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Notes -
(1) should academics engage with it? Yes, because there is some truth mixed in
(2) should it be taught in schools? No, because most of it is erroneous or misleading
God knows I hold no brief for any of the Churchills, but this much is wrong:
(1) Did Churchill, along with others, lose his shirt in 1929 (not 1938)? Yes, and he went on a lecture/speaking tour of North America to raise money. He had a friend, Bernard Baruch, a Jewish financier who did lend him money or otherwise mitigated his losses. I suppose "American" does count as foreign, but Winnie was half-American himself by his mother.
(2) Did he lose a fortune again in 1938? I can't find any account of this. Mainly, he had been out of office during the 'wilderness years' and lived extravagantly even though he was also having to write for a living (as well as he liked writing historical books). The Churchills as a family had always been bad with money and it fell to one of them in the 19th to restore the family fortunes by marrying an American heiress. Churchill's father was a younger son, so not the heir to the dukedom, and as the son of a younger son, Winnie had little money of his own (by his standards, at least). Thanks to Adolf, Churchill's prognostications were proven right and the government had to appoint him First Lord of the Admiralty in 1939 which saved his financial skin.
(3) Did he have to sell "his beloved country estate"? This is probably Chartwell and the answer there would be "no" since he bought it in 1922 and lived there until 1965. When in office, he would have had official residences. List of places Churchill lived here.
Winnie would also not have needed to be bribed to be militant about Germany, though he probably would have happily trousered any cash coming his way.
I am just your average idiot and if I can pick holes in the accuracy with ten minutes online, I imagine real historians could do a lot better.
EDIT:
Pardon me while I smile wryly. May I recommend interested parties to read The Man Who Knew Too Much published in 1922 by G.K. Chesterton? It's very cynical for Chesterton, almost defeatist, and I think it's down to a combination of finding out how the sausage was made, politically, and that the Liberals and the Tories were much of a muchness (after his early and short-lived political efforts) and the personal fallout for him and his brother due to the Marconi Affair. That Chamberlain would have been horrified to find out Tweedledee and Tweedledum were both to be found with their snouts in the trough and their fingers in the till, I take leave to doubt, and that there were no prosecutions was more down to "but we'll have to prosecute half of our lot as well if we do this" than gentlemanly tact.
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