Mind the gap with reality
QUESTION There is a scene in the film Darkest Hour when Churchill travels on the Tube and asks the other passengers whether the country should sue for peace with Germany or fight on. Did this really happen?
The scene is a fabrication. Lord Moran, who was Churchill’s doctor from May 1940 to his death in 1965, quotes Winston’s wife Clementine as saying in 1945: ‘ You probably don’t realise that he knows nothing of the life of ordinary people.
‘he’s never been in a bus, and only once on the Underground. That was during the General Strike [in 1926] when I deposited him at South Kensington. he went round and round, not knowing where to get out, and had to be rescued eventually.’
Andrew Golds, London E4. Joe WrIGhT’S Darkest hour, starring Gary oldman as the wartime PM, tells the story of the intense time between May 9 and June 4, 1940, when Winston Churchill seized political power and rallied the country to the anti-Nazi cause.
The film has won critical praise, but some feel it is let down by the highly contrived scene on the Tube.
Following George VI’s advice ‘to let his people lead him’, Churchill goes to St James’s Park station and asks a selection of salt- of-the- earth Londoners whether he should sue for peace with hitler.
To a man they declare that they’re ready to fight, whether in Piccadilly or Trafalgar Square (Churchill likes the sound of the Battle of Trafalgar Square.)
Moved by the reaction of the people, Churchill begins quoting Thomas Babington Macaulay’s Lays of Ancient rome: ‘To every man upon this earth / Death cometh soon or late / And how can man die better / Than facing fearful odds.’
A young black man cuts in and finishes the quote: ‘For the ashes of his fathers / And the temples of his gods.’
Macaulay’s ballads of ancient rome were standard reading in British public schools for more than a century. Churchill memorised all 70 stanzas while at harrow to inspire himself to develop courage, and recited the poem throughout his life.
however, it is well known that Churchill did not use public transport. Further, it is highly unlikely he would have found such a bullish crowd. In May 1940, most Britons were fearful, and understandably so, of carrying on the war. It had not been that long since Neville Chamberlain had been met by a rapturous crowd when he returned from Munich having signed his now notorious non-aggression pact with Germany, declaring ‘peace for our time’.
The country was still scarred by the carnage of the trenches of World War I.
It was only after the unexpected deliverance at Dunkirk and the subsequent Battle of Britain that the nation rallied behind Churchill.
The film scene undersells Churchill. his strength was that he did not tell the public what they wanted to hear; he used the power of his meticulously crafted speeches to rally Parliament and the people behind him.
Finally, there is the issue of the route. It would be ridiculous to travel from Downing Street via St James’s Park station to get to Westminster.
Justin Hinds, Malvern, Worcs.
QUESTION The photographic process was once the world’s largest user of silver. Now we’ve gone digital, what effect has this had on the silver trade?
The introduction of the Kodak camera in 1888 began a century-long boom in the demand for silver.
however, it has in the main been market forces and speculation rather than demand that has driven the price of this commodity.
Traditional film photography relied on the light sensitivity of silver halide crystals present in film. When exposed to light, they change to record a latent image that can be developed into a photograph. By the late Nineties, the use of traditional film was in sharp decline due to digital cameras, and this led to the bankruptcy of Kodak in 2012.
Ironically, Kodak sowed the seeds of its own demise — the company invented the digital camera in 1975. however, it held back the technology for fear of hurting its film business. Kodak was also involved in silver refining.
At the turn of the millennium, the photographic market hit its peak of silver production. Total global consumption was said to have been more than 267 million ounces of silver per annum. In 2003, photographic consumption worldwide represented 32 per cent of demand. Now it’s down to 9 per cent.
This has not resulted in a terminal decline in the demand for silver. A host of new technologies, including solar panels, cell phones and computers, use the precious metal and demand is running at 90 per cent of that in 2003.
What has really driven the silver price is market speculation. At the height of photographic production, it was $5 per ounce. Following financial uncertainty in 2011, silver was trading at record highs, reaching $49.80 per ounce. It plunged in 2013 to $11, rising to around $17 today.
Iain Dunn, Liverpool.
QUESTION Was the Taser invented 100 years ago?
FUrTher to the previous answer, describing the invention of the Taser in 1972, the concept was given early publicity in the 1976 film The enforcer.
The third in the series of crime dramas featuring Clint eastwood as police inspector ‘ Dirty’ harry Callahan, it depicted urban guerillas kidnapping the mayor of San Francisco with the aid of an early version of the Taser.
Though larger and rather cruder than those used today, the familiar gun shape and twin darts are recognisable.
Chris Rogers, Edgware, Middlesex.
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