The Anti-Churchill
Some men, when called to display leadership under the duress of the heaviest weight the world can muster, rise to the occasion. This is the story of Churchill. Others tremble, quake and are quickly trumped by their own worst impulses. This was to the fate of Churchill’s predecessor, Neville Chamberlain:
“This heartened the king but prompted one rebel, appalled that Chamberlain might try to stay, to liken him to “`a dirty old piece of chewing gum on the leg of a chair.’”
The New Kid in Town
Neville Chamberlain goes down in history with the accusation (well-earned) as the man willing to appease Hitler in order to avoid disaster. That did not turn out quite as well as he expected. Churchill wasted little time in bringing the zest of non-appeasement to the corridors in the loftiest halls of British power:
“A new electricity surged through Whitehall. Subdued corridors awoke. `It was as though the machine had overnight acquired one or two new gears, capable of far higher speeds than had ever before been thought possible.’”
The British and Their Tea
Wartime is the perfect breeding ground for metaphor. Metaphor actually rules the day over more precise language because, of course, the goal is to bring into the fold as much of the population as possible. And if you want to appeal to almost every Brit in Britain, talk tea:
“Tea was comfort and history; above all, it was English. As long as there was tea, there was England.”
Hitler
Yes, Hitler really was as bad as the worst thing you have heard. In fact, he was probably far worse than the worst thing you may have heard. And believe it or not, this metaphor-rich description is not even close to being the worst thing you will hear about him:
“This evil man, this monstrous abortion of hatred and defeat, is resolved on nothing less than the complete wiping out of the French nation, and the disintegration of its whole life and future.”
