Churchill's granddaughter Celia Sandys holds a picture of her maternal grandfather, Oxfordshire, England, on May 28, 2015. Beijing News reporter Xue Jun photographed
Churchill's "V" gesture inspired people in war. Infographic
On the way north from Oxford to the small town of Balaton, the pastures are vast, the trees are verdant, and the old farmhouses with pointed roofs can be seen everywhere, and the British countryside is rich.
St. Martin's Church in Balaton is unremarkable. On the back side of a small church cemetery, several white-gray tombstones are lined up side by side, one of which reads: "Winston Churchill".
On May 28, 2015, more than 10 kilometers from the cemetery, an international symposium on Churchill was held in an old-style hotel in Whitelop Park. Scholars of Churchill came from all over the world. The organizer of the seminar, Churchill's granddaughter Celia, was interviewed by a reporter from the Beijing News to tell about the grandfather in memory.
Celia has short red hair, which is particularly conspicuous in the crowd. "Many people have the impression that my grandfather was a white-haired man, but in fact he was red-haired like me when he was younger." She said.
Celia speaks standard London English. At the age of 72, she often accompanied her maternal grandfather for the first 21 years of her life. It was not until 1990, by chance, that she began to organize her grandfather's materials, write books, produce films, organize research activities, and become a special Churchill research scholar.
In her words, it's chasing in her grandfather's footsteps, continuing to accompany her in a different way.
Grandfather in "alarm suit"
Churchill loved to wear a velvet jumpsuit, which he invented during wartime so that it could be quickly worn when the alarm sounded
Celia and her deceased maternal grandfather Churchill intersected again 25 years ago. She and her cousin met for tea, and the other party took out 10 large boxes and laid them on the table for a long time.
Celia was 47 years old at the time, and she lived in seclusion in the countryside for several years, taking care of her children. Her grandfather died when she was 21, and she married, had children, and became a housewife. Until one day, her youngest child also went to school, Celia felt lost. It was then that she met her cousin, the son of the Churchill brothers.
Those worn-out boxes were placed on elegant tables and looked ridiculous. "There's so big." Celia spread her hands and drew a distance of half a meter.
When the box was opened, Celia was stunned, and it contained a variety of items from her grandfather Churchill: newspapers, journals, photographs, diaries, and letters Churchill had written to his mother, father, and nanny as a child.
Celia was fascinated by the collection. She couldn't help but say, "That's awesome, someone should do something." ”
"Give it all to you, you do it." The cousin responded.
Celia's study of her grandfather Churchill began. This has allowed her to "get along" with her maternal grandfather again for more than 20 years. Many of the feelings of this accidental "getting along" correspond to the real memories of her grandfather in her childhood and adolescence. She said her grandfather's image had never been so unique and so glamorous.
In Celia's earliest memories, Churchill always loved to wear a velvet jumpsuit, often pulling the zipper up and down, making a creaking sound, even at a formal family dinner.
Later, she learned that the iconic dress known as the "alarm suit" was invented by Churchill during the war: after the alarm of the German bombing was sounded, as soon as the zipper was pulled, she could immediately get up and put it on.
Today, under the Treasury building on Whitehall Street in London, from a hidden narrow entrance, you can reach the most famous air raid shelter of wartime, the Cabinet War Office. During World War II, Churchill and his wartime cabinet commanded the anti-fascist campaign here. The layout remains the same as it was at the end of World War II, and there is also a collection of various objects about Churchill, including a statue of a pit bulldog.
When Celia was young, Churchill gave her a large package, written on brown wrapping paper: Please take care of it, your dear grandfather.
Excited, she opened the gift and found a one-man-sized pit bulldog statue inside. Someone gave the statue, and Churchill thought Celia might like it, so he gave it to her.
"What kind of person is going to give an adult a toy dog?" Celia was confused.
Celia's mother, Diana Churchill's daughter Diana, explained that Churchill was given the gift because during the war, Churchill was known as the "Great Britain Bulldog" – he always left the impression of "a bulldog-like fierce expression", especially in the face of German incursions, he always had the determination and will to resist.
A militarist who avoids talking about war
Churchill and his granddaughter talk about various topics, but avoid talking about war and politics
But in the face of his granddaughter Celia, Churchill's "fierce" facial expression is often replaced by the gentle and kind grandfather image.
At Chatwell Manor, where Churchill once lived, Celia and several other children would run into Churchill's room in the morning. At this time, the war leader who led the British through the most difficult times of World War II was taking the toast handed by the housekeeper and sitting on the bed eating breakfast.
His bedside was full of newspapers, the orange spotted cat "Jock" nestled around his lap, and the poodle "Lubbs" scurried around the room, excitedly waiting for Churchill to get up and take him for a walk.
