(no subject)

[fpb]

I just watched a passage of a fictionalized account of Ike Eisenhower's life, featuring a singularly unpleasant and frankly incredible version of Churchill - evidently the writer had felt the need to play up his hero by playing down those around him, a foolish but understandable contrivance. It was clear to me, however, that the writer simply did not understand how the British upper crust of the imperial period managed to make their rank felt. And yet, in Churchill's own life there is a delightful display of imperial superiority that everyone has seen - it is in some of the most famous photos in history - and whose arrogance is nevertheless so subtle and specific that most people do not notice it. Churchill had started out in life as a cavalry officer, and had eventually commanded a regiment in the trenches in France in 1917. Not much later, Stalin had commanded part of the southern front during the Russian civil war; and from 1941 on, he had taken overall command of the whole Soviet war effort. He had, therefore, the full right to wear the resplendent uniform of a Soviet field-marshal, and, in the Allied conferences of Tehran and Yalta, he did so. Churchill, however, turned up in the uniform of a British colonel - the rank he had gained in 1917; as if to say, a British colonel is the equal of any damned foreign officer whatever his rank!

Comments

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

And Roosevelt showed up in a natty suit! Roosevelt pwns.

But no, Churchill was pretty cool,.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Churchill actually loved dressing up, and there is a famous photo of him in a striped suit, a fedora and a tommy-gun, acting the Chicago gangster. On one occasion he visited the Eighth Army in Lybia wearing a white suit and a white colonial helmet, causing at least one soldier to wonder how on Earth a Prime Minister could be allowed to wear anything that silly - and how on Earth he still managed to look impressive.

[wade-scott.livejournal.com]

Churchill's wit and humour has always appealed to me. Has always made me giggle.

[annie-from-aust.livejournal.com]

nothing wrong with being a Colonel. Queen Elizabeth II wears a Colonel's uniform during the trooping of the Colours. Also during WWII she got her trade papers as a vehicle mechanic, so if one's jeep breaks down in the middle of Scotland, she is probably one's best bet to get it started again !

I understand that in the good old days, British Officers wore Red Coats so that if they were wounded, their blood did not show and demoralize the troops.

Also I agree with the posts about the famous wit of Winston Churchill. He had some classics !

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Yes, but the Queen wears the uniform of a colonel-in-chief, a honorific position quite different from the active rank that Churchill gained in the trenches. Which, if anything, underlines my point. Colonels-in-chief are rare, rarer than generals, and are members of the Royal Family or other distinguished persons; but a career Colonel need not be anyone in particular. Of course, Churchill was the cousin of the Duke of Marlborough and had some of the bluest blood in Britain, although, due to Britain's unusual system, he was considered a commoner rather than an aristocrat. But that never fooled anyone for a minute.

[ladylazarus1027.livejournal.com]

Do you like Mentos as much as I do? Let's be friends!!!

Uhhh...

[fpb.livejournal.com]

...I'll be the friend of anyone who wants to be friends with me, but I have no idea what Mentos are.

Re: Uhhh...

[blue-sky-day.livejournal.com]

Chewy mint candies, originally produced in the Netherlands.

I'm not sure what to make of this user. A lot of her entries are lifted from wikipedia and other sites. I wonder if she's a troll, sockpuppet, or spambot.

[stigandnasty919.livejournal.com]

Excuse the Livejournal newbie, but what are trolls and sockpuppets?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Trolls are people who make trouble for its own sake, or who deliberately enter blogs whose viewpoints they dislike in order to start fights with regular commentators. Sockpuppets are fake multiple identities used by people to pretend that more than one person is taking a particular position, or to infiltrate places where they had been banned in their own persons, or to defraud readers somehow.

[stigandnasty919.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Hope all is well for you at the moment.

Nothing to do with WWII..

[elegant-bonfire.livejournal.com]

But this reminded me of something I saw a couple of years ago--at the time, Churchill's blue and gold macaw was still alive and living in British zoo or animal haven or something like that. He was about 90 years old, and still active, but they had to keep him in a non-public area as he insisted on saying,"Fuck Hitler!"--in Churchill's voice, of course. Parrots crack me up.

[t-guy.livejournal.com]

Go Winston!

However, I cannot resist pedantically noting that in the photo you show us he is wearing the uniform of an Air Commodore.

And a note: IIRR, Churchill rose to the rank of Colonel after he had masterminded the Gallipoli operation in his position of First Lord of the Admiralty, the campaign had gone badly wrong and he had been blamed for the disaster. Pending the result of the official enquiry, he resigned his Cabinet post, re-joined the Army and popped himself into a trench in France.

This example would appear to have been ignored by George W. Bush.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Indeed it would. However, Winston was not at the time Prime Minister and could resign his post with a clear conscience. IN all the history of the USA only Richard M.Nixon has ever resigned the Presidency; you can see that there would have been a slight problem with anyone after him resigning even after a bungled war.