WATCH EDWINA SANDYS READ “WINSTON CHURCHILL: HIS LIFE AS A PAINTER,” BY MARY SOAMES
BOOK #8 IN OUR '40TH READINGS AT CHARTWELL BOOKSELLERS' VIDEO SERIES
In 1990, Winston Churchill’s youngest daughter, Mary Soames, published a memoir of her father’s life as a painter; a life she had, of course, witnessed firsthand, much of it in and around their Chartwell home. “He would look around him for subjects,” she recalled in WINSTON CHURCHILL: HIS LIFE AS A PAINTER: A Memoir by his Daughter. “Members of his family or friends would advise, or hurry to help him compose a ‘paintatious group.’ It might be a ‘bottlescape like the one that hangs in the dining room at Chartwell…or a study in silver.”
The late-Lady Soames’ insightful, lushly illustrated memoir is read for us by her niece, Winston Churchill’s granddaughter, Edwina Sandys, who also shares her own very distinct memories of “Grandpapa,” the painter.
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LADY MARY SPENCER-CHURCHILL (1922-2014) was the youngest of Winston and Clementine Churchill’s five children, born on 15 September 1922. She married Christopher Soames on 11 February 1947 at St. Margaret’s, Westminster. Together, they had five children. A good friend of Chartwell Booksellers for many years, Lady Soames wrote a number of fine books about her father and his family, including THE PROFLIGATE DUKE, Book #5 in our series, which was read by her son Rupert.
EDWINA SANDYS was born December 1938 at No. 79 Chester Square, London, the second child of Winston and Clementine Churchill’s eldest daughter, Diana, and the politician Duncan Sandys. Following family tradition, she was christened in the crypt of the House of Commons. Her grandfather was the first painter Edwina ever saw at work. “When he was painting, he was totally absorbed,” she has recalled. “I think – well, I know for myself – that painting uses a different part of your brain and your whole being. So it was a great outlet for him, a complete contrast to the affairs of state. One thing that is clear from his paintings is his love of life. He went at it with relish and gusto.”
40th READINGS AT CHARTWELL BOOKSELLERS
toasts the best 40 books about Winston Churchill published during our forty year existence. We launched the series on April 11 with actor JOHN LITHGOW reading
THE LAST LION. You can watch that reading: HERE