As I
gather my thoughts before writing this Easter 1998 appeal to the
Churchill family my mind wanders back over the extraordinary events
that have led me over the last 60 years to my present surprising
position. Having spent those 60 years in pursuits wholly foreign to
my present responsibilities, I am surprised to find myself
contemplating what I should, and what I should not say, in this
appeal.
So great are the changes that
have taken during the last half century that in spite of my daily use
of the computerised equipment upon my desk, I still find it
astonishing to have at my finger tips instant world wide
communications that Churchill could only have dreamed of during the
war.
I am moreover, surprised to
find myself - without having had any desire, apprenticeship or
experience - leading a distinguished (and ever growing) society: and
how I am responsible for the editorship of its web site - (a concept
of which none of us had any inkling less than 4 years ago) and that
as a consequence, I have - with them - to analyse events in our
national life which affect the purposes of THE CHURCHILL
SOCIETY.
Churchill's achievements were
only possible because he learned during his vast experience how
success or failure in enterprises - be they in war or peace - can
hinge upon the unexpected. Thus it was with THE CHURCHILL
SOCIETY.
The society's success during
the last three years (it was founded in 1990) is entirely due to the
advent of the Internet. Prior to the Internet, members encountered
nothing but silent hostility, from both the Churchill family, and the
Winston Churchill Memorial Trust - the latter (which was funded
entirely by public subscription in 1965) has from its very beginning
been controlled by the Churchill family and their friends. As we have
said many times - this is wrong and must be changed.
In the early months of the
Second World War (I was only eight years of age) it appeared, that no
mistakes were being made by the enemy - and that as a consequence
there was no chance of avoiding defeat because there was no time
available to build up a defensive position. Churchill knew that
because of the negligence of the politicians in the previous few
years , "the years
the locusts had eaten", that these islands and its empire were at the
mercy of our enemies.
Of all his achievements,
Churchill's greatest was, that in spite of knowing all these alarming
facts - undeterred - with sword unsheathed - ie, his superb courage
and command of the English language - he did not hesitate but
HE LED
and was able to change the
public's perceptions and then in the early months of the war, not
only defeat the members of the Conservative Party (who would have
capitulated to the Nazi's and and led the nation into slavery) - but
re-awakened in the British and Commonwealth people their innate
honour, bravery and belief in their ability - whatever the cost - to
overcome their troubles. This, in spite of all the horror, death,
destruction and suffering of the Great War which had so traumatised
the nation only 20 years previously.
The purpose of this
society is to change the public's perceptions.
to persuade the British people
to look back at the century . . and then back further to our long
history . . . and to see that the our failure since the war to have
properly commemorated Churchill's and his Comrades' in Arms, colossal
achievements during - and after - the Second World War with a proper
public monument, is a serious failing on our part: and one that
should be put right before the century is out. And that our failure
to grasp this opportunity NOW will result in it never being
done.
A nation that fails to nourish
its institutions and to create new ones, betrays its parents and
their ancestors, and betrays its children and their children.
Without national institutions
there can be no cohesion in a nation's life, no resilience in times
of trouble - no national self confidence - no pride and joy in past
achievements and nothing to inspire future ones.
One cannot imagine England
without the British Parliament being housed in the Palace of
Westminster. Neither can one imagine England to be England without a
proper monument to Churchill and the Dead of the Second World
War.
Our newspapers, public
relations and televisual industries collectively portray our people
today as being sex obsessed, coarse and vulgar, and in a state of
deep moral decline. This may be true of a few, but turn off Radio and
TV and go out and mix with the ordinary people . . . . one then sees
the vast majority in the true perspective . . unchanged . . . as ever
honourable and helpful; kindly towards their neighbours - law
abiding, generous and good natured . . . full of humour . . . and
above all proud of being British.
Why then have we as a nation
failed to build a proper monument to Churchill and all those who died
in the Second World War - as we have done for all our previous
national heroes? This is so strange! For there is no diminution
in the nation's affectionate memories of Churchill and his
Comrades'-in-Arms great achievements.
