Boris Johnson: ten things about Winston Churchill

A sell-out crowd gathered at this evening’s Spectator event: Boris Johnson in discussion with Andrew Neil about his book on Winston Churchill. Here is my summary of BoJo’s main points:-

1. Churchill: strength through drink. He wrote more words than Dickens and Shakespeare combined, and did it all on the most incredible regime involving a pint of Pol Roger champagne a day. He’d drink red wine, white wine, brandy, cigars - then pace up and down in his study and start to compose at 10pm. I don’t know any modern journalist, tough species though they are, who could do that. He could go on until 3am producing perfectly excogitated sentences for the embattled typists.
   2. Churchill’s suicidal courage. His physical bravery would lead most people nowadays to say he was as mad as a box of frogs.