When he got up, Churchill and Celia would go out with "Lubbs," and in the pond he had dug himself, Churchill threw out food to feed the fish, and when the fish swam toward him, he deliberately said, "Look, they know me." "I really believed him at first." Celia smiled and recalled.
Churchill would also take his granddaughter to feed the pigs, the Nobel Prize winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature who had used his speech to mobilize the British to rise up against the Nazis, and accidentally flashed his waist in front of the pigs, but could only make a "hum" sound.
Many people asked Celia, "Do you and your grandfather talk about war?" ”
"We would talk about animals, we would talk about painting, we would talk about everything we could, but he never talked to me about war and politics." Celia replied.
Reflecting on this detail, Celia also gradually realized what country life at Chatwell Manor meant to her grandfather. Churchill, who has lived through so many wars, once recalled that the day he left Chartwell was a wasted day. It was his favorite place, his safe haven.
Because Churchill's father was political and his mother was sociable to high society that he had no time to take care of his son, Churchill was largely raised by his nanny, Elizabeth Ann Averies.
Celia had thought that if her maternal grandfather Churchill had not been influenced by this determined nanny as a teenager, she would not have firmly said no to Nazi Germany's pleas for peace after the fall of the European continent in May 1940, and led Britain to fight alone. In a letter to the President of the United States, Churchill said: "We are determined to endure all suffering and make the greatest sacrifice for the sake of the just cause, and we will be honored because we are fighters for this cause." ”
Like her maternal grandfather, Celia and the other children, who lived at Chatwell Manor, were always surrounded by nannies. Interestingly, like Elizabeth, the nanny who watched over Churchill's grandchildren at Chatwell Manor was an upright and strong-willed woman.
Celia said that although there was never a conversation in the family about "what to do if you failed", her nanny had her own "plan", and once the Germans were going to attack Churchill's family, she planned to dye the red hair of Churchill's entire family black and take them to her parents' house in Liverpool.
During the Battle of Great Britain, when London was being bombed by the Germans, Celia's parents were out, and her nanny called Downing Street directly, insisting that a car be sent to take the children to Chaks (Churchill's shelter during the war). Churchill, then Prime Minister, joked as he picked up the children on the steps: "Poor children are going to be locked up." ”
Elders at social dances
Churchill, who is in his 80s, stayed at the young man's ball until 1 a.m
Celia's maternal grandfather is also known as Churchill: always holding a glass of whiskey mixed with soda in one hand, holding a cigar in the other, and always having an ashtray at hand.
Many people would give cigars to Churchill, including Celia and her mother. Celia would sit proudly on her grandfather's lap and lean over to him and take a sip of the cigar smoke he exhaled.
At the dinner table, my grandmother wanted to make sure that all the food was perfect, and my grandfather asked everyone to fill their glasses with champagne.
"He always drank a lot of wine. Drink champagne, whiskey before meals, red wine during meals, and brandy after meals. Celia said.
Celia said Churchill was overconfident in his alcohol intake. One day, Churchill asked a friend on the train: "How much of this wine I have drunk for the past 24 years can be packed in a train car?" His friend replied, "I'm afraid there's only one carriage." Churchill said a little disappointedly: "There is still too much to try, I have too little time left." ”
While searching for her grandfather's story, Celia realizes that her grandfather had the same expertise in wine and war.
"He tasted champagne passionately, and he tasted the war in the same way." Celia said.
It was this gracious grandfather who delivered the most inspiring speech of World War II after the Dunkirk evacuation, "We will fight to the end.".
Churchill himself said on another occasion that he could not leave the champagne, that if he won, it was worth a drink, and if he failed, he needed a drink.
As Celia grew up, her young-loving maternal grandfather was also welcomed by her friends.
In the summer of graduating from high school at the age of 18, near the social dance, she was extremely nervous, afraid that she would fail. But the moment my grandfather stepped into the ball, she stopped worrying. The appearance of her maternal grandfather is a guarantee of her success.
That night, Churchill, in his 80s, stayed at the young man's ball until 1 a.m., smoking a cigar and drinking champagne and kicking to the rhythm of the music.
Celia will not forget the "horror" of a young male friend facing her grandfather. At that time, there was a family dinner at Chatwell Manor, and Celia invited her friends over. According to old English etiquette, the ladies left first after the meal, and the men stayed behind to smoke cigars.
Celia could only leave her friends to her maternal grandfather. He was 22 years old, had never smoked a cigar or drunk brandy, and that night he tried two new things. Afterwards, the friend told her that apart from the first few minutes of nervousness, it was a great experience afterwards, because her maternal grandfather loved young people very much.
