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CHEERING

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After five years of war, Churchill
was with the allied armies
as they crossed into Nazi Germany.

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"Forward on wings of flame to final
victory!" he told the troops.

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I got word that Churchill
was coming.

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This was because we had captured
part of the Siegfried Line -

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the so-called dragon teeth,
the concrete emplacements.

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It was on Germany's frontier.
It was both strategic AND symbolic.

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You were penetrating Germany.

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There he was with his cap
and cigar, trooping around

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and inspecting
all these tank traps.

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And it came time to have a pee.
I was standing right next to him

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and I could see the glint
in his eye and this puckish grin

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when he said, "Let's do it
on the Siegfried Line!"

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And that was absolutely marvellous.

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There was all of us lined up -
all these generals and me
and Churchill -

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peeing on Hitler's Siegfried Line!

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Two months later,

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in May 1945, Britain was celebrating
the first day of peace in Europe.

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CHURCHILL:
We may allow ourselves
a brief period of rejoicing.

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Today is Victory in Europe Day.
Tomorrow will also be
Victory in Europe Day.

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CROWD SINGS:
"Yankee-Doodle Dandy"

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Strangely enough in this great hour
of victory, when they had been
through so much together,

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my mother wasn't there
to share in the VE Day celebrations

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because she was in Russia
for her Aid to Russia Fund.

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So my father, in his hour
of victory, was rather alone.

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God... God bless you all.

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This is YOUR victory.

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Victory of the cause of freedom.

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The victory Churchill had promised
in the darkest days of 1940
was now a reality.

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For us in Britain
he later wrote,

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"Weary and worn, impoverished but
undaunted, and now triumphant,
we had a moment that was sublime."

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# Land of hope and glory

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# Make thee mightier yet! #

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Churchill hoped the coalition govt
would last until the defeat of Japan,
but Labour demanded an election.

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He didn't want an election at all.

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He would have liked to continue
on his pinnacle of a coalition
govt, the great national leader,

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and, you know, with nobody
standing up to him,
and running things all his own way.

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But he had to come down into
the hurly-burly of party politics.

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Our theme is the revival
of the greatest of Britain
and of the British Empire.

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But we mustn't use the word
"empire". It's naughty.

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Nothing but
a bloody warmonger!

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My father found it very difficult
to come to terms with his role
as a party leader

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as opposed to being the leader
of a great wartime coalition.

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In fact, he found the change
quite disagreeable.

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I think he'd probably
rather lost his touch.

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I ask you straight out to give me
the chance I need to try
to finish this business

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and bring the ship safe into port.
And I have steered her through
a very rough and stormy voyage.

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To many voters, Churchill was
the great war leader, but not the
man to lead Britain in peacetime.

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His personal popularity
was still enormous.

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Churchill was touring London
and went to a meeting

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and when he got there, he found
the big meeting area
was surrounded by Labour posters.

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They said they were Labour posters.

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They carried four words:
"Cheer Churchill. Vote Labour."

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Now that was the mood of the Labour
people throughout the land. And
they were grateful to Churchill.

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But it was not the past they were
thinking of. It was the future.

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CHEERING

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They said, "We want a Labour
Government and we want Winston
to be Prime Minister."

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I said, "You've got to choose."

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They said, "It's a free country.
We'll vote for what we like!"

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Churchill campaigned
on the theme

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that socialism was a form of
communism. He even identified
Labour with the Nazis.

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Socialism is not only an attack
upon the British enterprise

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but upon the right of the ordinary
man or woman to breathe freely

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without having a tyrannical hand
clapped over their mouth and nose.

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No socialist system can be
established without having
a political police,

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a form of Gestapo.

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Here he was, saying if you get
the Labour Government back
you get a Gestapo.

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Clem Attlee had been in his
War Cabinet running a Gestapo!

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The attempt to associate
the Labour Party with the Nazis
and the Gestapo, with Hitlerism,

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was regarded as being
utterly ridiculous.

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My mother read the speech before
he made it and said to him,
"You shouldn't use that phrase.

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"It will cause enormous offence
and do a lot of harm."

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My father was obstinate.
He thought it was quite all right.

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We're going to win!
HURRAH !

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I can feel it... I can feel it
in my bones. We're going to WIN !

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There were over a million servicemen
abroad whose vote could be decisive.

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They all felt that if they voted
for Attlee, they would get
demobilised much more quickly.

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And also, as there was a shortage
of cigarettes, that the supply of
cigarettes would be much greater.

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And I told him this.
He was very surprised.

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He said, "How COULD they do
a thing like this to me
after all I've done?"

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The results were delayed three weeks
while the service vote was counted.

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Churchill flew to Potsdam -
the last meeting of the Big Three.

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Truman was now the US President
after Roosevelt's death.

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Churchill wanted the best settlement
possible with Stalin on Europe.

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Churchill wouldn't read
the briefs.

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We would sit up all night writing
briefs which he'd never look at.

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Stalin was always VERY well-briefed
and he'd put a sharp question

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and Churchill would turn round and
say, "What's the answer to that?"

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We'd hiss the answers at him
which he couldn't hear
and the whole thing was a shambles.

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Churchill knew that now
the Red Army occupied E Europe,
Stalin held all the cards.

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At Potsdam it was quite clear that
we were not the important player
in that game.

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Alec Cadogan, the Head of the
Foreign Office, said, "This is
a two and a half power meeting."

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Even half was overestimating
our weight. The real negotiation
was between Russia and America.

