January 20, 2004

The foul-mouthed parrot at Winston Churchill's side during Britain's darkest hour of World War II is still alive and cursing Adolf Hitler

AT 104-years-old, Charlie can still be coaxed to repeat favorite sayings, such as "[expletive] Hitler" and "[expletive] the Nazis," London's Daily Mirror reports. Churchill's Parrot Is Still Alive.]

David Irving comments: I AM highly sceptical about the story. I never heard from any of my Churchill sources about a parrot. Cats, dogs, and fish but never a parrot. The death of the Downing Streeet cat "Nelson" is referred to in my "Churchill's War", vol. ii: "Triumph in Adversity". This parrot story sounds like a clever pet shop owner talking up the price on a rather mouldy bird. Got his inspiration from Monty Python's famous dead parrot sketch, if you ask me. Mary Soames, Winston's surviving daughter, later confirmed to the press the story was absurd.

The blue and gold macaw actually is a female but was given a boy's name by the British prime minister when he bought the bird in 1937.

"Many an admiral or peer of the realm was shocked by the tirade from the bird's cage during crisis meetings with the PM," the London paper said.

James Humes, an expert on the late prime minister, told the Mirror the bird is a piece of living history.

"Churchill may no longer be with us but that spirit and those words of defiance and resolve continue," Humes said.

Charlie was purchased by a pet shop owner, Peter Oram, when Churchill died in 1965. But the London-area man was forced to remove the bird from the shop after she kept swearing at children.

Oram's garden center in Reigate, England, Heathfield Nurseries, has been the macaw's home for the past 12 years.

"If truth be told, Charlie is looking a little scruffy but she is very popular with the public," said Heathfield worker Sylvia Martin, according to the Mirror. "We are all very attached to her."

Steve Nichols, founder of Britain's National Parrot Sanctuary, told Reuters although parrots often do not reach age 40 in the wild, some had lived to 110.

... on this website:

Our new website dossier on Churchill

David Irving: "Churchill's War", free download

 

Website note: Churchill's monthly desk calendars for the war years September 1939-1945 are available as a service to historians on CD Rom in pdf format for $50 from Focal Point Publications, 36 Hertford St, London W1J 7SE