In many cases, no. It might be a delicious one-liner, but he didn’t say it.
When Nancy Astor, Britain's first female MP, told Sir Winston Churchill that: "If I were your wife I would put poison in your coffee," Churchill famously replied: "Nancy, if I were your husband I would drink it."
No. It was 40 years too early.
George Bernard Shaw sent him two tickets for the opening night of one of his plays with the message that he should "bring a friend, if you have one". Churchill is said to have replied that he could not make the first night, but would come on the second night "if there is one".
No. Both say it never happened. Too bad.
At a reception in Canada when Churchill was sitting next to a Methodist bishop, the two men were offered sherry by a waitress. Churchill took a glass, the but the bishop said: "Young lady, I would rather commit adultery than take an intoxicating beverage."
Churchill said to the waitress: "Come back lassie, I didn't know we had a choice!"
Oh!
But there are good ones that are authentic:
n 1946 Churchill really did meet Bessie Braddock, a plump Labour MP and Tory-hater, who told him: "Winston, you are drunk."
"Madam," he replied, "you are ugly, and I will be sober in the morning."
True.
Churchill was told, while he was in the lavatory, that the Lord Privy Seal had come to see him.
"Tell the Lord Privy Seal that I am sealed in the privy and can only deal with one s*** at a time," he bellowed.
True. And there are more...
And see London Mayor Boris Johnson’s new book: The Churchill Factor.
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