SERVING KING AND COUNTRY - MANY FINEST HOURS -A REVIEW OF THE AUDIO CD BOOK "THE END OF THE BEGINNING: WINSTON CHURCHILL'S GREATEST SPEECHES, VOL2, 1939 - 1954
Reviewed by Andy McDonald
Winston Churchill is
a man of many finest hours and many finest firsts. In a distinguished career he
was Prime Minister twice, the First lord of the Admiralty twice, a war
correspondent, a soldier (Commander of the 6th Battalion of the Royal scots
Fusiliers), a sir, an MP who changed his political parties the way many of us
change our socks - frequently! He was a Nobel prize winner for literature, a
father to five children and father to nation at War, 1939 - 1945, and he was
granted honourary US citizenship by the US Congress in
April, 1963. Our subject was also chosen by the great british public
in 2002 as the Greatest Britain of all time in a nationwide BBC poll
beating, amongst others, Shakespeare, Brunel, Darwin, John Lennon,
and even modern day icon, Lady Di. Former Northern Ireland secretary, Dr Mo Molam, led the case for
Churchill in the poll, noting, "If Britain - its eccentricity, its big
heartedness, its strength of character - has to be summed up in one person, it
has to be Winston Churchill."
Perhaps more
strangely, Churchill topped a 'time traveller' poll of the person we would most
like to go back in time to meet. He beat no less luminaries than Elvis who was
second. He also beat Einstein, Marilyn Munroe and Martin Luther King. Even
stranger, Churchill even outscored Nelson Mandela in this poll as Mandela
is still alive.
Uniquely, Churchill
transcends the political divide, having admirers of all political hues,
including George Galloway and Margaret Thatcher which is quite an achievement.
Churchill,l the
memorable cigar smoking, V signing person, was born to be a
politician. Following in his father's footsteps, entering Parliament in
1900 as the MP for Oldham. He was a man for whom destiny seemed to
beckon, but crucially he had many failures too, from which he learned. For
instance, he failed twice to gain entry to Sandhurst military Academy and was singularly
blamed for the disasterous Gallipoli campaign of 1915. JFK once stated that he
learned more from his political losses than he did from his successes and one
can safely assume this was the same for Churchill who always had the courage of
his convictions and his acquittals for that matter!
With the rise of
Hitler in Germany, Churchill was a loud, lone voice in the political
establishment,
critising Chamberlain's policy of appeasement and 'peace in our
time,' a
policy that was discredited after the invasion of Poland in 1939.
Chamberlain resigned after the
German occupation of the Norwegian port of Narvik and Churchill, the
man of principle, stepped
up to the plate as Prime Minister, bringing a nation together.
Churchill saw Britain through the blitz, Dunkirk, the Battle of
Britain, D Day.
However, he won the war, but not the peace, for the general election of
July,
1945, saw Labour's Clement Atlee win a landslide victory. Churchill
retired to
the backbenches , returning to power as Prime Minister in 1951. He was
knighted in 1953 and finally retired in 1955. Churchill died on
January, 24, 1965, aged, 90,
of a heart attack. His body lay in state for three days at Westminster
Hall and
he was afforded a full state funeral, finally being being buried at
Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire. Churchill has since, of course, become a national
treasure, establishing his legacy as part an inescapable part of our
cultural
national landscape, identity, and heritage.
For dedicated
followers of history, Anglophiles, lovers of the art of speech making this
double CD audio book which is remastered from the BBC archives, is a must. it
contains over two and a half hours of Churchill's BBC broadcasts covering
the years of the second World war through to 1954, the year before his
retirement. In the speeches we hear Churchill the sotto voce of a nation at
war. His is the heroic voice of hope, reason, courage, fatherly solemnity,
dogged determination, humourous defiance and confident direction.
Churchill was a
prolific writer and speech maker - he notched up more than 5 million words in
his lexicon. The BBC CD audio books bring together his greatest political
speeches - his greatest hits so to speak, notching up 5 hours of listening
- now that's what I call speechmaking!
BUYER BEWARE! Please
note that this audio book is the second volume of Churchill's speeches, the
first volume from 2005 contains Churchill's most famous material,
including the classics of: "We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to
the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we
shall fight...them on the seas, we shall fight....We shall never
surrender." Likewise, "The few," "This was their finest
hour." Nevertheless, there are many magical gems in this treasure trove of
spoken words. However, if you don't have volume 1, you can always buy it along
with volume 2. For the record the track listing of speeches for Vol 2, runs as
follows:
1. "The
First 10 Weeks of the War." Broadcast, 12, November, 1939;
2. "Sinking of
The Graf Spee." Broadcast, 18, december, 1939;
3. "Welcome to
the Crew of HMS Ajax & HMS Exeter." Broadcast, 23, February, 1940;
4. "To the
People of Italy." 23, Dec, 1940;
5. "for Lord
Halifax on his Departure for the USA as British Ambassador." Broadcast, 8,
January, 1941;
6. "Battle of the Atlantic." Broadcast, 18, March, 1941;
7. "Allied and
Dominion Conference." Broadcast, 12, June, 1941;
8. "The
Atlantic Charter." Broadcast, 24, august, 1941;
9. "Address to
the canadian Parliament." Broadcast, 30, december, 1941;
10. "Fall of Singapore." Broadcast, 15, February, 1942;
11. "Second
Anniversary of Taking Office as Prime Minister." Broadcast, 10, may, 1942;
12. "Victory in North Africa." 10, November, 1942;
13. "Post - War
Reconstruction." Broadcast, 21, March, 1943;
14. "To the
People of Paris." 12, November, 1945;
15. "Review of
the War." Broadcast, 13, may, 1945;
16. "Europe After the war." Broadcast, 7, May,
1948;
17. "Tribute to
George V1." Broadcast, 7, May, 1952;
18.
