David Lough

The untold story of Winston Churchill's precarious finances – and the most original and surprising book about Churchill to emerge for many years. The popular image of Churchill – grandson of a duke, drinking champagne and smoking a cigar – conjures up a man of wealth and substance. The reality is that Britain's most celebrated 20th-century statesman lived for most of his life on a financial cliff-edge. Only fragments of information about his finances, or their impact on his public life, have previously emerged. With the help of unprecedented access to Churchill's private records, David Lough creates the first fully researched narrative of Churchill's private finances and business affairs. As he reveals the scale of Churchill's financial risk-taking, combined with an ability to talk or write himself out of the tightest of corners, the links between the private man and public figure become clear.

Churchill and his Money

No More Champagne

A significant addition to the Churchill canon, My Darling Winston traces Churchill’s emotional, intellectual, and political development over a forty-year period as confided to his mother. My Darling Winston is an edited collection of the personal letters between Winston Churchill and his mother, Jenny Jerome, between 1881—when Churchill was just six—and 1921, the year of Jenny’s death. Many of these intimate letters— between two gifted writers—are published here for the first time, and the exchange of letters between mother and son has never before been published as a correspondence. A significant addition to the Churchill canon, My Darling Winston traces Churchill’s emotional, intellectual, and political development as confided to his primary mentor, his mother. As well as providing a basic narrative of Jenny’s and Winston Churchill’s lives over a forty-year period, My Darling Winston tells the story of a changing mother-son relationship, characterised at the outset by Churchill’s emotional and practical dependence on his mother, but which is dramatically reversed as her life begins to disintegrate tragically towards its end.

The Letters Between Winston Churchill and His Mother

My Darling Winston

The first ever collection of the letters between Churchill and his mother. '[An] entertaining and illuminating collection ... As a whole it is a deeply moving account' Literary Review. 'This collection of letters is fascinating' New Statesman. '[A] fascinating correspondence' Daily Telegraph. 'This sparkling volume will be devoured by all who revere Churchill' Daily Mail. Winston Churchill adored his mother Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill. Between 1881, when Churchill was six, and 1921, the year of Jennie's death, mother and son were prolific letter-writers. In Darling Winston, David Lough has compiled the first-ever edited selection of their voluminous and entertaining forty-year correspondence. Churchill's life across this period follows a trajectory of adventure and political ambition – army service in India, escape from a Boer POW camp, swift ascent from Conservative MP for Oldham to Liberal First Lord of the Admiralty, resignation in the wake of the debacle of Gallipoli, and eventual return to the cabinet in 1917. His mother's life, by contrast, follows a downward spiral: her second marriage founders and she becomes a lonely figure, moving forlornly around the country homes of her wealthy friends. As Winston joins Asquith's cabinet and meets his wife-to-be, Clementine, Jennie is getting divorced and making faltering attempts to embark on a literary career. Darling Winston reflects Churchill's emotional, intellectual and political development as confided to Jennie as his mentor; but it also charts a mother-son relationship characterized at the outset by Winston's dependence on Jennie, which is dramatically reversed as her life crumbles towards its end. Brimming with gossip, name-dropping and chutzpah, and populated by a cast of the great and the good of late Victorian and Edwardian England, Darling Winston enriches our understanding of the political apprenticeship of Britain's most celebrated statesmen, and offers poignant insights into his relationship with the woman whose worldly advice and loving encouragement first set him on the path to power.

Forty Years of Letters Between Winston Churchill and His Mother

Darling Winston

The first ever collection of the letters between Churchill and his mother. '[An] entertaining and illuminating collection ... As a whole it is a deeply moving account'Literary Review. 'This collection of letters is fascinating'New Statesman. '[A] fascinating correspondence'Daily Telegraph. 'This sparkling volume will be devoured by all who revere Churchill'Daily Mail. Winston Churchill adored his mother Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill. Between 1881, when Churchill was six, and 1921, the year of Jennie's death, mother and son were prolific letter-writers. In Darling Winston, David Lough has compiled the first-ever edited selection of their voluminous and entertaining forty-year correspondence. Churchill's life across this period follows a trajectory of adventure and political ambition - army service in India, escape from a Boer POW camp, swift ascent from Conservative MP for Oldham to Liberal First Lord of the Admiralty, resignation in the wake of the debacle of Gallipoli, and eventual return to the cabinet in 1917. His mother's life, by contrast, follows a downward spiral: her second marriage founders and she becomes a lonely figure, moving forlornly around the country homes of her wealthy friends. As Winston joins Asquith's cabinet and meets his wife-to-be, Clementine, Jennie is getting divorced and making faltering attempts to embark on a literary career. Darling Winstonreflects Churchill's emotional, intellectual and political development as confided to Jennie as his mentor; but it also charts a mother-son relationship characterized at the outset by Winston's dependence on Jennie, which is dramatically reversed as her life crumbles towards its end. Brimming with gossip, name-dropping and chutzpah, and populated by a cast of the great and the good of late Victorian and Edwardian England, Darling Winstonenriches our understanding of the political apprenticeship of Britain's most celebrated statesmen, and offers poignant insights into his relationship with the woman whose worldly advice and loving encouragement first set him on the path to power.

David Lough

About

Books

Join the club