FIFTY YEARS GONE: The 50th Anniversary of Winston Churchill’s Death
by Barry Singer 
The occasion has been much-anticipated and already much-written about and remarked upon. Today, January 30, we mark the 50th Anniversary of Winston Churchill’s death.
Pundits have consumed themselves with looking back at Churchill through the prism of his passing. I prefer to look forward. The passions that fueled him – from a devotion to the inalienable liberties that elevate western civilization, to the “essentials of life,” as Churchill once catalogued them: “hot baths, cold champagne, new peas and old brandy,” – these, and so many other, aspects of Winston Churchill are a source of fascination and even inspiration to more people today than ever before. Such vibrant interest must bode well for everyone’s future.
Many events will mark the anniversary year. At Churchill’s former home, CHARTWELL, a National Trust exhibition, CHURCHILL: DEATH OF A HERO, has already opened and will run through February 22. It explores the man, the last weeks of his life, and his funeral.
Opening this week, at London’s SCIENCE MUSEUM is the exhibition CHURCHILL’S SCIENTISTS, devoted to the scientists who worked under Churchill’s direction as Prime Minister during the Second World War, helping Britain to victory.
On the 30th of January, The Havengore — the barge that bore Churchill’s coffin up the Thames as part of his State Funeral in 1965 — will retrace its journey, concluding with a short service and wreath laying in the waters of the River Thames opposite the Palace of Westminster.
On February 14, a “reinvigorated” permanent Churchill exhibition will re-open at Churchill’s birthplace, BLENHEIM PALACE, followed on June 1 by the opening of a Churchill Memorial Garden at Blenheim, near the Temple of Diana, where Winston proposed to Clementine.
In Paris, on April 10, CHURCHILL AND DE GAULLE opens at the MUSÉE DE L’ARMÉE, exploring the extremely prickly relationship between the two leaders.
Back in the vicinity of BLENHEIM PALACE, the 32nd International Churchill Conference, organized by THE CHURCHILL CENTRE, will run from May 26 through May 29, including a memorial service at Churchill’s Bladon Park gravesite.
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Meanwhile, I cordially invite you to join in this 50th anniversary commemoration of Winston Churchill’s death by reading one of Winston Churchill’s books.
They’re all available at a little shop called Chartwell Booksellers.