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The Potsdam Conference set the seal
on the new map of E Europe,

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which was to remain under
Communist rule for nearly 50 years.

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The world was now dominated by the
Soviet Union and the United States.

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Churchill left Potsdam to return
to London for the election results,

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confident that he would
remain Prime Minister.

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NEWSREEL:
'Whoever imagined such a result?

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'Labour landslide.

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'Labour will now have a majority
over all parties in a House of 640.'

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By voting for the Labour Party,
they had voted Churchill out.

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00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:09,440
But there was no doubt there was
a sense of guilt about that.

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The day after the election, people
were almost hangdog about it.

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They were saying,
"What a way to treat a man
who has carried us to victory."

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Nobody had realised that
they were chucking Churchill out.

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He couldn't realise that they had
been quietly making up their minds

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that he was a great wartime leader
but he wasn't the man
to win the peace.

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He sat down at the Cabinet table
and I sat directly opposite

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and he started reminiscing about
all these perilous trips
we'd taken together during the war,

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the places we'd visited
and the outcome of the war.

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And then he got very sad.
You could tell by his expression.

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And he said, "And now the British
people don't want me any more."

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Tears were rolling down his cheeks
and I'm not ashamed to say
they were rolling down mine, too.

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After what he described as
the longest week of his life,
Churchill went on holiday.

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Exhausted by six years of war,
crushed by the election defeat,

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Churchill flew here to Lake Como.

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It was a time of recovery and peace.
"I am much better in myself,"
he wrote to his wife.

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"Here it is all sunshine and calm.

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"I paint all day and have banished
care and disillusionment
to the shades.

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"This is the first time
for many years that I have been
completely out of this world."

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He spent many days
at his favourite pastime - painting.

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Churchill wrote,

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"Painting is a companion with whom
one may hope to walk
a great part of life's journey.

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"Happy are the painters,
for they shall not be lonely."

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His love of bright colours
comes through in his paintings.

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He wrote, "When I get to heaven I
expect even more gorgeous colours.

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"I shall demand a palette with
bright colours that I can employ.

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"I shall spend my first million
years learning how to paint."

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In his fantasies, he wanted
to make life more colourful,

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more exciting,
more adventurous.

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It fitted in with
his romantic view of the world.

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Even on holiday, Churchill's
thoughts were soon to return
to world affairs.

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He was already preparing for his
future mission - to warn the West
of the Soviet threat to world peace.

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In March 1946,

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Churchill was invited to speak
at Westminster College,
Missouri.

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He warned them of Soviet Communism.

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From Stettin in the Baltic
to Trieste in the Adriatic

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an iron curtain
has descended across the Continent.

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Behind that line lie all
the capitals of the ancient states
of Central and Eastern Europe -

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Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna,
Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest
and Sofia.

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And all these famous cities
and the population around them

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lie in what I must call
the Soviet sphere.

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His thinking was that the Soviets
needed very close watching.

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It was not dissimilar
from some of the messages
he had tried to give

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but which had not been heeded
during the run-up to World War II.

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Whatever conclusions may be drawn
from these facts - facts they are -

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this is certainly not the liberated
Europe we fought to build up.

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Nor is it one which contains
the essentials of permanent peace.

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Churchill urged an alliance between
Britain and the US as the only way
to contain Soviet expansion.

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He was again the warmonger -
this time launching the Cold War.

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Churchill preached
the same message in W Europe,

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where he was celebrated as
the saviour of western civilisation.

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Here on Lake Geneva,
he prepared the Zurich speech
on a united Europe.

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I wish to speak to you today
about the tragedy of Europe.

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Over wide areas,
a vast, quivering mass

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of tormented, hungering, careworn
and bewildered human beings

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gape at the ruins
of their cities and their homes

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and scan the dark horizons
for the approach of some new peril,
tyranny or terror.

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That is all the Germanic races have
got by tearing each other to pieces

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and spreading havoc
far and wide.

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Suddenly there is a great voice
of Churchill,

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who is...the great victor
of the war,

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who says, "You Europeans,
don't desperate.

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"Unite and you'll be strong again."
And he gave hope.

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We must build a kind
of United States of Europe.

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The first step in the recreation
of the European family

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must be a partnership
between France and Germany.

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There can be no revival of Europe
without a spiritually great France

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and a spiritually great Germany.

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Therefore I say to you,
"Let Europe arise!"

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Churchill repeated his call for
a reconciled and united Europe
in every western capital.

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'The new song "Europe Unite" was
sung as he drove through the city.'

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CROWD SING AND CHEER

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We hope to see a Europe
where men of every country

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will think as much of being
a European as of belonging
to their native land.

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He had spoken so eloquently that
people got the wrong impression.

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His concept was a Britain
based on world position,

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close ties with America,
centre of the great Commonwealth,

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and playing a major role
but not directly involved
in Europe.

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I don't think that Churchill
really saw Britain

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as an equal partner
with the other European countries.

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He was, after all, the head of what
had just been a victorious country

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faced with one country which had
been defeated and another
which had been occupied.

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I think he had a rather patronising
attitude towards the Europeans,

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and a very great desire that
they should never do this again.

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They should sink their differences.
But WE should not
get too deeply into it.

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The world stage held much
of Churchill's attention.

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00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:31,240
At home he attacked Labour's
nationalisation plans.

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00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:39,000
Attlee's government was staggering
from crisis to crisis.
Churchill blamed socialism.

