Submitted by OneLastConquest t3_yaqi45 in todayilearned
Written in 1899 to the American author Winston Churchill, proposing a solution to problems of confusion between the two of them. Churchill's letter to the other Winston Churchill
London, June 7, 1899.
"Mr. Winston Churchill presents his compliments to Mr. Winston Churchill, and begs to draw his attention to a matter which concerns them both. He has learnt from the Press notices that Mr. Winston Churchill proposes to bring out another novel, entitled Richard Carvel, which is certain to have a considerable sale both in England and America. Mr. Winston Churchill is also the author of a novel now being published in serial form in Macmillan's Magazine, and for which he anticipates some sale both in England and America. He also proposes to publish on the 1st of October another military chronicle on the Soudan War. He has no doubt that Mr. Winston Churchill will recognise from this letter — if indeed by no other means — that there is grave danger of his works being mistaken for those of Mr. Winston Churchill. He feels sure that Mr. Wiston Churchill desires this as little as he does himself. In future to avoid mistakes as far as possible, Mr. Winston Churchill has decided to sign all published articles, stories, or other works, 'Winston Spencer Churchill,' and not 'Winston Churchill' as formerly. He trusts that this arrangement will commend itself to Mr. Winston Churchill, and he ventures to suggest, with a view to preventing further confusion which may arise out of this extraordinary coincidence, that both Mr. Winston Churchill and Mr. Winston Churchill should insert a short note in their respective publications explaining to the public which are the works of Mr. Winston Churchill and which those of Mr. Winston Churchill. The text of this note might form a subject for future discussion if Mr. Winston Churchill agrees with Mr. Winston Churchill's proposition. He takes this occasion of complimenting Mr. Winston Churchill upon the style and success of his works, which are always brought to his notice whether in magazine or book form, and he trusts that Mr. Winston Churchill has derived equal pleasure from any work of his that may have attracted his attention"
I got halfway through an encyclopedia entry thinking, wow, Churchill wrote so many books, and he was born in the USA, I never knew that...then I realized the wrong link in a list of UK prime ministers.
The battle for primacy between David Michell the author and David Mitchell the comedian rages on. Partisan factions continue to support their preferred candidate.
David Mitchell (comedian) is a true Chad.
Mike Bolton, is that you?
Every once in a while "Winston Churchill's" old house and farm go up for sale in New England and everyone loses their minds. Someone spends like 3 million on the place only to find out it was the "wrong" Winston lol. And then the cycle repeats.
To make it worse, I own 2 books written by the comedian, and that isn't even all of them. Also, Sir Winston Churchill ended up winning a nobel prize for his writing. I don't even think most people know he was an author.
Yeah. The comedian writing books is a clear shot across the established author’s bow. Don’t get comfortable, David Mitchell. David Mitchell is making incursions into your turf.
mitchell the comic to my knowledge has never peddled pseudoscience, whereas mitchell the novelist translated and promoted some books promoting a contemptible life-ruining medical hoax
Flip a coin every time you read "Winston Churchill" to read that part as being the person of choice.
On a smaller scale, the furious rivalry between Justin McElroy the American podcaster and Justin McElroy the Canadian journalist rages on.
Upstart Crow isn't that great imo
The British Prime Minister was half American. His father needed money and his mother's family wanted higher social standing through his father's name.
I actually really liked Upstart Crow. There’s so many jokes that could only be made in the context of that program. It’s a show for fans of Shakespeare who would like to explore that interest in a sitcom vehicle. I liked the Mitchell-style humor in character as Shakespeare, but I found the rest of the cast to be a bit boring.
But Mitchell convincing the old actors to not play Romeo and Juliet because the real stars are Priest and Nurse? That’s good Elizabethan sitcom material.
When he visited the US and addressed Congress he famously said that if it had been the other way around, his father being American and his mom British, then he wouldn’t be doing an introduction and they already would have know him well. Basically saying if he was American he’d already be running the place.
His wife Victoria “old goosebumps arms” Coren Mitchell is pretty great too
Cool. I'm too much of a fan of Blackadder and the drop off from that was too great for what I watched. Same writer too.
I liked Blackadder too. It’s fun to have a show that incorporates historical figures and events.
Regarding the Spencer part, he is from the same family as Princess Diana, but from a different branch.
I find oddly satisfying the prose in which they used to write in those times. Compare it with nowadays correspondence. We come across as brute chimps in comparison.
I was thinking this too. If I were to compose emails like this, I would be told to stop it, lol. I feel that we have a lot more information to convey than letters by overseas post back In those days ever had to process, so I think our values have just changed. We can't be long-winded and focused on prose because we have stacks and stacks of communications records stored up in the back room. We need to convey information in shorter, more efficient ways since there's so much taking up our time during the day, so we value convenience.
Winston Churchill was an utter master of the English language.
Wow. Never heard of this. Thanks OP!
Her brother however.... What a creepy asshole.
Which one?
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I actually bought a vintage copy of Richard Carvel because I thought it was written by the Prime Minister. I didn’t realize there was another!
It's not oddly satisfying, it's completely understandably satisfying!
The eloquence of the people of yesteryear is a pleasure to hear/read, and it seems that that level of command of the English language is pretty rare these days, unfortunately.
NOT THE AMERICAN!!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
In 2000 years, people will debate if there was one Winston Churchill, two Winston Churchills, or whether Winston Churchill was a shared pseudonym like Publius and Anon.
Of course, Churchill renamed himself "David Bowie" and rocketed to fame years later.
I'd say make a drinking game of it but you'd die before you got 6 sentences in
British English.
Are you comparing a cheeky letter with extra formality added for effect written by a master of the English language, to your work emails?
Next up: were the top painters of the Renaissance better than my webcomic?
I am an American who got addicted to BBC panel shows during lockdown. The American Alex Jones and UK Alex Jones are vastly different people, haha
Ah, the old Reddit Churcharoo!
The only acceptable response is for David Mitchell to captain David Mitchell's team on Would I Lie To You, all the while nobody acknowledges that it's David Mitchell and not David Mitchell.
In Girl Scouts we went to a museum for the original. I have a poster of him somewhere. Still don’t remember anything about him except his existence.
Going to start telling people that Winston Churchill is my favorite author and when they ask me if I mean the British prime Minister I'll pretend I never heard of him.
That's both hilarious and totally understandable. I didn't know there were two of them until well past school age. I spent a lot of my childhood wondering how an American author became British Prime Minister...
They have made peace, I have heard it
Decades later, Google emerges, pushing the novelist onto page 127 of search results for 'Winston Churchill.'
That’s a really weird and rude way to respond, dude…
It’s a valid observation that sheer volume of correspondence humans have with eachother in the 21st century might… you know, influence how we talk and write compared to correspondence in 1899.
When correspondence was an art form in it own right.
Hold my Spencer, I'm going in!
For bonus points former prime minister Winston Spencer Churchill had some america ancestors
Source:
https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/winston-churchill-early-life.html
https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/myths/churchills-american-heritage/
the predilections for brandy and chomping on big cigars, however, touches all branches
This was Jon Voight's car!
Wait isn't that Downton Abbey
I haven't seen all of the episodes so I don't know. But I wouldn't be surprised if there was a story line in there about a wealthy American heiress and a poor British aristocrat being set up together lol
jamescookenotthatone t1_itchw5c wrote
It says the last time one of his works was adapted was in 1921. Just looking at the summaries' of his novels and they seem to focus primarily on American coming of age stories and political machinations. I wonder how well they'd translate to modern films.