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Description
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
In an otherwise casual conversation, Winston Churchill once gloomily insisted that 'We are all worms', but then immediately perked up and added, 'but I do believe that I am a glow-worm.' It was a characteristic remark, for Churchill was renowned for 'black dog' periods of depression and also for egotistical feelings of immense self-importance. (The statement also betrays his ignorance of biology, for a glow-worm is in fact a beetle rather than a worm.) Some historians-cum-psychiatrists believe he suffered from cyclothymia, a condition marked by mood swings alternating from misery to elation. It is not as extreme as manic-depression but is usually indicative of a personality disorder. Certainly Churchill knew both moods intimately. When he was down, he had to take care to avoid standing on the edge of station platforms lest the temptation to throw himself in front of an oncoming train proved too strong. When he was up, he had an overpowering conviction that destiny had singled him out for some supremely heroic and glorious task.
The period when Churchill was out of office, from June 1929 to September 1939, is known as his 'wilderness years' (appropriately in that, like John the Baptist, he was 'a voice crying in the wilderness' for much of the time, though inappropriately in that he was clearing the way for no other Messiah than himself). During this period he was to know acute disappointment and depression, as well as immense satisfaction and elation. Yet these moods can be accounted for satisfactorily by circumstances. Churchill was tested by a longer period of failure than he had ever endured, and yet emerged triumphant in the end.
Hard Times
The 1929-39 period was a particularly difficult one for Churchill, even if politics be left out of account. Problems began in the United States in October 1929. He invested a speculative 20,000 [pounds sterling] on the stock market, some of it advances against future royalties, but soon lost almost the whole amount in the Wall Street crash. In fact he had money troubles for most of the next decade. He made half-hearted attempts to cut down his lavish expenditure, and at one stage even put his beloved home, Chartwell with its 80 acres, up for sale. But financial salvation lay in earning more by his pen. Churchill was addicted to writing, and in the 1930s he had to produce more than in any other decade. He wrote hundreds of articles (including more than a hundred in 1937 alone), many of which were syndicated all over the world and some of which were collected together in book form; a memoir, My Early Life; a four-volume biography of his ancestor, John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough; and, by August 1939, he had written over half a million words of his History of the English-Speaking Peoples, for which his publishers had provided a handy 15,000 [pounds sterling] advance. He had the aid of research assistants and secretaries, but even so these literary exertions were tremendous, and at times debilitating. He wrote to his wife that he had to work 'double-shifts' at the English-Speaking Peoples, adding 'It is very laborious, and I resent it.'
Another problem was his health. Again, trouble started in the States. On 12 December 1930 Churchill was knocked down by a car in New York, and his head, ribs and legs were badly hurt. He was in hospital for only a week, but the long-term effects... |
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