Table Of Contentpenguin books
IN CHURCHILL’S SHADOW
‘Masterly...astimulatingcollection’ AlanWatkins,
IndependentonSunday
‘Afinebook...confirmingCannadine’sreputationasprobably
theoutstandingBritishhistoricalessayistsinceHugh
Trevor-Roperwasinhisprime.AllthefamiliarCannadine
virtuesareondisplay:aformidablerangeofsubjectmatterand
learning;arelentlessbutseldomexhaustingintelligence;a
stylisticelegancealltoorareamongacademichistorians;a
willingnesstoputthebootin’ DavidKynaston,TheTimes
LiterarySupplement
‘Dazzlinginrangeandwonderfulinitsabilitytoextractbig
themeswhileneverlosingsightofthehuman’ JohnGardiner,
BBC HistoryMagazine
‘DavidCannadinehastheraretrickofbeingabletoseethings
bothfromtheperspectiveofthepresentandinthecontextof
theirowntime...Thisbookisaboutusasseenthroughthe
characterofWinstonChurchill.Thatwecanstilldothatis
extraordinaryandconsoling.Cannadine’ssenseofthewonderof
themanshinesthroughthesepages’ BryanAppleyard,
SundayTimes
‘Itisareviewer’snightmaretoconveythesheerrichnessofthis
bookasitrangesoveritsdiversetopics...asensitiveand
imaginativeworkthatevenacase-hardenedconservativewillfind
acompellingread’ RaymondCarr,Spectator
‘DavidCannadineisoneofthoserareacademichistorianswho
havetheknackofcommunicatingeffectivelywiththereading
public.Thisisnotsimplybecausehe,unliketoomanyofhis
brethren,knowshowtowrite.Healsosucceeds,inbookafter
book,inselectingsubjectsaboutwhichwewanttoread’
SimonHeffer,LiteraryReview
‘Hewriteswithelegantdrywit...alucidcollection...finely
writtenandaccessibletothegeneralreader’ NoelMalcolm,
SundayTelegraph
about the author
DavidCannadineisProfessorofHistoryandDirectoroftheInsti-
tuteofHistoricalResearchatLondonUniversity.Hewasbornin
Birmingham in 1950, was educated at Cambridge, Oxford and
Princeton, and previously taught at the University of Cambridge
andColumbiaUniversity,NewYork.Amongotherappointments
heisaTrusteeoftheNationalPortraitGalleryandaCommissioner
ofEnglishHeritage.
He is the editor and author of many acclaimed books, including
The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy, which won the
Lionel Trilling Prize and Governors’ Award, Aspects of Aristo-
cracy, G. M. Trevelyan: A Life in History, The Pleasures of the
Past,ClassinBritain,HistoryinOurTimeandOrnamentalism.
HeisamemberoftheEditorialBoardofPastandPresentandis
General Editor of the Penguin History of Britain and Penguin
HistoryofEurope.
david cannadine
In Churchill’s Shadow
confronting the past
in modern britain
PENGUIN BOOKS
PENGUINBOOKS
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FirstpublishedbyAllenLaneThePenguinPress2002
PublishedinPenguinBooks2003
1
Copyright©DavidCannadine,2002
Allrightsreserved
Theacknowledgementsonp.312constitutean
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ExceptintheUnitedStatesofAmerica,thisbookissoldsubject
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InMemoriam
J.H.Plumb
LawrenceStone
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Contents
Preface ix
PART ONE:
CHURCHILL IN HIS WORLD
1. Parliament:ThePalaceofWestminster
asthePalaceofVarieties 3
2. Statecraft:TheHauntingFearofNational
Decline 26
3. Thrones:ChurchillandMonarchyin
BritainandBeyond 45
4. Language:ChurchillastheVoiceof
Destiny 85
PART TWO:
POLITICS IN DIVERSE MODES
5. Locality:The‘ChamberlainTradition’
andBirmingham 117
6. Piety:JosiahWedgwoodandtheHistory
ofParliament 134
7. Emollience:StanleyBaldwinandFrancis
BrettYoung 159
8. Diplomacy:G.M.Trevelyanand
R.B.Merriman 186
vii
contents
PART THREE:
VANISHING SUPREMACIES?
9. Tradition:GilbertandSullivanasa
‘NationalInstitution’ 205
10. Conservation:TheNationalTrustandthe
NationalHeritage 224
11. Sentiment:Noe¨lCoward’sPatriotic
Ardour 244
12. Fantasy:IanFlemingandtheRealitiesof
Escapism 279
Acknowledgements 312
ANoteonSources 313
ListofAbbreviations 314
Notes 316
Index 370
viii
Preface
Historianswriteessaysandarticlesformanyspecificandoftenunrelated
reasons – to launch their careers, to establish a reputation, to keep their
handin;topleasethemselves,toimpresstheircolleagues,toreachabroader
audience; to sketch out a new idea, to anticipate a major work, to avoid
writingabook;totakeabreakfromabigproject,todabblebutnotdelve
toodeeply,torevisitoldfriendsandoldhaunts;togiveasconferencepapers,
todeliveraspubliclectures,tocontributetoeditedvolumes;toindulgetheir
scholarlycuriosity,tomakesome(butnotmuch)money,and(mostrecently
and regrettably) to provide essential fodder for the Research Assessment
Exercise.Theseone-by-oneexplanationsarefarfrombeingexhaustive,but
in varying combinations, and as explained more fully in the notes, they
sufficefortheessayswhichfollow.Fourofthem(nowchapters4,7,11and
12)wereoriginallypublishedmorethanadecadeago,andtheyhavebeen
thoroughlyrevisedtotakeaccountofnewmaterialandinterpretations;a
furtherquartet(nowchapters2,8,9and10)werewrittenduringthe1990s,
whileIwaslivingandworkingintheUnitedStates,andhavebeenupdated
where appropriate;and theremainder (nowchapters 1, 3,5 and 6) have
been composed since I returned to London in 1998 as Director of the
InstituteofHistoricalResearch.
Buthoweverparticularandpersonaltheiroriginalcircumstancesofcon-
ceptionandcomposition,historicalessays,regardedcollectively,andunder-
taken interconnectedly, can also be the means of approaching one past
periodandproblembydifferentbutcomplementaryroutes,andsoitiswith
the piecesgathered togetherhere. Invaried but relatedways, theyare all
concernedwithBritishhistoryacrossthenineteenthandtwentiethcenturies
–whenthecountryreacheditszenith,andwhen,bycomparison,itbegan
its long decline. More precisely, they investigate how the downside of
that historical parabola, the relative sense of vanishing supremacies and
diminishingpossibilities,thefeelingthatthingswerenolongerasgreator
asstableorassplendidastheyhadoncebeen,wasidentified,dealtwithand
ix
