Churchill, Scowling Over A Stolen Cigar

[JoeKitchen]

I found this article to interesting and funny.  Seems like Churchill's most iconic pose and image was the result of the photographer yanking the cigar out of his mouth.  I don't think I would have had the brazenness to do so myself, but I am not a portrait photographer. 

In His Iconic Portrait, Winston Churchill is Scowling Over a Lost Cigar

[Chris Kern]

Seems like Churchill's most iconic pose and image was the result of the photographer yanking the cigar out of his mouth.  I don't think I would have had the brazenness to do so myself, but I am not a portrait photographer.

Great story!  In addition to the expression, I prefer the wider crop in the famous image with the scowl.

[RSL]

I found this article to interesting and funny.  Seems like Churchill's most iconic pose and image was the result of the photographer yanking the cigar out of his mouth.  I don't think I would have had the brazenness to do so myself, but I am not a portrait photographer. 

In His Iconic Portrait, Winston Churchill is Scowling Over a Lost Cigar

Right, Joe, but that "photographer" was Yousuf Karsh! And Karsh himself was an icon.

[Robert Roaldi]

In one of his portrait collection books, maybe even the one I own (can't locate it right now), there is a second Churchill portrait taken in an unguarded moment in which Churchill appears as a frailer and less confident old(er) man. I find it to be the better portrait.

[Kevin Gallagher]

 Fascinating story, I never saw the "Other " portrait shown in the article but I was always partial to the series with him and some troops holding and firing the Thompson Submachine Gun. If memory serves, at one point, the Germans propagandists claimed that it made him resemble an American 20's gangster.

[MattBurt]

Great story, thanks for sharing. I love little historical vignettes like this, especially when photography is involved.

[Robert Roaldi]

I heard or read another story about Churchill years ago, but I don't know if it's real or apocryphal. At a dinner party, he was sitting across from a woman with whom he was having a vehement political disagreement. In frustration at one point, she said to him, 'If I were your wife, I'd poison your salad.' He replier, 'If I were your husband, I'd eat it.'

[RSL]

Right, Robert. Another one, which certainly isn't apocryphal: A woman said to Winston: "Mr Churchill, you are drunk." He replied, "Yes, madam, I am drunk and you are ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober."

[Jeremy Roussak]

I heard or read another story about Churchill years ago, but I don't know if it's real or apocryphal. At a dinner party, he was sitting across from a woman with whom he was having a vehement political disagreement. In frustration at one point, she said to him, 'If I were your wife, I'd poison your salad.' He replier, 'If I were your husband, I'd eat it.'

Told in a number of contexts.

Also attributed to Churchill, probably apocryphally:

Heckler: "I wouldn't vote for your party if you were the Archangel Gabriel".
Churchill: "If I were the Archangel Gabriel, you wouldn't be in my constituency".

Jeremy