Curator's Choice: Churchill on holiday

© The rights holder. IWM (MGH 4936). Clip from Churchill (1935)

As summer winds to a close, Assistant Curator Charlotte Ross highlights a clip of Sir Winston Churchill on holiday. Britain's greatest wartime leader was born 150 years ago this year.     

Between 1933 and 1939, during the period known as his Wilderness Years, Winston Churchill often spent his holidays at the Château de L'Horizon on the French Riviera. He relaxed during these trips, swimming and (according to his wife Clementine) painting “ferociously”. This amateur film from 1935 provides a glimpse of these holidays, capturing Churchill sliding headfirst down the water chute at L’Horizon.

This rare film was probably shot by Churchill’s close friend Frederick Lindemann, a British physicist. The two maintained an enduring friendship, and Lindemann later became prime scientific adviser to Churchill during the Second World War.

Though this popular short clip has made the rounds in black and white for many years, the film was originally shot in colour. Kodacolour was a form of lenticular film that appeared black and white but could be viewed in colour upon application of a tricolour filter. The film was recently restored to showcase this by Eleanor Wass, a Digital Technician at IWM.

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For further information and help with archive research, contact the Image & Film Licensing team.

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