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00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:44,480
# There's a homefire smoking
From Windermere to Woking... #

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00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:53,440
If we sink through socialism
into moral and economic decline
and collapse,

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not only will our own sufferings
be intense,

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00:20:57,520 --> 00:21:04,640
but we shall carry
many other nations with us
into chaos and communism.

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00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:13,040
In the wings was Churchill waiting
to do the maximum mischief to the
national cause of economic recovery.

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00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:21,280
And he was able to say
to the people, which he did
quite unscrupulously,

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00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:29,600
"All these difficulties are due
to the socialist government,
socialist extravagance.

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00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:35,920
"And they're unnecessary.
The hardships are unnecessary."

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00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:44,600
In Opposition, Churchill had found
it difficult to change
"from a life of intense activity

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00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:47,680
"to one of anti-climax."

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00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:51,760
He was a rather intermittent
Opposition Leader.

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00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:59,240
He would make a great speech
about the world - remember
the Fulton Speech? -

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00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:03,280
and he'd make a great speech
in the Commons.

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00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:09,080
But asking Opposition questions,
and so on, bored him to tears.

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He'd got a strong team
and he left that to them.

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00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:18,560
In the House, he was not
an effective Opposition Leader.

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00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:22,920
Opposition is a difficult
and not very rewarding activity.

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00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:25,960
He wouldn't take any initiative.

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00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:33,600
I remember him saying in the
Commons, "What we want is two years
of tranquillity and peace."

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He meant two years
of doing absolutely nothing.

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We shall surely find the way

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00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:48,040
under a faithful
and tolerant government

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00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:58,040
to those broad uplands
where plenty, peace
and justice reign.

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00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:10,880
During his five years in Opposition,
Churchill often escaped to Chartwell
to write his war memoirs -

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00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:18,440
the first documented account of
World War II and the only account
written by one of the Big Three.

216
00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:23,240
He worked with a small team
of researchers.

217
00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:31,000
He had to write a piece
about the Blitz - you know,
the German raid on London in 1940.

218
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:38,560
And he got an expert to produce
a brief of about 150 pages.

219
00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:44,280
And he said to me, "Well, cut it
down to two and a half pages."

220
00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:51,960
So I worked like stink. I
produced about two and a half pages
and I thought it was quite good.

221
00:23:54,360 --> 00:24:02,360
And I sat beside him
and he took out his red pen
and he started to correct.

222
00:24:02,360 --> 00:24:11,120
And all my sloppy sentences were
tightened up and all my useless
adjectives were obliterated.

223
00:24:11,120 --> 00:24:18,600
In the middle of it all, he said
to me very gently, "I hope
you don't mind my doing this."

224
00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:27,680
And I said, "Thank you, sir.
You're giving me a free lesson
in writing plain English."

225
00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:34,640
The sales were enormous.
The six volumes earned him
the Nobel Prize for Literature.

226
00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:37,840
Writing a book is an adventure.

227
00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:42,360
To begin with, it is a toy
and an amusement.

228
00:24:42,360 --> 00:24:48,240
And then it becomes a mistress.
And then it becomes a master.

229
00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:51,320
And then it becomes a tyrant.

230
00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:59,200
And the last phase is that
just as you are about to be
reconciled to your servitude,

231
00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:01,840
you kill the monster.

232
00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:08,000
During that dinner he said to me,
"You know, five wasted years."

233
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:15,040
He said, "You and I have just been
playing with the shadows
of the past writing history.

234
00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:19,200
"I could have done so much
if I had still been in office."

235
00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:25,840
Churchill suffered from
periods of deep depression.
He called it his black dog.

236
00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:30,720
I found myself sitting one mealtime
with Mr Churchill

237
00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:37,720
and General Parnell, who was
his advisor on the military side
of the war memoirs.

238
00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:42,880
And Gen. Parnell and I were having
a lighthearted chat about suicide.

239
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:48,600
It seemed Mr Churchill was deep
in thought and wasn't listening.

240
00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:56,680
But suddenly he jerked up and said,
"Stop it! You mustn't talk
like that. It's not right!

241
00:25:56,680 --> 00:26:02,280
"Once I almost thought of
throwing myself under a train."

242
00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:08,840
Well, you can imagine, silence
after that. It was such a shock.

243
00:26:10,120 --> 00:26:13,200
He said to his doctor

244
00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:20,720
he didn't like staying
in a room with a balcony
in case he threw himself off.

245
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:28,600
He couldn't stand near the edge
of a train platform. There was a
constant preoccupation with death.

246
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:34,120
He feared a mood might overcome him
and he would throw himself off.

247
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:41,680
One of his consolations
was his love of animals.

248
00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:51,000
There was a time when he was being
told that he should entertain
more backbenchers at home

249
00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:53,640
shortly after the war.

250
00:26:53,640 --> 00:27:02,480
And one backbencher didn't quite
understand that Winston wasn't
really in the habit of talking

251
00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:08,600
until he'd got one or two courses
of food into his tummy.

252
00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:12,480
On this occasion,
he was particularly taciturn.

253
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:21,840
His first sign of life was
to take a great lunge across
the fellow saying, "Darling!"

254
00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:26,280
But of course it was the cat
who had come into the room,

255
00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:33,600
and Winston felt, "There's somebody
I really love. Why must I put up
with this backbencher?"

256
00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:40,920
I once went to see him
when he was working in his bed
during the morning.

257
00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:46,760
And there was Rufus -
either Rufus 1 or Rufus 2 -

258
00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:49,840
lying across his ankles.

259
00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:54,720
There was his ginger cat
on his lap.

