Sir Winston Churchill died 60 years ago this week on 24 January 1965. His funeral took place on 30 January, following three days lying in state in the Palace of Westminster.
It was the only occasion since the Second World War when a full state funeral was held for someone who was not a member of the Royal Family.
Churchill was venerated then as the prime minister who had led Great Britain to victory over Hitler and the Nazis. He has repeatedly topped surveys asking for the “Greatest Briton” since.
In 1965, many people who had lived through the war were still alive. The Royal Mint struck a ‘Churchill Crown’, with a nominal value of five shillings, to mark his life and death. Such commemorative issues were a rarity in the 1960s.
The funeral itself was an exceptional and grand event, involving thousands of troops from all branches of the armed services. It had been planned for at least 12 years, with its ailing subject taking an active interest.
Its sombre splendour cemented Britain’s reputation for ceremonial spectacle but afterwards, French President General Charles de Gaulle, who Churchill had grudgingly allowed to be invited, commented: “Now Britain is no longer a great power.”
As remarkable as the national and international reaction at the time of his death, is the phenomenon that Sir Winston Churchill endures as an iconic figure, more than half a century later.
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Image: Churchill endures as an iconic figure. Pic AP
Yet another drama depicting Churchill is opening on stage in London. This time Roger Allam, Inspector Thursday in the EndeavourTV series, is playing the great man in Churchill in Moscow, following in the footsteps of other stars including Brian Cox, Albert Finney, Timothy Spall, Timothy West, Robert Hardy and Richard Burton.
Bust returned twice
Meanwhile, with the inauguration of a new US president, the location of a bust of Sir Winston has once again become a hot topic, in Britain’s right-wing media outlets at least.
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Donald Trump has re-instated the bronze by Sir Jacob Epstein in a prominent position in the Oval Office. It was originally a loan from the British Embassy to President George W Bush. Both Trump’s immediate presidential predecessors, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, had it moved elsewhere in the White House. Trump has now put it back twice.
Obama put a bust of Martin Luther King Junior in pride of place. Joe Biden favoured the Irish-American Bobby Kennedy. RFK senior that is, not his son RFK junior, the Kennedy family renegade now nominated as Trump’s health secretary.
There has long been another identical copy of the Epstein bust in the presidential private quarters – a gift to Lyndon Johnson in 1965.
Image: Trump proudly showed the Churchill bust to then-PM Theresa May in 2017. Pic: AP
Churchill’s grandson, Nicholas Soames, a former Conservative MP who is now in the House of Lords, is unimpressed by all the fuss. He points out: “It’s loaned. I promise you, it’s not a sign of the strength or otherwise of the special relationship, whether or not Churchill’s head is in the White House.”
Trump’s admiration for Churchill is more personal than anglophile. His glaring official photo portrait for this year’s inauguration is almost a pastiche of Churchill’s frequent “we shall never surrender” poses, just as some Trump posts on social media garble some of Churchill’s most famous quotations. The Darkest Hour, featuring Gary Oldman as Churchill, is one of the films Trump has identified as his favourite movie.
Leader comparisons
The president’s closest allies like to draw comparisons between the two men. In 2020, when Trump muscled his way to St John’s Church opposite the White House for a photo-op after it had been damaged by a firebomb, his official spokesman said it was “a message of resilience and determination, like Churchill inspecting the bombing damage”, presumably of the Blitz.
Image: Trump’s controversial photo-op outside St John’s – often called the Church of the Presidents. Pic: AP
After visiting his father following this summer’s deadly assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, Trump’s son Eric likened him to Churchill due to his “lack of political correctness”.
Trump is not the only US president to emulate Churchill. Both Eisenhower and George W Bush tried their hand at painting, inspired in part by Churchill’s skill with the brush.
Trump is a great admirer of pageantry and may be disappointed that, at 24.6 million, the TV audience for his second inauguration did not match either Joe Biden’s or Barack Obama’s first.
Part of the explanation may be increasing fragmentation of audiences by new media represented by the tech billionaires, who were invited to attend the ceremony in person by Trump.
In 1965 a similar number, 25 million, watched Churchill’s funeral in the UK, an overwhelming mass audience in a much smaller country than the US. There were only two TV channels then and the ceremony was broadcast live by both the BBC and ITV.
Image: The naval party drawing the gun carriage bearing Sir Winston Churchill’s coffin during the funeral procession. Pic: AP
On the BBC, it was the last state occasion anchored by Richard Dimbleby, the patriarch of the Dimbleby broadcasting family. There were large TV audiences in the US as well. The funeral was not shown live on RTE in Ireland. Neither the Irish president nor prime minister attended the ceremony.
