For the avoidance of doubt Rowley, from the editor of the Churchill Institute ;
Bessie Braddock MP: “Winston, you are drunk, and what’s more you are disgustingly drunk.”
WSC: “Bessie, my dear, you are ugly, and what’s more, you are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow
I shall be sober and you will still be disgustingly ugly.”
This world famous encounter occurred late one night in 1946, as Churchill was leaving the House of Commons. Lady Soames, who said her father was always gallant to ladies, doubted the story, but Mr. Golding explained that WSC was not drunk, just tired and unsteady, which perhaps caused him to fire the full arsenal.
Only later did I learn that he was probably relying on his photographic memory for this riposte: In the 1934 movie It’s a Gift, W. C. Fields’s character, when told he is drunk, responds, “Yeah, and you’re crazy. But I’ll be sober tomorrow and you’ll be crazy the rest of your life.” So the Bessie Braddock encounter was really Churchill editing W. C. Fields.
Richard M. Langworth, Editor
Finest Hour