Layout 8 - Winston Churchill

“Here we live in a marble & bronze hotel, very expensive and
luxurious: horrible place: makes me Bolshevik.” —T.E. Lawrence
(But Winston Churchill didn’t feel Bolshy at all....)
Left: The opulent Churchill Suite,
elaborately furnished in Egyptian
décor, rents for $1880 per night
inclusive of taxes and service
charge, plus whatever you care to
tip the help. We wonder what it
cost the American hosts in 1943
Above right: Lynn Druckman in the
luxurious living room, with historic
Churchill photographs adorning
the walls and majestic oriental
carpets underfoot.
Far right: The author at Churchill’s
desk, with Yousuf Karsh’s famous
photograph adorning the wall.
Right: After being greeted by a
band playing the triumphal scene
from “Aida,” the party was
enjoying a lovely hot buffet when
the manager offered to show Lynn
and David the Churchill Suite. They
missed dessert.
MENA HOUSE, CAIRO...
At Cairo the United States agreed to “a considerable
amphibious operation across the Bay of Bengal” (northeast
Indian Ocean, between India and Burma) within the next
few months. This would have cramped the invasion of
France (Operation Overlord) and Italy, to which Churchill
objected, and the plan was eventually dropped.
Overlord was discussed amongst the U.S. and British
military chiefs. Meetings were held with President Ismet
Inönü, of Turkey, attempting unsuccessfully to cajole him
into entering the war. The conference ended with a joint
“Cairo Declaration”: that “Japan be stripped of all the
islands in the Pacific which she has seized or occupied since
the beginning of the First World War in 1914, all the territories
Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as
Manchuria, Formosa, and the Pescadores, shall be restored
to the Republic of China, and that in due course Korea
shall become free and independent.” 3
My wife Lynn and I were on an Eastern
Mediterranean Celebrity cruise with only a day’s stop in
Alexandria. We pre-paid for Lynn to visit the Bibliotheca
Alexandrina and for me to see El Alamein, the turning
point of the war in North Africa, 106 km west of
Alexandria. Since we were seasoned cruisers, Celebrity
offered us free round trips to Giza instead. “Provided we
may also have a look at Mena House,” I said, “we accept
the substitute itinerary.” (Lynn, however, required a concession,
of which more anon.)
At Mena House we were greeted like visiting
pharaohs. As we walked up steps, seven costumed
Egyptians played the triumphal scene from “Aida”!
They ushered us in to a hot buffet lunch in the expansive
and elegant thousand-seat ballroom.
Suddenly I remembered that Churchill had stayed
here during the 1943 “Sextant” Conference, and beckoned
to the obliging hotel manager, who offered us a tour of the
Churchill Suite. (We missed dessert.)
Exiting a private elevator, the three of us entered the
Churchill Suite and the hallway which led to its various
rooms, all in elaborate Egyptian décor. The rooms were in
use by guests, but fortunately empty, and the manager made
sure we were shown the two bathrooms, of which he was
particularly proud. Off the living room is a tree-lined
terrace with a magnificent view of the pyramids, just 700
meters away.
FINEST HOUR 148 / 24