I was a small boy then and remember the coverage as one of the two great highlights of the black and white television era. The other was England’s World Cup victory in 1966. Extended outside broadcast from multiple locations were a rarity. Both the funeral and the cup final took place during the day on a Saturday – a time when, back then, there was usually nothing to watch on TV sets.
Rare honour of state funeral
The funeral was a television spectacular involving foot soldiers and cavalry, RAF fly-bys and travel by boat, train, manpower and hearse. The ceremonies had been in planning since Churchill had his first major stroke in 1953.
He was serving his second term as prime minister and the poor state of his health was covered up from the public, even though he was left partially paralysed. Officials in the know, working for the royals and at Westminster, set to work to prepare Operation Hope Not.
Image: Crowds lined the street to pay their respects. Pic: AP
Putting the plan into action required a message from the Queen to parliament and a motion in parliament the day after Churchill died to authorise a state funeral.
Full state funerals are usually reserved for heads of state. The late Queen Mother, Princess Diana, the late Duke of Edinburgh, and former prime minister Margaret Thatcher were all given ceremonial funerals in recent years – but none of these were state funeral in terms of scale or international protocol. Britain’s next state funeral was for Elizabeth II in September 2022.
Churchill’s embalmed body lay in state round the clock in Westminster Hall for three days. More than 300,000 people filed past to pay their respects. Then the funeral began when Big Ben struck 9.45am. The bell was silenced for the day after that but there was a 90-gun salute in Hyde Park, a volley for each year of Churchill’s life.
Image: Sir Winston’s coffin lay in state before his funeral, Churchill at Westminster Hall, as Elizabeth II’s would decades later
As soldiers and spectators lined the streets of London, Churchill’s coffin was placed on a gun carriage and pulled by 98 sailors from the Royal Navy all the way to St Paul’s Cathedral. It was carried inside with honorary pallbearers including three other British prime ministers and an Australian one. Clement Attlee, aged 82, stumbled on the steps and was given a chair to rest on.
Queen broke with protocol
After the service, the catafalque was drawn to the pier by Tower Bridge and taken upriver to Waterloo Station. Dockside cranes dipped as the boat passed. There is some dispute as to how voluntary this gesture by dockers really was. Even though his final journey was by locomotive down the Great Western Railway, Churchill insisted on going via Waterloo rather than Paddington station to make a point about British historical glory.
He was buried at St Martin’s Church, Bladon, on the Blenheim estate, seat of the Duke of Marlborough, a cousin, alongside his parents and other members of the Spencer Churchill family.
Churchill was the first prime minister of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. Throughout the funeral day she broke with protocol to give him precedence. She hosted a reception for the dignitaries in attendance including the nine monarchs, 15 presidents and 14 serving prime ministers.
It is perhaps just as well that Donald Trump will not be around to see if his final obsequies beat that.
There are 161 people still missing in Texas in the aftermath of last weekend’s deadly flash floods, the state’s governor has said.
Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, governor Gregg Abbot said the number of missing had risen markedly.
He said among the missing were five children and one counsellor from Camp Mystic – where at least 27 people were killed in the flash flooding.
At least 109 people are confirmed to have died in the floods, which took place on the 4 July weekend, but this figure has been steadily climbing ever since.
Image: People comforted each other in Kerville. Pic: Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP
The bulk of deaths, and the main search for additional bodies, have been concentrated in Kerr County and the city of Kerrville.
The area was transformed into a disaster zone when torrential rains struck the region early last Friday, unleashing deadly flooding along the Guadalupe River.
Travis County, Kendall County, Burnett County, Williamson County, and Tom Green County were also hit.
Mr Abbot said many of those who were unaccounted for were in the Texas Hill Country area, but had not registered at a camp or hotel, posing further challenges for authorities.
Camp Mystic
Mr Abbot planned to make another visit to Camp Mystic.
The century-old all-girls Christian summer camp was badly hit by the flash floods, with at least 27 campers and counsellors dying.
Image: Hanna Lawrence, left, and Rebecca Lawrence, right. Pic: John Lawrence/AP
Image: Lila Bonner (L) and Eloise Peck both died in the flash floods at Camp Mystic, Texas. Pic: Family handout
Image: Chloe Childress. Pic: Debra Alexander Photography via AP
Some of the victims include Hanna and Rebecca Lawrence, both eight, Chloe Childress, 19, who was among the counsellors at Camp Mystic when the flood hit, and Eloise Peck and Lila Bonner, both nine.
