關於英國首相丘吉爾的十件趣聞(上)

Winston Churchill is probably the most popular British prime minister ever. Having served his country as a soldier and politician, he is often considered the among the greatest of Britons. But while his heroic stand against the Nazis is well known, there are still a few facts about the popular politician that might surprise you.

溫斯頓·丘吉爾——可以說是最受民衆愛戴的英國首相之一。他利用士兵和政治家的雙重身份，爲自己的國家鞠躬盡瘁，被視爲最偉大的英國人之一。我們都知道他對納粹有着明確的反對態度，但除此之外還有一些會令你大吃一驚的真實故事。

Cigars

10.酷愛雪茄

The classic image of Winston Churchill includes a giant cigar stuck between his lips. Churchill developed his love of cigars as a young man, when he traveled to Cuba to report on an ongoing rebellion against the colonial Spanish government. For the rest of his life, he smoked eight or nine cigars every day. However, he almost never took a puff, preferring to chew on the end until it went out, then relight it and start again. To prevent the cigar from becoming soggy, Churchill invented the "bellybando," a strip of brown paper which could be glued around the end. At any given time, Churchill had 3,000 to 4,000 cigars in his house, mostly his favorite Romeo y Julieta brand. The cigars were kept in boxes labeled "large" or "small" and "wrapped" or "naked." They were mostly gifts, which helped keep expenses down. (One of his servants observed that "in two days his cigar consumption was the equivalent of my weekly salary.") On one occasion, the president of Cuba presented Churchill with 2,400 top-quality cigars, although his paranoid security team insisted that one cigar from each box be sent off and tested for poison. Perhaps the story that best illustrates his love of cigars occurred during World War II, when he had a special oxygen mask designed so that he could still smoke his cigar on an unpressurized, high-altitude flight.

溫斯頓·丘吉爾給人的印象總是嘴裏叼着一支雪茄。他是從少年時代開始抽第一口煙的，當時作爲一名記者，在古巴報道了當地人民起義反抗當時的殖民政府——西班牙的事件。那時起，丘吉爾便和雪茄結下了不解之緣。他每天要抽上八九隻雪茄，卻很少真正地吸上一口，大多數時候他只是叼着雪茄的末端，待它熄滅後再重新點上，然後周而復始。爲了避免雪茄受潮，丘吉爾自制了一種防潮套，用膠水把一長條牛皮紙和雪茄粘連在一起。無論什麼時候，他的家中總儲存着3000到4000支雪茄，品種繁多，其中羅密歐與朱麗葉是他最喜歡的牌子。所有保存這些雪茄的匣子都被標出了尺寸和有無茄衣。它們大多數都是作爲禮物被送給丘吉爾的，幫他減少了不少這方面的開支。（據丘吉爾的一個僕人回憶，首相兩天抽的雪茄總價值是僕人一週的薪水）古巴領導人在一次與丘吉爾見面會上，送給他2400支頂級雪茄。儘管謹慎的安全小組堅持每個匣子內都應當抽取一隻雪茄接受檢查，但首相顯然等不及他們的測試結果。二戰期間，他還特製了一種飛行氧氣面罩，這種面罩上開了一個洞，讓他在高空非增壓艙時仍可大抽雪茄。這再一次證明了丘吉爾對雪茄的癡迷到了令人無法想象的地步。

Daring South African Escape

9.南非歷險記

In 1899, Churchill traveled to South Africa to cover the ongoing Boer War for the Morning Post. While there, he was offered a chance to accompany an expedition on an improvised armored train. Although correspondents for the Times and the Manchester Guardian declined the invitation, describing the train as a "death trap," Churchill was all too eager to go along. That turned out to be a mistake. As the train was returning to the British lines, it was ambushed by a Boer commando (similar to the one pictured above), which opened fire from a nearby hill. As the British returned fire, the train driver steamed ahead at full speed—and ran right into the rocks the Boers had placed on the tracks, causing one of the cars to derail on a curve. One British crew member managed to escape and make it back to safety, but Churchill and the other survivors were taken prisoner. The captured men were taken to a school the Boers had converted into a prison camp. Churchill remained there until 1900, when he jumped a fence while the guards were distracted. Two captured officers were supposed to follow, but the guards returned and they were unable to join him. When it became obvious that the two officers were not coming, Churchill made his way through Pretoria and managed to sneak on board a cargo train. Forced to jump off by thirst, he then walked through the bush until he came across a cottage owned by a British mining engineer, who agreed to hide him at the bottom of a mine shaft. He also told him that the Boers had placed a £25 bounty on his head. With the help of the engineer, Churchill was able to board a train to Portuguese East Africa, escaping South Africa for good.

