Thursday Nov 14, 2024

Creating Churchill: NEMESIS

In this episode: Winston Churchill’s spiky relationship with the Indian nationalist, Mohandas Gandhi - a relationship that shows up some of Churchill's blind spots and arguably puts him on the 'wrong side' of history. Churchill notoriously described Gandhi in 1931 as ‘a seditious Middle Temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a well-known type in the East, striding half naked up the steps of the Vice Regal palace’. Why was Gandhi such a bugbear for him?

Creating Churchill offers a fresh perspective on the life and legacy of the soldier, writer, and war leader Winston Churchill. As we approach the 150th anniversary of his birth on 30^th November, 2024, this podcast invites listeners to look beyond the now familiar bulldog image and rediscover the real Churchill, his strengths and his weaknesses, through the eyes of contemporaries he collaborated or clashed with.

Join Cambridge University historian David Reynolds and documentary producer Russell Barnes as they explore how Churchill’s extraordinary career and personality were shaped by relationships with the key figures in his life: friends, rivals, enemies and family.

Creating Churchill draws on David Reynolds’ book

Mirrors of Greatness: Churchill and the Leaders Who Shaped Him,

published by HarperCollins in the UK:

https://williamcollinsbooks.co.uk/products/mirrors-of-greatness-churchill-and-the-leaders-who-shaped-him-david-reynolds-9780008439910/

And Basic Books in the USA:

https://hachettebookgroup.com/titles/david-reynolds/mirrors-of-greatness/9781541620209/

Produced and edited by Russell Barnes.

Music by Rich Farnsworth.

Digital marketing by Lee Mann.

Sound engineering by Andrew Chappell.

Hosted by Podbean.

Creating Churchill is a ClearStory ‘Creating History’ production.