Sir Winston ChurchillThe Island Race The Island Race is an adaptation of Sir Winston Churchill’sfour-volume, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Churchill workedon this superbly intelligent and resonant history during the years immediatelypreceding World War II; politically, he was then a voice crying in thewilderness, warning repeatedly of the dangers of appeasement and the need forrearmament. Some sense of the darkening world stage comes through in thesepages: repeatedly he champions the cause of freedom, whether he is speaking ofKing Arthur (who ‘set decent folk an example for all time’) or of Magna Carta(...’here is a law which is above the King and which even he must not break’).Chapters were sent at the outbreak of war to his friend President Roosevelt,who must have been moved by Churchill’s largeness of spirit and deep love ofthe liberal values which the United States would also, in a few years, becalled upon to defend. When Churchill went to the Admiralty on September 3, 1939,‘all this was set aside. During nearly six years of war, and an even longerperiod in which I was occupied with my war memoirs, the book slumberedpeacefully’. Eventually, in April 1956, the first volume was published. Churchill’s purpose was to show how, over the centuries, aculture, alanguage, and a sense of how man might live decently anddemocratically, sprang from the heritage of these islands. In the full text,his material extends to colonies, Empire and Commonwealth: for this version Ihave concentrated on his account of the history of Britain and (largely) ofEngland itself. Not surprisingly, Churchill has a marvelous knack ofcapturing the great moments of British history in passages of vivid power — hewas not only a serious writer but also an experienced journalist — but hisaccounts of complex movements and periods are remarkable for their clarity andacuteness. One has the sense always of a man who himself knew what power meant— the responsibility, the triumphs and disasters, the intricate interconnectionof matters political, constitutional and military. Isaiah Berlin has characterized Churchill’s historicalimagination as ‘so strong, so comprehensive, as to encase the whole of thepresent and the whole of the future in a framework of a rich and multi-coloredpast...a desire to find fixed moral and intellectual bearings, to give shapeand character, color and direction and coherence, to the stream of events’.This is a kind of historicism no longer fashionable amongst intellectuals.Churchill places strong emphasis on the role of great individuals in shapingevents, but he also has a powerful sense of what we might call ‘destiny’, ofthe characteristics of a place, a people and a culture, and how they help todetermine the course of history. This is essentially a romantic view: yet fewhistorians can tell a story so clearly, and with such remarkable factual andinterpretative grasp. The style is at one with the approach: Churchill’s own, butowing much to classical rhetoric and to the rhythm of Dr. Johnson’s prose. Itis akin to what we find in Churchill’s great wartime speeches — it hassomething of the color, the grandeur and the poetry of those extraordinaryexpressions of national will.Churchill takes the listener from Caesar’s invasion of 55 BCto the close of Victoria’s reign. He writes as persuasively on military as onconstitutional history — his account of Crècy may be more stirring than hisanalysis of Magna Carta, but both share a sense of the excitement of events aswell as a desire to find shape and meaning. Anyone seeking to gain a swiftgrasp of not only the main facts but also (and perhaps more importantly) theunderlying spirit of British history will find here an ideal guide. Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace in 1874.Before entering Parliament in 1900 as a Conservative, he had worked as a warcorrespondent covering the Boer War. He joined the Liberals after a policydisagreement and helped to pioneer the introduction of National Insurance.Churchill took responsibility for the disaster of Gallipoli in 1915; after thewar he helped to establish the Irish Free State. As Chancellor of the Exchequerhe was active in defeating the General Strike. In the 1930s Churchill was outof office, and at odds with Conservative appeasement policy. He was appointedFirst Lord of the Admiralty on the outbreak of war in 1939, and succeededChamberlain as Prime Minister in May 1940. He led Britain through the war yearsto victory in 1945, only to be defeated in the General Election of 1945. He wasreturned as Prime Minister in 1951, resigning in 1955. His last years werelived out at Chartwell in Kent, the family home. He died in 1965. Notes by Perry Keenlyside About the Readers A frequent reader on Naxos AudioBooks, EDWARD DE SOUZA is afamiliar figure on the London stage, being one of the country’s leadingclassical actors. His film credits include The Thirty Nine Steps and The SpyWho Loved Me.SIR EDWARD HEATH was Prime Minister of the United Kingdomfrom 1970-74 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965-75. He is currently“Father of the House of Commons”, the longest serving member of Parliament. In1992 the Queen appointed him a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of theGarter.