260
00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:58,800
And Toby the budgerigar
was sitting on his head.

261
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:06,120
And there he was dictating away
some immensely important document
to a secretary

262
00:28:06,120 --> 00:28:10,760
and three animals were
hopping round him. Very moving.

263
00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:17,280
Churchill loved watching films
in his own cinema at Chartwell.

264
00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:21,320
His favourite actress
was Vivien Leigh.

265
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:28,080
He invited Laurence Olivier
and Vivien Leigh to lunch.

266
00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:36,240
I remember going into
the dining room and seeing Vivien
Leigh sitting beside Churchill

267
00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:39,320
and he was just looking at her.

268
00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:46,320
And he said to her,
quite naturally, "All I want
is just to look at you."

269
00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:53,360
And you realised that
he was spellbound by her beauty.

270
00:28:55,440 --> 00:29:00,280
In February 1950 there was a General
Election. The Conservatives lost.

271
00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:06,400
Clementine had warned him that he
had not been giving of his best.

272
00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:13,960
She wrote, "I have felt chilled
by the knowledge that you do only
as much as will keep you in power.

273
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:18,600
"That is not enough
in these hard and anxious times."

274
00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:24,880
Within 18 months, there was
another General Election.

275
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:31,400
The changing mood of the country
pointed to a change of government .

276
00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:37,480
'They made a night of it, sensing a
Conservative victory was on the way.

277
00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:42,760
My mother viewed another term
for him as Prime Minister,

278
00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:47,640
and for her as the wife of
the Prime Minister, with misgiving.

279
00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:53,560
She felt that my father
wasn't what he was.

280
00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:59,320
The strain of the war had been
tremendous and it took its toll.

281
00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:06,720
She accepted what the ballot-box
said with, I think,
a sinking heart.

282
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:14,280
I changed at the end
of October 1951

283
00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:21,320
from being Private Secretary to
Attlee to being Private Secretary
to Churchill.

284
00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:30,320
And, of course, people said to me,
"You must find a great difference
between the two Prime Ministers."

285
00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:35,640
And I had a party-piece all ready.
I'd say, "Yes, a great difference.

286
00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:43,720
"You can hardly imagine it.
On the one hand -
decisive, firm, quick, rapid.

287
00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:47,720
"He will say, 'Very good!'
'Certainly!' or 'No.'

288
00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:54,800
"And then on the other hand,
someone's saying,
'I think I'll look at that later.'

289
00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:58,640
"Or 'Bring it down
to Chartwell'."

290
00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:02,680
When I said "Chartwell",
there'd be a sort of double-take.

291
00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:07,720
And suddenly they'd realise it was
Churchill putting things off

292
00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:12,000
and Attlee who was decisive
and quick.

293
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:18,360
He assembled a new staff
but stuck to his old habits.

294
00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:22,960
There'd be a call for a secretary
to come to the bathroom

295
00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:27,000
and you'd identify yourself outside
by a cough.

296
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:32,040
And he'd say, "Don't come in!" and
you'd think, "I don't WANT to!"

297
00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:37,120
And you'd stand outside and you'd
hear wonderful bathroom noises.

298
00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:42,840
You'd envisage the sponge
being squeezed over the head.

299
00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:47,960
And he'd call out, "Don't go away!"
and you'd say, "I'm still here!"

300
00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:55,640
And the bathing would go on. And
sometimes one wasn't needed. He'd
forgotten what he wanted to say.

301
00:31:55,640 --> 00:32:01,600
I was putting things on his desk
or something in the study,

302
00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:05,680
which was just outside his bedroom
at Chartwell,

303
00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:12,760
and a voice yelled out, "Miss, I'm
coming out in a state of nature.
You'd better watch it!"

304
00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:20,200
And I fled as fast as I could,
because there were some things
one really...

305
00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:24,800
We were all of us quite young girls
at that time.

306
00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:28,040
There was no air of salaciousness.

307
00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:33,400
And he would go into his bedroom,
which was next door,

308
00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:38,560
and he would be wearing
his siren suit for work.

309
00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:43,680
He always wore that,
with the zip up the front.

310
00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:48,640
And I was allowed to help him
get it off his shoulders.

311
00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:54,920
He would unzip it down to the waist
and I would help him get it off.

312
00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:58,760
Then the rest he did himself.

313
00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:01,440
He was so sweet.

314
00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:07,800
I remember one night he said to me,
"You're very young. Are you 21 ?"

315
00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:16,640
I wasn't. And he said, "When
you're 21, I'll let you take
the whole of my siren suit off."

316
00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:21,320
ORGAN MUSIC

317
00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:26,840
In June 1953, the new queen
was crowned.

318
00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:37,880
She persuaded Churchill,
now Sir Winston, to accept
the Knighthood of the Garter.

319
00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:44,400
He'd been offered it in 1945 and
had refused it with the words,

320
00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:51,480
"I don't think it's appropriate
to accept the Order of the Garter
from my sovereign

321
00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:55,520
"when his people have just given me
the Order of the Boot."

322
00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:59,520
But he did accept it
the second time from the Queen.

323
00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:03,960
Churchill's main concern
was the military might of Russia.

324
00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:09,000
His dream was to save mankind
from a third World War.

325
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,760
His means - a Big Three summit.

326
00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:17,880
When Stalin died in 1953, it was to
his successor, Malenkov, he turned.

327
00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:23,280
He really believed that he had
a mission. This was the truth.

328
00:34:23,280 --> 00:34:28,200
He had a mission to be
as successful in peace as in war.

