A Little Happier: Winston Churchill Didn’t Hesitate to Show His Emotions

EPISODE NOTES

One of the great joys of my writing life has been the writing of Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill, my short, unconventional biography of Winston Churchill. What a life! What a pleasure it was to write that book.

One of the many remarkable things about Churchill was how emotional he could be. In his time, many people accused him of being “sentimental.” He often cried in public; he expressed his feelings in frank, sometimes even childish terms; and he readily admitted to becoming overcome by emotion.

There’s a story I recall, something that happened during the Second World War. I often go back to re-read it, because it gives me the exquisite feeling of elevation, one of the most beautiful sources of happiness.

This incident took place in August 1940, when Churchill visited the nerve center of the air battle over Britain, where young pilots were ready to fight and die at a moment’s readiness.

In Memoirs of Lord Ismay (Amazon, Bookshop), Churchill’s military advisor Lord Ismay described the scene:

There had been heavy fighting throughout the afternoon; and at one moment every single squadron in the Group was engaged; there was nothing in reserve, and the map table showed new waves of attackers crossing the coast. I felt sick with fear.

After tremendous struggle, the Royal Air Force repelled the attack.

Later, the two men sped away to Chequers, the country house of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Churchill’s first words to Ismay were, “Don’t speak to me; I have never been so moved.” Then, after about five minutes, he leaned forward and said, “Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.”

Ismay noted, “The words burned into my brain,” and Churchill used those same words later in one of his most famous speeches, in August 1940.

His second comment is the more famous, of course, but I also often recall Churchill saying, “Don’t speak to me; I have never been so moved.” Those words describe how deeply Churchill felt the danger, bravery, and sacrifice faced by those young pilots.