Churchill & Son
By Josh Ireland. 2021. 464 pages
When you read of domestic conflicts on a large and violent scale, you go back to the Greeks: Agamemnon’s unhappy family and the fated House of Atreus. The Churchills inhabited a similar world, full of sound, sadness and fury, shown here in all its dramatic stages.
Josh Ireland does not provide new material in this study of Winston Churchill and his relationship with his only son, Randolph, but he relates it with even-handed sympathy for both chief actors. The reader is drawn in, spell-bound at the spectacle and its tragic trajectory.
The front cover photo, taken in 1930, shows Churchill with his familiar expression of bullish determination and defiance, grasping a stick as he walks ahead of his son, then aged 19, closely following in his father’s footsteps. This was Randolph’s insoluble, lifelong problem: how to function successfully, independent of the overwhelming aura cast by his father.
Blenheim Palace will call their Indian Room the Summer Terrace Room during a new exhibition on Sir Winston Churchill to avoid colonial connotations .
Bosses at the country house in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, will use the alternative name for the show on the UK s greatest prime minister.
They said they didn t want to provoke controversy and wanted to make it more accessible following calls to reassess Britain s past.
But the palace later issued a statement saying it was due to the Indian Room being in a part of the house known as the Summer Terraces.
Bosses at the country house in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, will use the alternative name for the room (pictured) during the show on the UK s greatest prime minister
The bonkers baron whose life was a pursuit of hedonism: He inspired the wildest character in the BBC s new drama, but from dyed doves and dogs in pearls to riotous parties, Lord Berners was even barmier, writes ALISON BOSHOFF
The 14th Baron of Berners was a true bon vivant of the early 20th century who entertained everyone from Salvador Dali to Evelyn Waugh
He made such an impression on Nancy Mitford that she based Lord Merlin, the outrageous aesthete in her 1945 novel The Pursuit Of Love on him
Berners adored pranks and practical jokes, and once even placed an advertisement in The Times newspaper offering two elephants for sale
Heir to a railway fortune and an 8,000-acre estate in West Sussex, Edward James transformed his homes into total works of art – with a little help from Dalí and friends
CinemaBlend
It is a little disappointing that Tom Hiddleston is not starring in any upcoming 2021 movies, but knowing that he will be reprising his role as Loki on the God of Mischiefâs highly anticipated self-titled TV spin-off and on Disney+ animated Marvel anthology series
What If� this year is a pretty good consolation. It is also reassuring to know that some of the best Tom Hiddleston movies are available on streaming, for digital rental, or to purchase as a physical copy as we wait for those shows to premiere and more films to premiere. The following are 11 great titles starring the talented, award-winning Brit, starting with one of his first major roles ever.