1899年，丘吉爾作爲《晨報》的記者到南非去跟蹤採訪布爾戰爭。在那裏，他有機會作爲一名戰地記者隨着簡易裝甲列車進行跟蹤採訪。雖然《泰晤士報》和《曼徹斯特衛報》的記者們都視這次採訪爲"死亡陷阱"，婉拒了隨行採訪的邀請。然而，丘吉爾卻十分渴望前往，後來的事態發展卻也證明了他這一決定的錯誤性。在乘坐火車返回英國的途中，遭到了布爾人突擊隊的伏擊，雙方在附近的山丘處開火交戰。就在英國士兵全力反擊時，火車卻全速前進撞上了布爾人放置在軌道上的石塊，導致火車在轉彎時其中一節車廂脫軌。其中一些英國士兵逃離了埋伏，並安全地回國。但是丘吉爾和其他戰爭中的生還者卻沒有那麼幸運，他們悉數被俘並被押送至一所由布爾當地學校改造的戰俘集中營。丘吉爾一直被布爾人拘留至1900年，直到有一天趁守衛不注意，翻越圍牆成功越獄。原計劃中有兩個被俘的軍官也會和丘吉爾一同越獄，但是巡邏的守衛回來了，以至計劃流產。當丘吉爾意識到那兩名軍官沒有越獄成功時，他便獨自一人穿過比勒陀利亞，偷溜上一輛貨運火車，設法逃離。中途迫於飢渴，他跳下了火車，徒步穿越灌木叢直到來到了一座英國採礦工程師的小屋，工程師答應讓他藏在一處煤礦通風井的底部，並告訴丘吉爾布爾人正以重金25英鎊懸賞通緝他。在這位工程師的幫助下，丘吉爾登上了一輛去往葡屬東非的火車，成功逃離了南非。

Two Winstons

8.兩個身份

Although it's somewhat overshadowed by his political career, Winston Churchill was an accomplished writer. In fact, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953. His first book was The Story Of The Malakand Field Force, a first-hand account of a military campaign in what is now Pakistan.

儘管與他的政治事業相比稍爲遜色，但溫斯頓·丘吉爾確實是個才華橫溢的作家。事實上，他榮獲1953年的諾貝爾文學獎。他的第一本著作《馬拉坎德遠征史》，是紀錄發生在現今巴基斯坦境內一次戰役的第一手資料。

Funnily enough, there was another writer named Winston Churchill who was active at the same time. This Winston Churchill was an American who wrote a number of novels, six or seven of which became huge bestsellers. These included Richard Carvel, described as "a serious historical novel, embracing a romantic courtship and many events on land and sea," which sold an astonishing two million copies and made the author a rich man. Interestingly, both Churchills published their first books in 1898, although the American Churchill was the first to become famous for his writing. Unsurprisingly, he would eventually be eclipsed by the fame of his British counterpart and is almost forgotten today. But at the time, the two writers were often confused with each other. To avoid further difficulty, the two Churchills eventually agreed that the British Churchill would publish as "Winston S. Churchill" while the American would simply go by "Winston Churchill."

說來也奇怪，活躍在同一時期的還有另一個叫做溫斯頓·丘吉爾的作家。這個作家是美國人，著有許多小說，其中有六七本小說是暢銷書。其中，《理查德·卡維爾》被譽爲是"一部嚴肅歷史題材小說，講述了一個浪漫的求愛故事以及許多發生在海洋及陸地的事件，"這本書售出了二百萬冊，銷量驚人，作者也由此成爲了一個富有的人。有趣的是，兩個丘吉爾都在1898年出版了他們的第一本著作，不過美國的丘吉爾首先因作品而出名。不足爲奇，他最終會被英國的丘吉爾所獲得的聲望超越，並且如今幾乎被人遺忘。但在當時，人們常常搞混這兩個作家。爲了避免產生更多麻煩，兩人最終一致決定，英國的丘吉爾出版署名爲"Winston S. Churchill"，而美國的丘吉爾則簡單署名爲"Winston Churchill"。