I have in front of me a
sequence of photographs. They are of a young soldier who in the Great
War was hit in the mouth by the glancing blow of an incendiary shell.
He is unrecognisable. The photographs show the results of each of the
nine facial operations he underwent during the next eight years
before he died. Because he was only one of thousands who suffered
likewise I was going to use them here on this page as an example of
the debt that we owe - but they are too terrible . . . they make weep
every time I see them.
There is no way that we can
enter into his - or his family's sufferings. We cannot forget these
people. We cannot allow our children to forget these people.
That Churchill's children -
surrounded in their rich homes with all the public and private gifts
and mementos affectionately presented to them over the years and
having enjoyed such privileged lives; that they, of all people, did forget, and in their forgetfulness then
thought fit to blackmail the last Conservative government (in fact
the public) for £12,500,000 pounds for what was
a
gift by Sir Winston
and Lady Churchill to the nation of THE CHARTWELL
PAPERS
- (and this after
failing to declare that they had already received 6 million pounds) -
was an extraordinary act - an appalling and indelible act of
collective family greed and dishonour.
In analysing the causes of our
nation having failed to build a proper monument to Churchill and the
Dead of the Second World War, I am forced to the conclusion that the
root cause of this failure is the Churchill family itself.
The Times Newspaper
July 1999
By dominating (unelected) The
Winston Churchill Memorial Trust they have prevented proper
leadership of that body. By snatching the entire proceeds of the very
first Lottery pay out (and this while still leading the Trust) they
have so alienated the public that there is no way Lottery Funds can
be sought at the moment to expand the work of the Trust or to build
Churchill House in London. Quite rightly, the public will not
stand for anymore.
As has been said to them
privately; the whole family should stand back. Nothing can be done
until they do so.
It is not often possible to
undo mistakes, but good fortune attends upon them yet again, for it
is possible for them - if they choose - to put matters to right.
I appeal to Mary Soames
(Churchill's daughter) as head of the family,
'order that ALL the money the family received
from the National Lottery - including the earlier (undisclosed)
£6 million, plus the interest received to date, be paid into the
THE CHURCHILL HOUSE
TRUST
and then, support this
society's appeal to the British and Commonwealth people for the
balance of the money to build:-
CHURCHILL HOUSE
London.
In this way all the unhappy
recent events can be converted to a fortuitous, distinguished, and
honourable purpose and one for which the people of these islands, the
Commonwealth, and the America's - and their own grandchildren - will
be able to forgive them for what they did.
I now appeal publicly to the
family, not to stand silently in the way any longer.
Norman Harvey-Rogers.
________________________________________________
The Times Newspaper
London
September 7th 1998
(abbreviated)
Mr Mark Thomas has accepted a position advising Chancellor Gordon
Brown about reforming the tax system to ensure that rich people
cannot cheat.
Mr Thomas was invited after his television programme revealed that
Nicholas Soames (Churchill's grandson and Conservative MP and former
Minister) avoided paying inheritance tax on family heirlooms he had
been left, by listing them as available to public inspection when
they were not.
The Churchill family to
pay back The Lottery Money.
The High Court
(London) proceedings. Who
owned the Chartwell Papers?
At risk? Churchill's
Medals.
How safe are the
contents of Chartwell?
Copy of correspondence
with The National Trust.
Churchill's daughter
Mary Soames,
Churchill's grandson
Nicholas Soames,
Churchill's grandson
Winston Churchill minor.
Important
information.
__________________________________________________________________
Comments by members (or
the public) can be sent to
The
Secretary
They must have a
verifiable postal and telephonic address.
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The
story
of the
Churchill family and their friends promotion (in 1988) of
the West End Musical with 'Winnie' singing in his bath!
After three performances it was taken off. It was reputed to
have lost £3 million pounds and was described by a
Buckingham Palace courtier as
"just done for
money, money,
money
vulgar vulgar
vulgar!"
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______________________
We desire to
be judged only by results
Winston Churchill.