There were scenes of devastation at the camp as the flood water receded.
Outside the cabins where the girls had slept, mud-splattered blankets and pillows were scattered.
Also in the debris were pink, purple and light blue luggage, decorated with stickers.
Image: A view inside a cabin at Camp Mystic after the flooding. Pic: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images
Image: Camper’s belongings lie on the ground following flooding on the Guadalupe River, at Camp Mystic.
Pic: Reuters
‘Everything looked flooded and broken’
One of the campers, 10-year-old Lucy Kennedy, told Sky’s US partner network, NBC News, that she woke up to the sound of thunder at around midnight before the floods struck.
“I couldn’t go back to sleep,” she said. “I just had a feeling that something really bad was about to happen.”
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She said the girls at the camp were told to grab blankets, pillows and water bottles and line up single file as the floodwater rose, before getting airlifted to safety.
Wynne Kennedy, Lucy’s mother, added: “When I saw her, she was wrapped up in a blanket, had a teddy bear.
“We just held each other tight, and I held her all night.”
Their home in Kerrville was also destroyed by the flash floods.
Image: Lucy Kennedy, 10 who was rescued from Camp Mystic, and her mother Wynne. Pic: NBC
Political row
Meanwhile, a political row has unfolded parallel to the recovery efforts, with some questioning whether local authorities sent out warnings and alerts early enough.
Similarly, Democrats have criticised Donald Trump over cuts his Elon Musk-launched Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has made to the National Weather Service – but it isn’t clear whether these actually made any difference.
The flash floods erupted before daybreak on Friday, after massive amounts of rainfall caused the Guadalupe River to rise by eight metres in less than an hour.
The wall of water overwhelmed cabins, tents and trails along the river’s edge.
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The date for Sean “Diddy” Combs’s sentencing hearing has been confirmed.
Following his high-profile trial, the hip-hop mogul was found guilty of two counts of transportation for prostitution by jurors in Manhattan, New York, last week – but was cleared of sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.
Defence lawyers argued Combs, who has been in prison in Brooklyn since his arrest in September last year, should be bailed ahead of sentencing given the not guilty verdicts for the more serious charges, but Judge Arun Subramanian denied this – citing, among other things, the rapper’s own admissions of previous violent behaviour.
Image: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs in court after the verdict was delivered. Pic: Reuters/ Jane Rosenberg
The charges of sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy carried a potential life sentence. Combs still faces up to 20 years in prison for the prostitution-related offences, but is not expected to receive the maximum punishment.
After the verdict was delivered, the judge scheduled the sentencing hearing for 3 October. At a remote follow-up conference on Tuesday, with agreement from the defence and prosecution, the judge approved the date.
Combs joined the call but did not make any comment.
Any sentence will include credit for time already served – which will be just over a year by the time the hearing takes place.
During his trial, Combs was accused by prosecutors of abusing and coercing three alleged victims, including his former long-term partner, singer and model Cassie Ventura.
Jurors found the allegations did not amount to sex-trafficking or racketeering, or running a criminal enterprise – but they did find him guilty of transporting Cassie and another former girlfriend “Jane” for prostitution offences around the US, and paying male escorts to engage in sexual encounters.
Despite the guilty verdict on those charges, the 55-year-old’s team described it as “the victory of all victories”.
In an interview over the weekend, defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo said Combs had received a standing ovation from fellow inmates when he returned to jail after being acquitted of the more serious charges.
“They all said, ‘We never get to see anyone who beats the government’,” he said.
Ahead of sentencing, Combs’s lawyers will file their recommendations by 19 September, with prosecutors likely to follow a week later.
Prosecutors previously said the rapper could face about four to five years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, while the defence has suggested a two-year sentence.
Donald Trump has said, again, that he is “not happy” with Vladimir Putin.
In an extraordinary cabinet meeting, the US president criticised his Russian counterpart, and announced he had approved sending defensive weapons to Ukraine.
After weeks of rejecting Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s request for defence support – why the sudden change of tact? Is Trump’s relationship with Putin fraying?
And what’s the latest as Trump hosts Benjamin Netanyahu again, a day after the Israeli prime minister announced he had nominated the US leader for the Nobel Peace Prize.
What next in hopes for a ceasefire in Gaza? Tariffs are also back. Trump announces more… and more.
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