Through all the years he stuck to his convictions. It is true that Churchill sometimes battled depression, though its episodes were greatly exaggerated. (One enemy said he was a man with “a great future far behind him.”) “Sometimes when scowls most spitefully,” he wrote, “she is preparing her most dazzling gifts.” This from a man who spent decades in the political wilderness. “Dread naught, all will be well.”Įven in advanced years, Churchill usually saw the glass as half full, not half empty. “Live dangerously take things as they come,” he wrote. From his hospital bed he dictated an article about the experience. At 58 he was struck and nearly killed by a car in New York. He was a guest aboard Aristotle Onassis’ yacht Christina on eight lengthy voyages when he was between 84 and 89 years old. In later years he visited Sicily, Morocco, Madeira and the French Riviera. Undetected, a secretary heard him say softly to a Black Molly: “Darling, I do love you…I would make love to you if only I knew how.” Travel and FamilyĬhurchill indulged his wanderlust. Not long before he died, he was discovered alone, gazing into a fish tank. Energetically, the Prime Minister took up the hobby, establishing beautiful tanks at Chequers and Chartwell. Harrington)Ĭhurchill was nearing eighty years of age when a young boy came to his door with a gift of tropical fish. “Oh! Yes, that’s all right, give him the next chapter.” A tip of the wing or the fin to all who find themselves in lonely spaces, who gaze through seas of blurry glass and long to rejoin a world of unmasked smiles. Working on his History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Churchill regarded the bird as a literary aide, “embellishing his letters with blots and scribbles.” Toby nibbled the edges of page proofs, signifying, said WSC, that he had read and approved. At 80 years of age he was given a parakeet named Toby, who became his constant companion for six years-until the budgerigar flew out of an open window in Monte Carlo. Animal companionsĬhurchill’s Bestiary by Piers Brendon documents Sir Winston’s relations with the animal kingdom. Given is political and literary output, his exercise was astonishing. “A day away from Chartwell is a day wasted,” he declared. He dug lagoons, ran a farm, and built brick walls and structures. Animal acquaintances tame and wild encountered him. His daily routine at Chartwell included an extensive walk of the grounds and gardens. Churchill played polo into his 50s, rode to hounds into his 70s. “When I get to heaven I mean to spend a considerable portion of my first million years in painting, and so get to the bottom of the subject.” Many of his works met with critical acclaim. “Blessed are the painters, for they shall not be lonely,” he memorably said. Not until he was nearing 90 did he lay down his brushes. Discovering the muse of painting at 41, he poured himself into the hobby. “I make my living by my pen and by my tongue,” he declared, and continued writing for years after he left Downing Street. Particularly in Churchill’s later years, mental and physical activity were essential. In the end, he lived to be 90.What was his secret? He had a few. The truth of that matter is well documented. Another myth was his alcohol consumption. “I get my exercise serving as pallbearer to my many friends who exercised all their lives,” he once told his bodyguard, Sergeant Murray. Some thought he took no exercise-a notion he encouraged. He smoked cigars perpetually, drank and ate like a teenager. Superficially it would seem that his concern was justified. “It is terrible to think how little time remains,” he said on his twenty-fifth birthday. Yet Churchill in his youth never expected to live long. From there he blossomed, last serving as PM at 80, serving in the House of Commons almost until 90. Churchill reached the pinnacle of his career, prime minister of Great Britain) at age 65. Perhaps a look at the challenges Winston Churchill faced in his own autumn years might provide some perspective and encouragement for those graced with gray.įirst, the encouragement. The pandemic demands their years be magnified, their actions restricted. At “La Pausa,” his agent Emery Reves’s home in Cap Martin, he spent many days reviewing proofs for his “History of the English-Speaking Peoples.” (From “Never Despair,” Hillsdale College Press, 2013) Well over eighty, Sir Winston was still writing.
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