Friday, January 11, 2008

The Churchill Series - Jan. 11, 2008

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

Vanity Fair's July 10, 1900 issue contained a character sketch of one of the heroes of the Boer War, twenty-five year old Winston Churchill.

On publication date, Churchill was aboard ship returning to England from South Africa. Once ashore in England he planned to start work on two books and a campaign for a seat in Parliament.

Churchill's son and biographer, Randolph Churchill, shares this from the Vanity Fair sketch:

(Churchill) is a clever fellow who has the courage of his convictions.
...
He can write and he can fight.
...
(He has) hankered after politics since he was a small boy, and it is probable that his every effort, military or literary, has been made with political bent. He is something of a sportsman who prides himself on being practical rather than a dandy.

He means to get on and he loves his country. But he can hardly be the slave of any party.
Vanity Fair knew its man.
____________________________________________________
Randolph S. Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Youth. (following p. 440)


I hope you all have nice weekends.

John

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello John,

Just a small correction : The "Boar War" should actually br the Boer War. Boer is the Afrikaans word for Farmer. The Afrikaaners (Boers)were fighting the English who were dominating South Africa in the late 19th / early 20th Century

Great Posts as always

Regards

Anonymous said...

Dear Danvers,

Thank you for pointing out my error so graciously.

I've made the necessary correction.

I'm glad you like the series.

Best,

John