Walking Tour of Churchill's London

Dated: 05/07/2009

20 members of the Order assembled at the Churchill statue in Parliament Square yesterday for a wonderful tour led by historian and author Michael Paterson. 

Michael has written several books on Churchill and is a very well informed and erudite guide. He described Churchill's early life, his relationship with Lord Randolph a meeting (of which I was particularly interested) between Churchill and the great Ulster leader Sir Edward Carson which occurred when Churchill was 16. 

The tour took in the statue of Jan Christiaan Smuts, a prominent South African and Commonwealth statesman and military leader. He served as a Boer General during the Boer War, a British General during the First World War and was appointed Field Marshal during the Second World War. He was a great friend of Churchill and they had previous association from Churchill's sojourn in South Africa.

Michael described Churchill's political aspirations and his military lust for glory and action, evidenced by his petitioning to be sent to Cuba, Sudan and later to South Africa where he escaped from a prisoner of war camp.

We took in many other landmarks including Churchill's old residences near Horseguards. 

Military historian Michael Paterson describing Churchill's exploits in the House of Commons, including his famous 'party switching' from Conservative to Liberal and back to Conservative. It was this activity that led many to think Churchill 'unbalanced' and earned him the pejorative name 'The Blenheim Rat'.

Churchill's finest hour clearly came as leader of the Nation throughout World War II. Michael reflected that although we look back from modernity with Churchill established as a 'giant of the modern era', this was not necessarily always a pervasive view, particularly following some 'misjudgments' in Churchill's handling of campaigns in Gallipoli and Antwerp.

Rather than attempt to recount the Churchill story in full, I would highly recommend reading Michael's fascinating and in-depth accounts. His books are available on Amazon.

We dined 20 at the Civil Service Club at Great Scotland Yard following the tour. Over £200 was raised for the Army Benevolent Fund.