It isn't clear to me that the line was meant as a put-down, or interpreted that way by the family. It may be a thoughtless and tactless but otherwise legitimate expression of gratitude from someone with little interest in serious literature...someone as twittish as Edward VIII. The family may have been laughing at an expression of sincere pompous buffoonery rather than cutting wit, and they would have also been intimately familiar with the character and position of the person who wrote it which would have made its irony all the funnier to them. I can also imagine Churchill shaking his head and sharing a chuckle.
Stan ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, November 12, 2011 8:44 AM Subject: Re: [ChurchillChat] Re: Author Put-down I could easily be wrong on who it was. These type of stories have a habit of attaching themselves to all sorts of people. Still, the family may have thought it was funny - it is the type of thing which is funny well afterward, but I wonder what WSC thought? Jonathan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: "Editor, Finest Hour" <[email protected]> To: ChurchillChat <[email protected]> Sent: Sat, November 12, 2011 5:41:26 AM Subject: [ChurchillChat] Re: Author Put-down Jonathan, Are we sure this was Lord Londonderry? Have always thought it was Edward VIII, later Duke of Windsor. Sarah Churchill reports in her THREAD IN THE TAPESTRY (41): “... my father received a note from a friend of royal lineage which said: 'Dear Winston, Thank you for your book, I have put it on the shelf with the others.' The family, on being told this by my mother, collapsed in laughter. It evoked for us the famous story of what George III, the then Duke of Gloucester, is supposed to have said to Mr Gibbon: 'Another damned thick square book! Always scribble, scribble, eh Mr Gibbon?'" Note her description of “a friend of royal lineage.” Manchester in his LAST LION vol. II apparently mixed this up when he said (p18) that the remark was from the Duke of Gloucester. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en.