329
00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:35,200
He had illusions about our potential
power in the world, if only we'd
managed it properly.

330
00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:39,760
And he thought he could talk
to the Russians as equals

331
00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:44,640
and somehow persuade them
to behave properly.

332
00:34:44,640 --> 00:34:50,280
Winston's idea of a summit really
was a meeting alone with Malenkov,

333
00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:54,240
without officials and without
agenda, he used to say.

334
00:34:54,240 --> 00:34:57,560
This was thought a dangerous thing.

335
00:34:57,560 --> 00:35:03,560
I think people were very much
afraid he might give things away,

336
00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:12,320
make concessions, weaken
the resolution of the West
and upset our main ally.

337
00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:18,640
Churchill went to see Eisenhower,
the new President of the US.

338
00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:23,360
Churchill believed they could end
the Cold War.

339
00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:28,120
By June 1953, Churchill had
exhausted himself again.

340
00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:33,800
During a visit from the Italian
PM, he was taken ill at a banquet.

341
00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:40,680
When I went up to my father,
I realised something was wrong.
He was dazed and incoherent.

342
00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:45,960
I'm afraid people thought
he'd had rather too much to drink.

343
00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:49,240
In fact, he had sustained a stroke.

344
00:35:49,240 --> 00:35:56,080
Despite this, Churchill held
a Cabinet meeting next morning,
then left for Chartwell.

345
00:35:58,200 --> 00:36:06,520
The secret of the fact
that he had had a major stroke
was amazingly well kept.

346
00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:15,000
The reason, really, for it was
that my father walked unaided from
the door of Number 10 into his car,

347
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:20,320
but by the time he got to Chartwell,
he had to be carried out of the car.

348
00:36:20,320 --> 00:36:25,400
Then during the next few days,
his stroke got...

349
00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:32,760
the effects of the stroke became
more marked and he became
practically helpless.

350
00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:37,800
He was partially paralysed.
He couldn't use his left side.

351
00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:44,520
So his walking was very, very...
In fact, he could hardly walk.

352
00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:50,920
His speech was slurred,
but his brain was clear.

353
00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:54,960
He recovered much quicker
than what is thought.

354
00:36:54,960 --> 00:37:02,160
He had his stroke on the Wednesday.
Lord Moran said to me he didn't
think he'd last the weekend.

355
00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:06,600
But he started to make
a remarkable recovery.

356
00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:16,560
Newspaper owners agreed to keep
the truth from the public.

357
00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:21,880
I assumed, with everyone else, that
he would now resign from office.

358
00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:28,880
But then he said he would go on
if he could recover well enough
to make a good speech

359
00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:33,840
to the Conservative Party
Conference at Margate in October.

360
00:37:33,840 --> 00:37:39,000
LADY SOAMES:
We were all in a frightful sweat.

361
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:42,240
My mother longed for him to resign.

362
00:37:42,240 --> 00:37:48,040
To make this an excuse - it would
have been comprehensible to all.

363
00:37:48,040 --> 00:37:54,440
A few years ago,
nationalisation among socialists...

364
00:37:54,440 --> 00:38:02,920
Everyone was looking at him,
and those of us who were
in the know even more closely.

365
00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:07,560
You couldn't detect a thing.
It was a very good speech.

366
00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:13,960
If I stay on for the time being,
bearing the burden at my age,

367
00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:19,920
it is not because of
love for power or office.

368
00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:23,800
I have had an ample share of both.

369
00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:31,440
If I stay, it is because I have
a feeling that I may,
through things that have happened,

370
00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:38,440
have an influence on what I care
about above all else: the building
of a sure and lasting peace.

371
00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:52,240
Churchill now redoubled his efforts
to persuade Malenkov, the Russian
leader, to agree to a summit.

372
00:38:52,240 --> 00:38:57,280
It failed because the Russians sent
such rude answers to his efforts.

373
00:38:57,280 --> 00:39:05,680
Not for the first time, we were
saved by Russian obtuseness.
They just brushed him off.

374
00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:14,520
Mind you, they were probably
just as aware as we were
of Britain's weak position -

375
00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:22,640
that we were bankrupt and all that.
And they didn't think it was such
a big do to have the British PM.

376
00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:25,960
They were interested in the US.

377
00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:32,200
Churchill crossed the Atlantic again
to press Eisenhower to hold a summit

378
00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:38,120
but the Americans were no more
interested than the Russians.

379
00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:42,960
He now reluctantly accepted
Britain's diminished role.

380
00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:49,760
General Eisenhower is at the head
of your country

381
00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:56,840
at the time when your country
has been called upon
to become the head of the world.

382
00:39:56,840 --> 00:40:03,000
On his 80th birthday, Churchill was
given a Graham Sutherland portrait

383
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:05,960
by his former rival, Clement Attlee.

384
00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:12,880
'On behalf of both Houses of
Parliament, Prime Minister,
I ask you to accept this portrait.'

385
00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:17,760
WARM APPLAUSE

386
00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:23,040
When it came to the actual
unveiling of the portrait,

387
00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:27,520
there was an audible gasp
from the audience,

388
00:40:27,520 --> 00:40:34,080
and clearly it was quite a shock
to my grandparents.

389
00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:42,920
And my grandfather, when he got up
to reply, dealt with it in
an absolutely brilliant manner.

390
00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:49,760
The portrait is a remarkable
example of modern art.

391
00:40:49,760 --> 00:40:54,680
LAUGHTER

392
00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:18,080
It was painted in sickly yellows
and greens with a hint of
a fly button undone.