Accident That Almost Killed Him

7.險些致命的車禍事故

In December 1931, Churchill was on a late-night visit to his friend Bernard Baruch (pictured with Churchill) in New York when he had a brush with death. While crossing the street, he was hit by a car, which then dragged him behind it for a short distance. As it turned out, Churchill had instinctively looked to the right when he wanted to cross. However, since cars drive on opposite sides of the road in America and Britain, he should actually have looked left. Instead, he stepped serenely into the path of an oncoming car. Churchill sustained severe bruising on his chest and a sprained shoulder. He played down the severity of the injuries, writing that he couldn't understand "why I was not broken like an eggshell or squashed like a gooseberry." He also accepted all the blame for the accident, informing the police that the driver was innocent and securing his release. Since the accident occurred during Prohibition, Churchill managed to talk his doctor into writing him a note asserting that "the post-accident concussion of Hon. Winston S. Churchill necessitates the use of alcoholic spirits, especially at meal times."

1931年12月，丘吉爾深夜拜訪他的紐約朋友伯納德·巴魯克，而就在那時他與死神擦肩而過。當時丘吉爾正在過馬路，突然被車撞倒並被拖行至車後的不遠處。後來人們發現，丘吉爾在過馬路時本能地向右看。但是，由於在美國和英國的汽車行駛方向是相反的，所以當時的他應該看左邊。但他卻渾然不知地走向馬路，沒注意到背後有一輛汽車正飛馳而來。丘吉爾胸口有嚴重瘀傷並扭傷了肩膀。他掩蓋了傷勢的嚴重性，只寫道他無法理解"爲什麼他沒有像蛋殼一樣碎掉或者是像醋栗一樣被壓扁。"同時，他承擔了那次事故的所有責任，告訴警察司機是無辜的，並且確保司機獲得釋放。因爲事故發生在禁酒時期，丘吉爾設法說服他的醫生把他的報告寫成："溫斯頓.S.丘吉爾事故後出現腦震盪，需要飲用烈性酒，尤其是用餐的時候。"

Interest In Islam

6.對伊斯蘭文化的癡迷

Churchill was so fascinated by Islam that his family thought he might convert. His interest was revealed by the discovery of a 1907 letter written by Lady Gwendoline Bertie, who was engaged to his brother at the time. The letter was written as Churchill was about to leave on a tour of North Africa and Lady Gwendoline warned that "if you come into contact with Islam your conversion might be effected with greater ease than you might have supposed."

丘吉爾着迷於伊斯蘭文化，他的家人甚至一度擔心他會轉向伊斯蘭信仰。當時已與丘吉爾哥哥訂婚的格溫多琳·伯蒂女士，在1907年給丘吉爾的一封家書中提到了他這一興趣。這封信是寫給正要開始北非之旅的丘吉爾，信中格溫多琳女士告誡他說："如果你接觸到了伊斯蘭教，你也許會比自己想象的更加容易改變自己的信仰。"

In reality, Lady Gwendoline probably didn't need to worry, since Churchill was basically an atheist by that point and never seriously considered converting to Islam. However, he did have an interest in Islamic culture and he and his friend Wilfrid Brunt often dressed in Arab clothing in private. During World War II, Churchill managed to find £100,000 to build the London Central Mosque, which he hoped would attract Muslim support for the war. He was also against the way Frederick Lugard treated Muslim tribes in northern Nigeria, then a British colony. Nevertheless, Churchill still criticized Islam in his book The River War, which bemoaned the treatment of women in the Sudan.

實際上，格溫多琳女士不必太過擔心。因爲丘吉爾在這一問題上是一個無神論者，他從未認真考慮過皈依伊斯蘭教。不過他對伊斯蘭文化確實很感興趣，他和他的朋友維爾弗裏德·布倫特還經常私底下穿阿拉伯服裝。二戰期間，丘吉爾設法湊集了10萬英鎊修建倫敦中央清真寺，希望通過這一舉動得到穆斯林對戰爭的支持。同時，他也反對弗雷德裏克·盧吉對待當時作爲英國殖民地的尼日利亞北部穆斯林部落的方式。然而，丘吉爾在他所著的《河上的戰爭》一書中指責了伊斯蘭教，文中表達了他對伊斯蘭教對待女性態度的不滿。

審校：張茜 編輯：簡簡單單 來源：前十網