Ghost of a flea

350125 Go!

Churchill's Hour is the latest in Michael Dobbs' historical novels centred around Churchill's struggle to warn first England and then the world of the unique danger of Hitlerism. The events of 1941 lack the internicene drama of party politics leading up to the War and a bleak time produces bleak reading in comparison with the first two books in the series. London is being razed by German bombing, fighting in North Africa is going badly, the Japanese have worked out the British are in no position to defend their colonial possessions in the far east and HMS Hood, the pride of the fleet, is lost. As Britain battles on alone*, America, the arsenal of democracy ("they got that one almost right", as Churchill's son uncharitably observes) refuses to sacrifice its sons for an Empire of which it disapproves or even an England it believes cannot be saved. I imagine this novel would make for difficult reading for those Americans now convinced, say, France has abandoned them in fighting today's fight against the latest incarnation of fascism. They should be reassured that nobody took the Nazi wolf seriously until it was at their door. Nobody, it seems, with the sole exception of Winston Churchill.

Poking around on "the internet" once I had finished the book lead me to a diva site discussing Churchill's fabulous daughter-in-law, Pamela and to the continuing mystery of Rudolf Hess' flight to Scotland. Who knows what reception the Duke of Hamilton would have given him had those five days in May 1940 gone differently. There is something surreal at watching an interview with the farmer who captured the Deputy Fuehrer. And the farmer's Mum.

*Excepting Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India and the rest of the far flung Empire.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at October 28, 2005 09:37 AM

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