393
00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:22,720
And...it was very sad, in fact,

394
00:41:22,720 --> 00:41:30,480
that such a splendid occasion
should have been upset
by this reaction.

395
00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:34,600
The portrait was later destroyed
by Lady Churchill.

396
00:41:34,600 --> 00:41:38,680
My mother was perfectly dignified
and simple.

397
00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:44,080
She said, "I saw that
it tormented your father,

398
00:41:44,080 --> 00:41:50,400
"and I promised him that it would
never see the light of day."

399
00:41:50,400 --> 00:41:56,880
There were now rumblings that it was
time for Churchill to step down.

400
00:41:56,880 --> 00:42:01,600
He was finding it difficult
to concentrate.

401
00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:11,280
He certainly took less interest
than before in detail and in
matters he didn't find attractive,

402
00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:16,800
and he left MUCH more
empowered to other people.

403
00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:23,080
They provided him with all the
equipment they thought he needed

404
00:42:23,080 --> 00:42:28,320
and one of them was a great series
of tags which they put on his desk.

405
00:42:28,320 --> 00:42:32,040
He'd used them greatly
from 1940-45.

406
00:42:32,040 --> 00:42:38,360
They said "Action this day" and had
been put on a number of minutes.

407
00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:46,240
But he never once used them
in 1951-55. They lay there
on his desk but were never used.

408
00:42:46,240 --> 00:42:51,520
He was losing his grip
and not really caring.

409
00:42:51,520 --> 00:42:56,040
Of course he cared deeply
for his country and so on,

410
00:42:56,040 --> 00:43:01,680
but he was just like an old man
who'd had enough, I thought.

411
00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:05,800
But Churchill was
in no hurry to go,

412
00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:13,960
much to the frustration of
Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, who
was the acknowledged Crown Prince.

413
00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:18,080
Anthony was getting
extremely impatient.

414
00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:25,240
He had been promised the office
several times, but Churchill
always found a reason not to go.

415
00:43:25,240 --> 00:43:29,880
One being, "I have to go and talk
to the Russian leaders."

416
00:43:29,880 --> 00:43:35,200
He thought he was a better leader
than his Crown Prince.

417
00:43:35,200 --> 00:43:38,960
What was it he once muttered?

418
00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:44,480
"I remind Anthony Mr Gladstone
formed his last admin. at 81."

419
00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:53,000
..and thus make easier
the discussions of all
the difficult matters and events

420
00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:59,800
which will arise from month
to month in the next few years.

421
00:43:59,800 --> 00:44:08,480
Eden came to hate Churchill,
and after the war, he hated him
all the more for blocking him.

422
00:44:08,480 --> 00:44:15,400
There was great ill feeling between
the two, of which probably
Churchill was not so conscious.

423
00:44:15,400 --> 00:44:19,080
He put it to the back of his mind.

424
00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:23,560
Churchill simply wanted to stay
as long as possible,

425
00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:29,440
because he thought he'd be very
lonely without the daily boxes.

426
00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:35,720
He was afraid of giving up because
of the terrible depressions he had

427
00:44:35,720 --> 00:44:42,520
when he did cease to be busy
and in the full flood of activity.

428
00:44:42,520 --> 00:44:47,920
I think Churchill found it
impossible to give up

429
00:44:47,920 --> 00:44:52,920
so long as he was capable,
in his own opinion, of carrying on.

430
00:44:52,920 --> 00:45:02,040
I remember Anthony Eden,
the Foreign Secretary,
coming up in the lift...

431
00:45:02,040 --> 00:45:11,120
He had been driven to the end of
his tether by interference from
Downing Street in foreign affairs.

432
00:45:11,120 --> 00:45:18,160
And he was saying,
"This time I will resign.
This is resignation."

433
00:45:18,160 --> 00:45:27,120
And we were all sitting
on tenterhooks in the office,
and the door was shut.

434
00:45:27,120 --> 00:45:33,080
10 minutes later the Foreign Sec
emerged and he had NOT resigned.

435
00:45:33,080 --> 00:45:38,640
They all saw he'd had several
strokes and he really ought to go,

436
00:45:38,640 --> 00:45:43,720
but they none of them had the guts
to go and say to him

437
00:45:43,720 --> 00:45:48,520
that he should get out.
It's difficult to understand

438
00:45:48,520 --> 00:45:55,440
what a great man Churchill had been
a few years before,

439
00:45:55,440 --> 00:46:02,560
and how this made him almost
like a god. You didn't talk
to gods in a rough way.

440
00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:10,600
'With a characteristic cigar clutched
in his hand, Churchill sets out
to tender his resignation

441
00:46:10,600 --> 00:46:13,600
'to the young queen.'

442
00:46:13,600 --> 00:46:19,000
In April 1955, Churchill finally
decided to resign.

443
00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:24,000
'The night before, he had been host
to the Queen at 10, Downing Street.

444
00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:31,680
'The statesman who had served as
a subaltern in the reign of the
Queen's great-great-grandmother

445
00:46:31,680 --> 00:46:36,760
'and who had served in political
office in the five reigns since...'

446
00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:44,320
One dream remained unfulfilled -
to see the end of Soviet tyranny.
He'd prophesied communism would fail.

447
00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:48,400
The soul of man,
frozen in a long night,

448
00:46:48,400 --> 00:46:53,640
can be awakened by a spark
coming from God knows where,

449
00:46:53,640 --> 00:46:59,920
and in a moment the whole structure
of lies and oppression

450
00:46:59,920 --> 00:47:05,840
is on trial for its life. People
in bondage need never despair.

