Thursday, June 19, 2008

The Churchill Series - Jun, 19, 2008

(One of a series of weekday posts about the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

We've read some very serious posts recently, so today let's go for a bit of fun and nothing more.

From the introduction to Martin Gilbert's excellent Churchill and America:

Churchill was proud of his American ancestry. During a discussion at the Truman White House in 1952, to standardize the type of rifle to be used by the two countries' armies, the following exchange took place between Churchill and the senior British officer present [Field Marshall Slim]:

Slim: "Well, I suppose we could experiment with a bastard rifle, partly American, partly British."

Churchill: "Kindly moderate your language, Field Marshall. It may be recalled that I am myself partly British, partly American."

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