(Fanfare used for the opening of Ripping Yarns, available on YouTube.)
Michael Palin and Terry Jones produced a series called "Ripping Yarns" for the BBC. Only nine episodes long, the show parodied the types of adventure stories Palin and so many others enjoyed reading in their school days, stuffed with clever Brits who always come out on top, whether they're fighting the natives, curses borne from mystic objects, or the school bully -- called School Bully -- at their public schools.
As I read Robert Lewis Taylor's biography of Churchill, "Winston Churchill, an Informal Study of Greatness," I kept thinking, story after story, "This could be a Ripping Yarn, and not even need the Palin/Jones comedic treatment.
An example:
Of his time at Harrow, and of an interaction with headmaster Welldon, Taylor writes: "The doctor's forbearance is the more admirable in view of Churchill's attitude toward him, which was, charitably, offhand. At one time, haled into the headmaster's study, the boy was told, "Churchill, I have very grave reason to be displeased with you." the unpenitent reply was, according to excellent sources, "And I, sirt, have very grave reason to be displeased with you.
Another:
One evening in Churchill's home, Michael Collins, the leader of Sinn Fein, blew up and began to rant of Britain's having once placed a price of $50,000 on his head. he abused Churchill with variety and fervor. The Colonial Secretary listened throughout with respectful attention, then, during an unexpected lull, stepped into his study and brought out a framed sample of the Boers' 25-pound reward after his escape from Pretoria. "If you were offended at the price on your head, imagine how I must feel," he told Collins, who relaxed, started to laugh, and kept it up most of the evening. Speaking of the newly created Irish Free State, or Eire, Collins afterward said, "Tell Winston we could never have done anything without him." Two days later he was struck down and killed by the gunfire of Dublin extremists.
The book is filled with these little tidbits and asides, helping it make up for a severe lack, wherein Churchill's time during World War II is given short shrift. The only thing I can think -- Taylor doesn't say -- would be that the World War II era is covered thoroughly elsewhere, and to do it any great justice would require many more pages than what Taylor used. But I don't know.
Still, it's a cleverly-written introduction to the man, likely containing little stories that would be overshadowed in more World War II-heavy tomes. Worth the read for the humor alone.
Note: This is my second copy of the book, as the first copy has a printing error.