House of Commons
February 11th 1943
TIMES NEWSPAPER
September 23, 2004
How 25-year wrangle led to Churchill papers sale
By Richard Ford
PERSONAL papers belonging to Winston Churchill
were the subject of a 25-year legal fight as his grandson, who had
"little money of his own", tried to sell them to the Government,
files released by the National Archive at Kew reveal.
Discreet negotiations to sell the 2,000-box
archive, which included early drafts of the wartime leader's "finest
hour" and "Battle of Britain" speeches, began within six years of his
death in 1965. The Government was offered the pre-1945 papers
&emdash; half of them official papers belonging to the State &emdash;
for £100,000 to £120,000 in 1971. Finally they were bought
with £12.5 million of National Lottery money in 1995.
The collection, the Chartwell Papers, contained
almost everything that Churchill wrote before 1945, including
extensive correspondence with Lloyd George, Edward VIII and George
VI. It also included intelligence on all aspects of the Second World
War, drafts of letters to Stalin, Roosevelt and de Gaulle and Cabinet
papers.
It was in a private family trust, which
Churchill intended to benefit male descendants. The main beneficiary
by 1991 was his grandson, Winston Churchill, then Conservative MP for
Davyhulme. The papers were his most valuable possession.
The papers had been loaned to Churchill College
in Cambridge, but the trustees wished to sell them. Successive
governments wanted the papers to remain together, but they were a
mixture of official and personal documents. Sir Winston had taken
many official documents with him "on permanent loan" when he left
office and had refused to return them. Today's files disclose that
Sotheby's had estimated in 1971 that they would fetch £2
million. The letter then suggests that the Government offer between
£100,000 to £120,000 to buy them.
The purchase by the lottery provoked fury. John
Charmley, the historian, said: "The second jackpot winner is Winston
Churchill Jr. The Government should have called the bluff of the
Churchills when they threatened to break up the collection and sell
it abroad. These papers belong to the State and should never have
been removed in the first place."
John Major's Government refused to hold a public inquiry into the
death of Robert Maxwell for fear of offending Spain, according to
secret papers released today. Ministers also believed an official
investigation into the circumstances in which the Daily Mirror
publisher publisher drowned off the Canary Islands would turn into a
media circus.
__________________________________
We desire to
be judged only by results
Winston Churchill.
House of Commons
February 11th 1943
Because of his record Mr W S Churchill's appointment as Chairman of the Winston Churchill
Memorial Trust
is as astonishing as it is improper and he must resign.
The Churchill
family to pay back The Lottery Money.
The High Court
(London) proceedings. Who
owned the Chartwell Papers?
Churchill's
Medals.
How safe are the
contents of Chartwell?
Copy of correspondence
with The National Trust.
Churchill's daughter
Mary Soames,
Churchill's grandson
Nicholas Soames,
Churchill's grandson
Winston Churchill minor.
Important
information.
'Conservative Party
sleaze added to the continuing collapse of moral standards in the UK.
From 1983 onwards it gathered pace and led to the national uproar
caused by the the story of the Churchill family threatening to sell Sir Winston and Lady Churchill's
gift to Churchill College of The Chartwell
Papers.
Lord
Rothschild's
letter.
The very sad press chronology
of Winston S Churchill
Jnr.
Professor Charmley writes:
Is there no end to the making
of money by the family our of Sir Winston?
Commercial
advertising.
Cashing in on
Churchill.
Who authorised this
crude example?
Criticisms of the book
'Churchill's
Private
Letters'
selected, edited, and published by his daughter Mary Soames.
May 1999. Important
information.
THE MAIN
INDEX
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purchase a Bust of Churchill.
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To
purchase the Double CD (or Tape Cassette)
of
Rutherlyn's
THE CHURCHILL
MUSIC.
 
Reviews of The
Churchill Music.
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DISCLAIMER
THE
CHURCHILL SOCIETY
Internet pages provide general information only.
Whilst we make every endeavour to check our facts, mistakes
do occur.
The society cannot be held liable for any special, direct,
indirect or consequential damages.
It is your responsibility to verify the accuracy of any
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or contained on any of these pages.
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