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dubiousadvocate t1_ix5puyl wrote

Fun fact, the alcohol thing was staged and overstated. Part of late Victorian norms. His own employees said it was basically a single rocks glass that was mostly ice and soda water, refreshed over the day with again mostly ice and soda water, and at most ten fingers over the course of his typical sixteen hour day. Not to say he could not hold his liquor. He could. But it was performance art that was hardly unusual at the time.

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GarbledComms t1_ix5serb wrote

I really prefer to think of Churchill planning British WW2 strategy while blackout drunk.

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dubiousadvocate t1_ix60gnp wrote

Heh. No. WC was in fact probably one of the most competent men of his age with the power and money behind him to make it stick. In early years he was a glory and attention seeker, lied extravagantly to get what he wanted. He was what Mark Twain would have called the perfect humbug, a liar to get what he wanted but once there a competent beast who changed the direction of world history. Just like Mark Twain.

Churchill was basically one of the last scions who had to endure Americans propping up their lifestyle. His mother was a rich American who, by the terms of the day, whored herself across European aristocracy to claim titles not available in centuries before. They sought her out for her acumen with money and power, and she was an intelligent woman who understood the times and her powers. I admire her but she was not a nice person.

She built up a rich and broad network of lovers with circumspect values and neglected young Winston but in later years as she grew up enlisted them all to launch Winston. His meteoric career would not have been possible without it.

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Cetun t1_ix67cgc wrote

I hold the opinion that he was actually strategically one of the least competent.

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Waffletimewarp t1_ix6qvjj wrote

Hey, that’s more or less standard operating procedure for the Tories these days.

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