Winston and Clementine: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the Churchills

by Richard Hough

Follows the Churchills from their 1908 marriage through his stormy political career

Genres: Biography, History

528 pages, Hardcover

Published December 1, 1990

About the author

Richard Alexander Hough was a British author and historian specializing in naval history. As a child, he was obsessed with making model warships and collecting information about navies around the world. In 1941, he joined the Royal Air Force and trained at a flying school near Los Angeles. He flew Hurricanes and Typhoons and was wounded in action.

After World War II, Hough worked as a part-time delivery driver for a wine shop, while looking for employment involving books. He finally joined the publishing house Bodley Head, and then Hamish Hamilton, where he eventually headed the children’s book division.

His work as a publisher inspired him to turn to writing himself in 1950, and he went on to write more than ninety books over a long and successful career. Best-known for his works of naval history and his biographies, he also wrote war novels and books for children (under the pseudonym Bruce Carter), all of which sold in huge numbers around the world. His works include The Longest Battle: The War at Sea 1939-45, Naval Battles of the Twentieth Century and best-selling biographies of Earl Mountbatten of Burma and Captain James Cook. Captain Bligh and Mr Christian, his 1972 account of the mutiny on the Bounty, was the basis of the 1984 film The Bounty, starring Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson.

Hough was the official historian of the Mountbatten family and a longtime student of Churchill. Winston Churchill figures prominently in nine of his books, including Former Naval Person: Churchill and the Wars at Sea. He won the Daily Express Best Book of the Sea Award in 1972.

Reviews

[Catherine Wojtkun · Rating 5 out of 5]

The research is incredible...the intimate story of Clementine Churchill and how she became the power behind, beside, inside, and sometimes left outside Winston Churchill before, during and after his most famous challenges of World War II and the Battle of Britain. The author gives the reader an authentic view of what this woman faced in growing up and then marrying Winston Churchill, who had his own personal challenges that made his life's journey not always successful.

The first half of the book seemed redundant to me, but now, when finished, it was necessary to see the growth of this woman from having no confidence to a strong and behind the scenes powerful influence on the Prime Minister of England during the worst time of England, WWII...

I learned so much about both Churchills...and am more realistic about their times and events...again, amazing research on the part of the author, Richard Hough!

[Rachel Schmoyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was mostly focused on Winston in WWI. It was fascinating, but I was hoping it would be focused on their marriage.

[LA · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid book, but about half the time it discussed his professional work and how it affected their marriage. This is important, to be sure, but I didn't want to know as much about that. I wanted to learn about them, exclusively.

Still a good book and I learned a lot, especially about Clemmie's worldview and temperament.

[Alh]

very interesting.. learned a lot of history from that time period

[Sabrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

A huge part of Winston's life was war and the author went into way more war detail than I wanted. (It didn't help that I didn't have the necessary background knowledge to appreciate all of the details and if he gave me all of the necessary background knowledge the book would have been doubly long.) The writing style was also somewhat pompous and difficult to understand. Never have I struggled so much with unknown words as I did with this book. Some words I thought I knew, but the author used them in such a different context that I realized I only had partial knowledge of the word.I would never recommend this book to anyone unless they had intense background knowledge of Winston's wars or had some creepy, obsessive love with the man. I found enough of the book interesting for me to finish it, but not everyone is an Anglophile like me.

[Katie Hale]

I disagree with the other reviewer that this is too pompous. It's a historical biography, namely of Winston, but owing heavily to how his career affected his relationship with his wife and family. It is war narrative heavy, but if you like historical bios, this isn't too much of a stretch to understand. Long, but comprehensive and through.

[Jennifer]

This was more a summary of Winston's political career than a biography of his marriage. Very little was said about his relationship with Clementine.

[Pcox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to see the woman behind the man. What a view an ability to influence history.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Churchill from any light is riveting and Clementine held him in check their entire married life.

[Kathleen Cochran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look behind the scenes. I learned a great deal about a subject I already knew a lot about - or so I thought. I recommend this book for anyone interested in the private lives behind the headlines.