rewind.
A Book Review of W.H. Thompson’s I Was Churchill’s Shadow
Nov 12
4 min read
Winston Churchill once remarked that he thought history would be kind to him, ‘especially as I propose to write that history myself.’ He certainly did everything in his power to make this true, churning out millions of words about his life, including his incredibly popular autobiographical account of the Second World War. But what happens when other people take up a pen? The historical narrative becomes much harder for one individual to control. The list of biographies about Churchill is a long one. In recent years, some particularly good reads include works by former Home Secretary Roy Jenkins and historian and peer Andrew Roberts. Both examples are overwhelmingly positive about the leader on the back of the five-pound note – the man who, on 30 November 2024, turns 150. Recently, however, the Old Man’s previously unblemished reputation as the great statesman who saved the world from Nazi totalitarianism has been mired. Accusations of racism and imperialism have stuck to Churchill – badly. For many, he nonetheless remains the friendly father of Britain in its darkest hour. Wartime superman, supposed facilitator of the Bengal Famine, vehement opponent of appeasement, defender of colonialism, jovial and witty phrasemaker: can all of these adjectives be true of this Prime Minister simultaneously? If so, how can we weigh them up? Who was the real Churchill?
Detective Inspector Walter Thompson served for many years as Winston Churchill’s personal bodyguard – or ‘Shadow’; he was by that man’s side throughout the 1920s and returned for the duration of the Second World War. In his retirement, Thompson wrote an account of Churchill’s wartime role as a firsthand witness to some of the most dramatic events in modern history. It is easy to be swept away by some of the epochal scenes described in this book, such as: Churchill’s ascension to high office; his wartime meetings with the likes of Roosevelt, Stalin, and Chiang Kai-shek; the D-Day landings; and the crushing Conservative defeat in July 1945. Its beauty, however, can be found in the anecdotal insights into who Churchill was, his conduct of the war, his relationships, and his interests.
Thompson cuts to the heart of Churchill’s personality. Many will be familiar with his leadership style, image, and rousing oratory. But how else would we know that the Prime Minister bathed naked on Palm Beach mid-war (responding ‘If they are that much interested, it is their own fault what they see’ to a suggestion that he should wear some swimming trunks)? From what other source would we find details of his hatred of whistling? Indeed, it was banned in his presence; signs were put up to reinforce the order. This account reveals Churchill’s humour, his insatiable appetite for work, and his determination to get things done: ‘He is a man of precise habits, likes and dislikes, and when he is riled will go off the deep end.’
This monograph makes clear the extensive challenges of being a bodyguard of such a high-profile figure in a period of grave danger – particularly when that character often is too stubbornly fearless to be mollycoddled. Churchill was adamant that he would get to meet and be close to members of the public, would climb onto rooftops amidst the Blitz, and would often stray into dangerous situations, retorting ‘When my time is due it will come.’ What the book perhaps lacks, save the odd passing reference, is any significant discussion of the very real threat of assassination posed by Axis agents. Protecting Churchill was undoubtedly paramount – for he was one of Berlin’s top targets – in Thompson’s concerns. This therefore seems like an odd omission to make.
It does suggest, though, that the role of Shadow was not limited to guarding a public figure. Thompson, through his constant close proximity to Churchill, inevitably became a friend and confidant: a portable cigarette lighter, a source of cheer, a receptacle for the Prime Minister’s rants and ramblings. There are shared moments between them that readers of any social station in any period would see reflected in their own friendships. High-intensity situations inevitably push people together. Thompson – like subjects of the Empire the world over – evidently relied on Churchill just as much as Churchill relied on him. Churchill’s optimism, his boundless energy, and his fighting determination to do what must be done provided strength from which Thompson could draw.
I Was Churchill’s Shadow is no hagiography: it shows the Prime Minister at his best and his worst – because that is how Thompson saw him – at all hours, in all moods. His admiration for ‘the greatest man I have ever known’ does not blind him to the glaringly obvious: that Churchill is just a man like any other. That is what makes this book a success: when published, it allowed ordinary people to see the real personality of the man they thought they knew. To modern historians and readers, it is perhaps more important. We can often be blinded by the bigger narratives and debates: Churchill’s significance inevitably ties him to greater world events, to points of contention surrounding war and Empire. Thompson confines these bigger questions to the background, thus allowing the reader to see the Old Man as he is. Though a person’s character does not change the things they have done in their career, historians should keep it in mind. Humans are rarely two-dimensional – and Winston Churchill was a man of many dimensions.
Bibliography
Ali, Tariq, Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes (New York: Verso Books, 2023)
Churchill, Winston S., The Second World War (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013)
Heyden, Tom, ‘The 10 greatest controversies of Winston Churchill's career’ in BBC News Magazine, 26 January 2015, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29701767 (accessed on 13 August 2024)
International Churchill Society, ‘Quotes Falsely Attributed to Winston Churchill’, 17 January 2023, https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/quotes-falsely-attributed/ (accessed on 13 August 2024)
Jenkins, Roy, Churchill (London: Pan Macmillan, 2002)
Rees, Laurence, World War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, The Nazis and The West (London: BBC Books, 2009)
Roberts, Andrew, Churchill: Walking with Destiny (London: Penguin Books, 2019)
Thompson, W.H., I Was Churchill’s Shadow (London: Christopher Johnson Publishers, 1955)