451
00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:17,000
Over the next few years, the South
of France became a second home.

452
00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:20,200
He stayed at the Villa La Pausa,

453
00:47:20,200 --> 00:47:28,800
near Monte Carlo, as the guest of
his publisher, Emery Reves,
and his American wife, Wendy.

454
00:47:28,800 --> 00:47:32,600
Wendy had a wonderful sparkle.

455
00:47:32,600 --> 00:47:38,160
She devoted herself to his needs.
A charming conversationalist,

456
00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:44,680
she looked after him
in a most delightful way.

457
00:47:44,680 --> 00:47:52,760
Her nickname was "the champagne
kitten". She was enormously bubbly
and terribly fond of him

458
00:47:52,760 --> 00:47:56,600
and did everything
to make him happier.

459
00:47:59,200 --> 00:48:04,960
I could call him, "Monkey-pie!" or
"You bad boy!" I could tease him.

460
00:48:04,960 --> 00:48:11,560
I would say, "Good morning,
darling! How are you today?"

461
00:48:11,560 --> 00:48:16,960
Or I would say, "My, are you
hungry, eh?" I could tease him.

462
00:48:16,960 --> 00:48:21,640
I could push him, I could pat him,
I could shake him.

463
00:48:21,640 --> 00:48:29,320
He liked it, you see.
No-one ever did that.
He felt terribly loved here.

464
00:48:29,320 --> 00:48:32,000
She mothered him.

465
00:48:32,000 --> 00:48:38,600
I remember once he was upset
about something or other,

466
00:48:38,600 --> 00:48:44,400
and she took his head in her arms
and cradled him and he adored it.

467
00:48:44,400 --> 00:48:50,480
He was so happy here
that, as you know, he came back
again and again.

468
00:48:50,480 --> 00:48:56,120
The first time he came for 10 days.
He stayed three weeks.

469
00:48:56,120 --> 00:49:02,760
In the last years he was staying
more here than in England.

470
00:49:02,760 --> 00:49:07,760
Tongues had begun to wag, not only
behind people's backs.

471
00:49:07,760 --> 00:49:14,840
One day at luncheon, a female
guest, seeing Churchill
appeared to have nodded off, said,

472
00:49:14,840 --> 00:49:20,120
"What a pity such a great man should
end his days with Wendy Reves."

473
00:49:20,120 --> 00:49:27,840
Suddenly one eye opened
and Churchill said, "Wendy is
three things you will never be.

474
00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:32,960
"She is young. She is beautiful.
And she is kind."

475
00:49:32,960 --> 00:49:38,600
And then the eye closed. Inevitably,
such gossip took its toll.

476
00:49:38,600 --> 00:49:45,520
Churchill's family became unhappy
with his long visits to the Reves's.

477
00:49:45,520 --> 00:49:50,800
The family concluded he should take
a break from that background

478
00:49:50,800 --> 00:49:54,880
because he wasn't seeing
enough of old friends and family.

479
00:49:54,880 --> 00:50:01,640
The occasion for that was
when he went for a cruise
on Onassis's yacht.

480
00:50:01,640 --> 00:50:08,280
The Reves were not included and,
understandably, they were hurt.

481
00:50:08,280 --> 00:50:16,600
Onassis had cabled me with
a list of potential guests
on the cruise.

482
00:50:16,600 --> 00:50:26,200
I had to reply with, "This is quite
OK, but Lady Churchill suggests
the Reves should not be included."

483
00:50:26,200 --> 00:50:31,400
I had to play the not very
agreeable role of the surgeon.

484
00:50:39,720 --> 00:50:42,800
As Churchill grew older,

485
00:50:42,800 --> 00:50:49,080
his links with the past brought
him happy and nostalgic moments.

486
00:50:49,080 --> 00:50:51,920
He went to Harrow, his old school.

487
00:50:51,920 --> 00:50:55,840
He was still honoured
as a world statesman.

488
00:50:55,840 --> 00:51:02,480
He was still an MP, returned by
his faithful constituents in Epping.

489
00:51:02,480 --> 00:51:10,640
Frail though he was, he would go
regularly to the Commons, listening
to debates, but rarely speaking.

490
00:51:10,640 --> 00:51:17,440
In 1964, aged 89, Churchill retired.
He had been an MP for 60 years.

491
00:51:17,440 --> 00:51:23,800
I'd found him very unhappy and
melancholy. He was sitting brooding.

492
00:51:23,800 --> 00:51:28,920
I asked him why he was so unhappy.
This was after his retirement.

493
00:51:28,920 --> 00:51:32,960
And I pointed to
his extraordinary achievements

494
00:51:32,960 --> 00:51:39,040
both in politics and in the
armed forces, having won the war.

495
00:51:39,040 --> 00:51:43,400
If you can put it down
to a single man, it was he.

496
00:51:43,400 --> 00:51:50,720
The Nobel Prize for Literature,
a large family who loved him,
and he was popular.

497
00:51:50,720 --> 00:51:56,400
He'd had a life given to few
people. Why was he so gloomy?

498
00:51:56,400 --> 00:51:59,720
And he said, "Yes, you're right.

499
00:51:59,720 --> 00:52:06,800
"I have worked very hard
all my life and I have
achieved a great deal...

500
00:52:06,800 --> 00:52:10,120
"in the end, to achieve nothing."

