Finest Hour Spring 2018

Fifty years but only 180 issues of a quarterly magazine? The numbers do not appear to compute. This discrepancy, along with the entire history of the International Churchill Society, is explained by myself in the lead article of this our fiftieth anniversary issue. Churchill wrote that “the veils of the future are lifted one by one, and mortals must act from day to day.” This appositely describes the unexpected evolution of a tiny group of enthusiasts into the global organization to which you belong if you are reading these words. Churchill led a life of adventure, and so “Churchill’s Adventures” is a suitable theme for our half-century milestone. Publishing a letter to the editor of a school newspaper may not appear to be adventurous, but it must be remembered that writing…

Email: info@winstonchurchill.org Tweet: @ChurchillCentre Stephen Hawking RIP, 1942–2018 Before he passed away on 13 March, Stephen Hawking sent the following letter to the International Churchill Society. We publish this tribute from a great scientist to a great statesman in honor of both men. CAMBRIDGE—Churchill was the right man at the right time for the right job to fight a very nasty disease spreading throughout Europe—Nazism and Fascism. For this Churchill spared no expense for Bletchley Park to fund Alan Turing and his colleagues to break the enigma code and win the war. His support of scientific development in those dark years has carried forward positively into more enlightened times. We thank him for not giving up. Churchill and I have a couple of things in common: The team who made the film The Theory of Everything [2014]…

Fifty years ago, the very first issue of Finest Hour published an extract from a letter written by my grandfather and namesake to the fledgling Winston S. Churchill Study Unit of the American Philatelic Association, the precursor of the International Churchill Society. Noting that he knew “nothing about stamps,” grandpapa Randolph nevertheless said that he would “try to answer any questions [the group] have in mind.” Sadly, there was only time for grandfather to be named Honorary Member Number One before he passed away in June 1968. The second issue of Finest Hour was a tribute to his memory and included notes from my father Winston and my great-grandmother Clementine acknowledging letters of sympathy sent to them on behalf of the members of the study unit. Today I am proud to serve…

Congratulations to the International Churchill Society on your 50th anniversary. The ICS is known across the globe for helping to preserve the memory of Sir Winston Churchill through its publications, conferences and educational programmes. I am grateful to the ICS for their work and for demonstrating the continued relevance of Churchill’s life and legacy to new generations. Every day, I walk past Churchill’s portrait as I enter my office in 10 Downing Street. As I do so, I often reflect upon his remarkable leadership during our country’s darkest hour. That leadership inspired millions of people in the United Kingdom and all over the world to stand firm against tyranny, and it remains an inspiration to all those who still fight now for freedom and democracy. The preservation of freedom requires constant vigilance and…

This is the 180th issue of Finest Hour. The operating budget for the first year of what became the International Churchill Society was $180. The first issue of the journal was sent out to the founding members—all twelve of them—in the spring of 1968 with a note that the title was only “temporary” until a better suggestion arose. Fifty years on, the current editor has determined that the cutoff date for suggestions has now passed. No Black Blots! The International Churchill Society was founded because Richard M. Langworth did not want to buy phony stamps. Following the death of Sir Winston Churchill in January 1965, a rash of commemorative stamps was produced in his memory. The major issuers were the quasi-autonomous Arab sheikdoms Ajman, Fujiera, and Sharjah, which printed countless different designs, called…

On 12 December 1899, Winston Churchill escaped from the State Model School in Pretoria, where he had been held prisoner by the Boers since his capture the previous month. After brazenly walking out of town, he found a railway line, which he hoped led on to his goal: the Portuguese colony at Delagoa Bay. In the evening, he scrambled onto a freight train and caught some sleep. But he knew he could not continue on the train after dawn, since he might be spotted on board and he would need to find water. In the early hours of the 13th, Churchill jumped from the train and began to make his way on foot until he miraculously happened upon help at the Transvaal & Delagoa Bay Colliery near Witbank. While he subsequently…