November 28-29, 2013

On November 28, 2013, the Hon. Celia Sandys, granddaughter of Sir Winston Churchill, and author of five books about her grandfather, came to Ottawa for the first time. In her delightful Chasing Churchill: The Travels of Winston Churchill, Ottawa was not present as Celia had not been able to visit Canada's capital (Churchill was here on six of his nine visits to Canada over more than half a century). Celia certainly filled that gap. On the 29th, she went onto the Floor of the House, from which Churchill delivered his "Some chicken ! Some neck !" speech on December 30, 1941, and, like her grandfather, followed that with a visit to the Speaker's Chambers, in which the famous cigar-less, iconic Karsh photograph of Churchill was taken. She also did interviews with the Ottawa Citizen and on the CBC (available on this website). The highlight for SWCSO members was her address that evening at Earnscliffe on her personal memories of her grandfather. The event was nothing short of triumphant. Celia mixed delightful, intimate memories with history, anecdotes, warmth and good humour in her painting of a private side of her grandfather, on the evening just one day short of the 139th anniversary of his birth.