The Smokeless Churchill: Musuem Displays Picture With Churchill’s Iconic Cigar Airbrushed Away into History
jonathanturley
A London Museum has triggered a controversy when it displayed an iconic picture of Sir Winston Churchill on its exterior with his equally iconic cigar airbrushed away into history. The well-known photograph shows Churchill with the cigar firmly in his clenched teeth, but the visitors to the exhibit Churchill’s Britain At War Experience are greeted with a smoke-free version. I suppose Churchill himself would take it in good humor and simply repeat his prior observation that “once in a while you will stumble upon the truth but most of us manage to pick ourselves up and hurry along as if nothing had happened.”
The museum said that it was not its doing and refused to name the person who put together the display.
However, the museum does not know who did the act of airbrushed historical revisionism.
The original picture was taken in 1948 when Churchill was opening the new HQ of 615 County of Surrey Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force of which he was commodore.
There is a call to uncover the culprit. Whoever it is, remember what Sir Winston said, “Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.”