501
00:52:10,120 --> 00:52:18,440
What he meant was that his ideal
was a strong and united
British Empire and Commonwealth

502
00:52:18,440 --> 00:52:21,480
in a totally peaceful world.

503
00:52:23,560 --> 00:52:32,040
Of his last year his daughter,
Mary, wrote, "The pace of his life
is like a weary river meandering on.

504
00:52:32,040 --> 00:52:37,520
"Sometimes he withdrew
a great distance from us.

505
00:52:37,520 --> 00:52:43,440
"Who knows what thoughts crossed his
consciousness from his long life."

506
00:52:43,440 --> 00:52:49,560
He said he didn't like old age.
"Old age is intolerable."

507
00:52:49,560 --> 00:52:54,120
Oh, yes, I think
he was very sad.

508
00:52:56,800 --> 00:53:01,360
Fortunately, his eyesight was good
and he was able to read.

509
00:53:01,360 --> 00:53:04,840
He enjoyed Hornblower enormously.

510
00:53:08,520 --> 00:53:12,480
I went to lunch with him
in the garden,

511
00:53:12,480 --> 00:53:18,440
and he was in a sort of reminiscing
mood about things and happenings.

512
00:53:18,440 --> 00:53:26,720
And...and he said to me,
"I have done my bit.

513
00:53:26,720 --> 00:53:30,760
"I should be allowed
to depart in peace."

514
00:53:33,040 --> 00:53:41,120
And it was terrible, because
you realised that there was
nothing any more that he could do.

515
00:53:41,120 --> 00:53:44,720
Therefore he didn't want to go on.

516
00:53:44,720 --> 00:53:49,440
The end was not
the greatest time for him.

517
00:53:54,080 --> 00:54:00,960
In January 1965, Churchill
suffered a massive stroke
and went into a coma.

518
00:54:00,960 --> 00:54:06,760
The crowds gathered for news
outside his home in London.

519
00:54:06,760 --> 00:54:14,440
I chiefly remember
the great sort of stillness
in our house

520
00:54:14,440 --> 00:54:17,480
and the throng of people outside.

521
00:54:17,480 --> 00:54:24,280
A totally quiet crowd,
but a very sad one.

522
00:54:24,280 --> 00:54:31,960
And also the feeling as the days
went by that, in a way,

523
00:54:31,960 --> 00:54:36,000
the whole world
seemed to be...with us.

524
00:54:36,000 --> 00:54:42,160
And...um, inside the house
it was very peaceful.

525
00:54:42,160 --> 00:54:49,760
My poor father just really
faded away over a series of days.
He became deeply unconscious.

526
00:54:49,760 --> 00:54:55,640
And yet I know that until
a very short time before his death,

527
00:54:55,640 --> 00:55:02,840
the nurses used to tell me
that they knew that HE knew
when my mother was by his side.

528
00:55:02,840 --> 00:55:09,920
She used to sit there for hours
holding his hand.
It was a very peaceful scene.

529
00:55:09,920 --> 00:55:17,560
He had a dear orange kitten,
and that used to lie curled up
on his bed,

530
00:55:17,560 --> 00:55:24,560
and we used to come in and out,
and the grandchildren came up
to say their goodbyes.

531
00:55:24,560 --> 00:55:31,840
My children were rather small,
but I'm glad they saw him
looking so peaceful.

532
00:55:31,840 --> 00:55:36,920
One of them said, "I don't think I
shall ever be frightened of death."

533
00:55:36,920 --> 00:55:46,920
And then he died about 8 o'clock
on Sunday 24th January, 1965.

534
00:55:50,000 --> 00:55:53,960
MUSIC:
"The Funeral March"

535
00:57:01,360 --> 00:57:09,320
Approaching the West Door,
I saw an enormous marble plaque
on the floor

536
00:57:09,320 --> 00:57:14,560
and on it the legend,
"Remember Winston Churchill."

537
00:57:14,560 --> 00:57:19,120
I thought to myself,
"How could anyone forget him?

538
00:57:19,120 --> 00:57:27,200
"The man who not only saved
Britain, but saved the whole world
from Nazi domination."

539
00:57:57,680 --> 00:58:00,800
Last time I spoke to you

540
00:58:00,800 --> 00:58:04,880
I quoted the lines
of Longfellow

541
00:58:04,880 --> 00:58:10,280
which President Roosevelt had
written out for me in his own hand.

542
00:58:10,280 --> 00:58:14,320
I have some other lines,
which are well-known,

543
00:58:14,320 --> 00:58:19,000
but which seem apt and appropriate
to our fortunes tonight.

544
00:58:19,000 --> 00:58:23,080
And I believe
they will be so judged

545
00:58:23,080 --> 00:58:29,160
wherever the English language is
spoken or the flag of freedom flies.

546
00:58:29,160 --> 00:58:34,640
"For while the tired waves
vainly breaking

547
00:58:34,640 --> 00:58:38,080
"Seem here no painful inch to gain,

548
00:58:38,080 --> 00:58:42,400
"Far back, through creeks
and inlets making

549
00:58:42,400 --> 00:58:45,600
"Come silent, flooding in, the main

550
00:58:45,600 --> 00:58:48,720
"And not by eastern windows only,

551
00:58:48,720 --> 00:58:52,960
"When daylight comes,
comes in the light;

552
00:58:52,960 --> 00:58:57,880
"In front the sun climbs slow,
how slowly,

553
00:58:57,880 --> 00:59:01,920
"But westward, look,
the land is bright."