Winston S. Churchill, Volume VIII by Martin Gilbert

Author:Martin Gilbert [Gilbert, Martin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-795344-69-5
Publisher: RosettaBooks
Published: 1988-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

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On February 19 Churchill’s doctor found him reading George Orwell’s 1984. ‘Have you read it, Charles?’ he asked. ‘Oh, you must. I’m reading it for a second time. It is a very remarkable book.’ Churchill’s worry that day was about his eyes; he wanted Moran to suggest a new eye specialist. ‘I have stuck to Juler for so long,’ he said, ‘because he did discover the ingrowing eyelashes when no one else did.2193 At that time my eyes were so bad I could not read, even official documents. But he is stumped now, and we must change the bowling.’2194 Five days later Churchill had to see his doctor again; he had spat up a little blood on the previous day. ‘So this morning,’ Moran noted, ‘I packed him off, vigorously protesting, to be X-rayed. I am sure nothing will be found, for he is just now in terrific form.’

Since their journey together to the United States at the end of 1951, Churchill seemed, noted Moran, ‘to have taken a new lease of life’, and-he went on to record some of Churchill’s remarks that February 24:

‘I’m much better than I was a year ago,’ he said gaily. ‘I can bite now, really hard.’ And he snapped his jaws together. ‘After our trip to America I was in poor form. Gladstone lived to be eighty-eight; I might go on another eight years. If I do it will be very tiresome for those who manage my finances. Things are already getting very complicated. You see, Charles, during the war I retired from business, but by the end of the war I had become notorious; and all sorts of things, such as film rights and for the copyright of my books, gave me quite a bit of capital. For the first time in my life I was quite a rich man. But the income-tax people take it all. I let Hyde Park Gate for £2,000 a year—2,000 sixpences.’2195

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