"Presentation by Both Houses of Parliament." Broadcast, 30, November,
1954.
In the audio book we
still hear the remarkable maverick character of Churchill resounding through
tree top tall, loud and clear, with glea and gloat . We bear witness to
the genius, the wordsmith, the eloquent orator and story teller. With respect
to the latter take the speech of 18, December, 1939 on 'The Sinking of the
Admiral Graf Spee.' Here we hear Churchill enjoying himself whilst regailing
the listener of the tale of the scuttling of the German pocket battleship which
had been forced into the port of Montevideo in Uraguay by 3 small British cruisers. This
true story was designed to bolster the country's morale and Churchill realted
the tale with relish.
The background story
to the Graf Spee is interesting. It sailed the Atlantic Ocean as a commerce raider in 1939, her mission to
attack merchant ships and disrupt the Allies' supply lines, while
avoiding engaging superior battleships. Launched in 1934 she was named after a
First World War admiral, Graf Maximilian. When built the ship was limited to
the size of a cruiser as part of the terms of the Versailes Treaty German
boats were restricted in their naval abilities. However, modern
engineering techniques were invoked in the ship's to ensure the cruiser was a
pocket battleship that could make its mark as a heavy cruiser.
On 13, December,
1939, the Graf Spee was located by a British hunt group of three ships, HMS
Ajax, HMS Exeter, and HMS Achilles and The Battle of River Plate took place.
The three Allied ships were the 'underdogs' in terms of their fighting capacity
but manmaged to sufficiently damage the Graf Spee in exchanges of fire, forcing
her into the port at Montevideo. Under the Hague Convention of 1907, the Graf Spee was only permitted to
stay in port for over 24 hours, otherwise the ship would have faced internment.
Whilst in port the British spread propaganda that that a fleet of heay British
warships was on its way to destroy the Graf Spee. Meanwhile the Uruguayan
government announced that the Graf Spee would be interned if it did not leave
port within 72 hours. The pace of events and the drama quickly unfolded.
Deceived about the reality of the task facing him, Captain Langsdorff of the
Graf Spee, decided to take the ship out of port and scuttle her. The honourable
captain Langsdorff committed suicide three days later, shooting himself to
prove that he was not a coward scared to confront what he beleived to be a
superior fighting force in wait.
Another sparkling
gem on the CD is the "Mansion House - Victory in North Africa" speech,
London, November, 10, 1942. The Allies had secured a great victory over
Rommel in The Battle of Eygpt where General Alexander and general
Montgomery
ruled supreme largely destroying Rommel's fighting force. Here are some
of the
comments made by Churchill in his stirring address:
"I have never
promised anything but blood, tears, toil and sweat. now, however, we have a new
experience. we have victory - a remarkable and definite victory. The bright
gleam has caught the helmets of our soldiers and warmed and cheered all our
hearts."
Churchill talked
about the French in this speech. He liked the French and always had his heart
set on helping to liberate the country from the shackles of Nazism:
"Our thoughts
turn toward France, groaning in bondage under the German heel. Many ask themselves the
question: Is France finished? Is that long and famous history, marked by so many
manifestations of genius, bearing with it so much that is precious to culture,
to civilisation and, above all, to the liberties of mankind - is all that now
to sink forever into the ocean of the past or, will France rise again and
resume her rightful place in the structure of what may one day be again the
family of europe. I gladly say here, on this considerable occasion, even now
when misguided or suborned Frenchmen are firing upon their rescuers, that I am
prepared to stake my faith that France will rise again."
And, of course, France did rise again to take her noble seat at the
family of Europe. In an emotional speech at the Hotel de
Ville, in Paris, in November, 12, 1944 (Armistice Day) Churchill, who had not
visited Paris since May, 31, 1940, after walking down the Champs Eleyse with
De Gaulle addressed the assembled listners in French. The speech is known as,
"To the People of Paris." It was reported that during the speech
Churchill wept tears of joy
In the end Churchill
demonstrated admirable modesty. On the occasion of his 80th birthday he told an
audience of 2,500 politicians and others in a televised presentation to
both houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall that, "I have never
accepted what many people have kindly said - namely, that I inspired the
nation. their will (that of the people) was resolute and remorseless, and as it
proved unconquerable. It was the nation and the race dwelling all round the
globe that had the lion's heart: I had the luck to be called upon to give the
roar." This speech is on the CD. On the day, the leader of the Opposition,
Atlee, paid tribute declaring that Churchill was, "...the last of the
great orators who can touch new heights." He was showered with gifts at
the ceremony from high table to lowly leanings - his presents included a
sixpenny postal order form a boy's pocket money. He had clearly touched the
hearts and minds of the lofty Lords and lowly hoi poloi.
Fittingly, Churchill,
in his speech on November, 10, 1942, "Victory in North Africa," gets the final word..."Now this
is not the end. It's not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the
end of the beginning."
The CD is
narrated by Stephen Thorne and is available from BBC Audio Books
Further details from
www.bbcshop.com
Email - [email protected]
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