Leave Winston Churchill alone

The Wall Street Journal in its wisdom today describes Winston Churchill in the following manner in an article about the sale of one of his paintings. The article says: "Churchill was best known for his cigar-chomping role as a prime minister". In other words, Churchill was some sort of B-movie Hollywood actor whose most famous role was as a prime minister who chewed cigars a lot. Denigrating or what? Actually Americans on the whole, or certainly the ones I have met, revere Churchill. I once spoke to a waitress in a cafe in Washington who when she heard my British accent asked me to guess what her name was. I tried a few, mostly of Scottish derivation, knowing how many Americans are proud of their Scottish roots. After waiting a few tantalising minutes she burst out: "It's Churchill. I am sooo proud." Well good for her. She obviously knew who Churchill was and what he did, saving Great Britain and the allies from being taken over by the Nazis in the Second World War by sheer force of character and leadership and a never-surrender philosophy. Ok, he liked cigars and he was prime minister. But he was not "best known for his cigar-chomping role as a prime minister". I mention this throwaway line in one of America's prestigious newspapers only because recently some British academic whose name escapes me produced some extraordinary drivel about how we shouldn't think of Churchill in a good light because he was a racist and likened him to Hitler. I know it's the thing these days to criticise people in the public eye, especially on social media, but leave Churchill alone. His painting incidentally, owned by Angelina Jolie, sold for $11.6 million, a spectacular price even for a Churchill painting. At least I have yet to read: "Winston Churchill, that well known cigar-chomping painter who was also a prime minister ....."