Burying the "ordinary people" in their hometown
Churchill hoped to be buried in his homeland with his parents
While flipping through Churchill's letters to her mother as a teenager, Celia found these words: "I was convinced from the beginning that I would do something to the world. ”
Churchill was 21 years old at the time. This belief led Churchill, in the 1930s, when there were "peacemaking" voices, to warn England of the ambitions of Nazi Germany and to persevere to the end.
Churchill didn't give Celia much advice in life, but one of them was: Believe in yourself.
Churchill was convinced of his own decision, and even his own death, he had his own ideas to insist on.
In 1962, at the age of 88, Churchill accidentally fell while on vacation in France and injured his hip.
Celia visits him in the hospital, and Churchill, lying in a hospital bed, leaves everyone behind, leaving only his private secretary, who he asks for assurances to him that he will die in England.
His secretary agreed, but when he left the ward, he told the family that he really couldn't guarantee it, because Churchill might be dying soon.
The next day, the then British Prime Minister sent an Air Force plane to pick up Churchill and take him back to London. Along the way, Celia held her grandfather's hand, praying that he would hold on.
At London Airport, a lift that used to carry food lowered Churchill's bed off the plane. Seeing the airport staff waiting silently with sad expressions, Churchill suddenly smiled and gave them an iconic "V" gesture representing victory.
"We're relieved to see this because we think he's going to get better." Celia recalled. But Churchill was never as healthy as before, and he persevered for 18 months.
On a Sunday morning on January 24, 1965, Winston Churchill slept quietly in bed, his wife Clementina sitting on the edge of the bed, holding his hand. His son Randolph stood on the other side of the bed, with Celia, 21, and her two aunts standing at the end of the bed. Churchill closed his eyes and didn't breathe.
Talking about her grandfather's death, Celia seemed to suddenly realize a reality: "Of the people who accompanied my grandfather when he died, I was the only one left." ”
A few years before his death, Churchill had predicted that he would die on his father's death. He did die on that day, and it was only a few minutes away from his father's death. Celia sighed, "That's amazing. ”
Britain has launched a long-awaited state funeral program. On the day of the state funeral, the sides of the road were crowded with mourning crowds, and about 320,000 people came to pay tribute to Churchill. The men of the family accompanied Churchill and accompanied by military music all the way from Westminster to St. Paul's Church.
Starting at St. Paul's Church, the coffin was put on a boat and sailed up the River Thames towards Waterloo Station. According to Churchill's last wishes, his coffin was delivered by yacht to The Waterloo railway station in London.
The coffin was then transported by train to Balaton near Woodstock Blenheim Palace, Churchill's birthplace, and was buried in the family cemetery of st. Martin's church. From Waterloo Station to Oxford, Celia saw the crowds on both sides of the railroad and waved to the train.
"The place where he was buried was very simple, very different from other war leaders." Celia sighed. She said that it was Churchill's own will to simply bury herself with her parents.
In Oxfordshire, an ordinary church cemetery with no guards and tourists, the Englishman, who changed the history of World War II, was buried with his wife, parents, brothers and other family members.
Biography
Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
British military, politician, and war leader. Born in Oxfordshire, he joined the Army, entered politics in 1900, and was appointed First Secretary of State for the Navy. Elected British Prime Minister in May 1940 after the outbreak of World War II, he led LinkedIn countries against Nazi Germany, and after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, helped establish the Allied Powers until the end of World War II. After the war, he gave the famous "Iron Curtain" speech. He was prime minister again from 1951 to 1955. Considered one of the most important political leaders of the 20th century, he was also a well-known orator who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953. He has 5 children and 10 grandchildren.
Celia Sandys (1943-)
Daughter of Churchill's eldest daughter Diana. He lived with his maternal grandfather in his childhood and adolescence and traveled with him to France, Italy, Morocco, South Africa and elsewhere in his later years. After the 1990s, he began to research, write, and produce books and television programs on the subject of his maternal grandfather. Five books on Churchill have been published to date. Organize a "Chasing churchill trail" tour.
memorial
Churchill's room
Small gray wooden beds, huge map at the head of the bed, dim lighting, sofa chairs, stationery on the large desk, ashtray on the bedside table. Everything here is exactly the same as at the end of World War II. This is where Churchill once lived during the Battle of Britain.
Built shortly before World War II, the wartime cabinet room, known as the Whitehall Cave, was reinforced with steel and cement to withstand bomb attacks of more than 200 kilograms.
Churchill, then Prime Minister, and some government officials and military governors stayed here from May 1940. Churchill's private room is located in the innermost part of the Whitehall Underground Cave, next to the Map Room.
In this room, Churchill would make a famous speech on the BBC radio, mobilizing all Britain against Nazi Germany, encouraging the French underground resistance movement to persevere, and persuading the United States to join the just war.
Beijing News reporter Jin Yu Zhu Liudi reported in London, Oxford and other places
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