Kinder Words

Churchill bought Charlie - giving him a boy’s name despite the fact she was female - in 1937. She took pride of place in a bizarre menagerie of pets including lambs, pigs, cattle, swans and, at one point, a leopard. He immediately began to teach her to swear - particularly in company - and she is keeping up the tradition today. … Her favourite sayings were “F*** Hitler” and “F*** the Nazis”. And even today, 39 years after the great man’s death, she can still be coaxed into repeating them with that unmistakable Churchillian inflection.