toye should be a wel- “Painting as a Pastime,” written loss. Journalists were increasingly come reprieve. The book does not for The Strand Magazine. not inclined to be discreet, Toye try to answer every charge against reports; as one journalist said, Churchill. Nor does it try to dis- “Mr. Churchill is News!” mantle the fetishism of his mem- 46 | FINEST HOUR BOOKS, ARTS, AND CURIOSITIES al task to explain every possible ers in the 1919 Battle for George reason why Churchill endures as Square. The fallacy was recently both a cultural symbol and a po- rebuked when found to have been litical prophet. It is disappointing made the “correct” answer on that the book comes in at a mere an official Scottish history test. 162 pages of principal text, for the Churchill is a popular and modern appetite is very much whet for tool to make a point about alleged more. It is really an introduction English oppression. That in itself to how some Churchill factoids is indicative of the book’s prob- came to be, and some more lem: the title suggests tackling prominent instances where his myths. It is more an introduction memory, visage, and spirit were to understanding the pernicious- invoked. ness of personality cults in En- gland and America. Anyone expecting an exhaus- tive rebuttal against such popular The book’s premise of un- hijackings will be disappointed, derstanding Churchill as a prism and there is a grand spectrum is culturally illuminating but ory. The authors aim to chart the of public maulings to pick from self-defeating in its political propagandization of Churchill’s these days. The plurality of scope. This, of course, presumes legacy in twentieth-century poli- Churchills versus the flesh-and- one can exist without the other. tics but with mixed results. blood man is an ongoing battle. But Churchill is like Mandela or Churchill, as the authors dis- Gandhi—there came the point No other public figure has so cuss, is more a vessel for modern when the man split into what we interwoven himself into the cul- value debates. The book is full of think he is and how his memory is tural and political fabric of coun- consistently tight analyses but is rallied to make a political point. tries across the world as Winston slightly too academic to tackle Churchill. No other figure is so the juiciest of modern Churchill Prime Minister Boris John- loved or derided based on half- scandals. When everything from son—himself an author on truths alone. The book charts white supremacy to genocide and Churchill—has dallied in Chur- significant Churchill conjurations all that is in between are on the chillisms throughout Brexit and in policy and pop culture. But it table, one needs to be loaded for in his government’s response to never quite scratches that itch of bear. COVID-19. When applied to real a question: why can’t we let Chur- life, The Churchill Myths is not chill rest in peace? The lack of breadth leaves the tool to dismantle the politi- confusing oversights. Brexit is cal permissibility of Churchillian What is fascinating here is a worthy topic, but the rise in maxims, clichés, and innuendo. seeing the range of instances of English populism can scarcely be One needs an encyclopaedia to Churchill deployments. The book understood without exploring ruin the hagiography and cultism is a spotter’s guide from the Com- devolution. Churchill is a daily endemic to current policy. mons to The Crown. It highlights ideological weapon in Scotland, where Churchill’s reputation where he is regularly hailed as In a quest to find the theory evolved beyond itself to become a either a unionist saviour or a for Churchill’s legacy, the book set of values and finally, an indus- blue-blooded fascist of the British leaves us wanting more on how try. The stereotype has gone one state. Both views are paradoxical- to tackle the cancer of ignorance further and influenced campaigns ly enabling the cliff-edge push for ubiquitous across the Western for Brexit and even the rise of Scottish independence. world. If there is a common Trumpism. thread, it is that many historical A popular myth abounds that figures have become better than But the authors have pulled Churchill personally ordered they were and worse than we at the Gordian Knot. It is a glob- tanks into Glasgow to crush strik- remember. This is a tragedy. ISSUE NO. 191 | 47 BOOKS, ARTS, AND CURIOSITIES The Churchill Myths is a fas- lished in 2014, covered Wood’s after mounting public criticism cinating, insightful, and often initial career as a solicitor, his over delays in aircraft produc- challenging read. It whets the emergence as an expert on in- tion. Gault credits Wood with a appetite but is too short a work to dustrial insurance, and his first number of important decisions, explain why Churchill, like anoth- years as a Member of Parliament. including the shift in empha- er British hero, regenerates again The second volume begins with sis from producing bombers to and again. Wood’s appointment as Parlia- fighters and the inauguration of mentary Secretary to the Minister the Empire Air Training Scheme. Alastair Stewart is a Scottish pub- of Health, Neville Chamberlain, This last proved to be a valu- lic affairs consultant and freelance at the start of 1925, and covers able source of pilots for Britain writer. He is working on a book the remaining eighteen years of throughout the Second World about Churchill and Scotland. , his life. Since Wood spent all but War. Though Gault regards Wood two of these years in government, as a success in the job, the war- Gault has a wide range of Wood’s time demands exhausted Wood The Unknown various roles and responsibilities to the point that in April 1940 he to cover.