Chapter 11
On Christmas Eve Winston Churchill was at the White House as a guest of President Roosevelt. After a long day of working, he goes to bed early. Also asleep in the White House was the nine-year-old daughter of one of the presidents aides. Late in the night, a butler comes in to her room and tells her that the Prime Minister wants to see her. She goes to his room, knocks, and when he tells her to come in, he says “I’m a lonely father and grandfather on Christmas Eve that needed a little girl to hug”, gives her a hug, and sends her to bed. Few people knew about the fatherly, loving side of the war leader, author, and politician who everybody knew so well.
Winston Churchill loved his family more than anything and always had time to play with his children. He’d hide in bushes and trees, jumping out, pretending to be a gorilla and chase his kids, whoever got caught lost the game. One day he found his children playing with a Meccano set, like a erector set and they were building a bridge. He tells them that he thinks a Bascule bridge would be better. His children tell him that they don’t have enough pieces for that. Churchill tells a servant to go and buy lots of boxes of these Meccano sets. When she returns, he builds a giant working Bascule bridge with his kids. One holiday he tells his son Randolf he’s talked with him more this holiday than his father ever talked to him in his life. This was the sad truth. His father thought he was a waste and did not love him. Winston still loved and looked up to him though. He loved his father and mother very much, although they did not love him much.