HAPPY TO BE CAUGHT NAPPING

Winston Churchill is a great hero of mine. It was his destiny to help our nation to stand up to the might of Hitler's Germany and I never tire of studying how he organised himself in achieving this aim.

One way in which he crammed so many hours of work into a day was through taking a nap. 

Generally speaking, at around 5:00 p.m., after a weak whisky and soda, he went to bed for an hour and a half. He always maintained that this short sleep, a habit gained in Cuba, allowed him to work for an hour and a half days in every 24 hours:

“You must sleep some time between lunch and dinner, and no half-way measures. Take off your clothes and get into bed. That’s what I always do. Don’t think you will be doing less work because you sleep during the day. That’s a foolish notion held by people who have no imagination. You will be able to accomplish more. You get two days in one - well, at least one and a half, I’m sure. 

Nature has not intended mankind to work from eight in the morning until midnight without that refreshment of blessed oblivion which, even if it only lasts twenty minutes, is sufficient to renew all the vital forces.”

 

Churchill’s afternoon nap was a non-negotiable part of his relaxed approach to his daily routine. Indeed his nap was so vital to him that he kept a bed in the Houses of Parliament and believed that napping was the key to his success in leading the country through the Battle of Britain.

I'm off to try it out for myself.

UNDERGROUND HEROES

My wife and I recently had a weekend break in London and needed to decide which attraction to visit.

We both have a long-standing fascination with World War 2 because it was such a huge event in our parents' lives (Dad helped build Lancaster bombers and my father-in-law was a tank gunner). On a previous visit we had been to the Imperial war museum and were spellbound by the Holocaust exhibition. This time we decided to visit the Cabinet war rooms. These were the offices from which Churchill and his Chiefs of Staff directed our war effort.

Naturally, these rooms were situated underground. In fact they were in the basement storage rooms of the Office of Works in Whitehall. However they were anything but secure! The idea that this complex was Churchill's bunker has been de-bunked (good stuff this!). A letter displayed on the wall shows Churchill's displeasure on learning that this suite of rooms were not bomb-proof. This may explain why rather than risk being buried alive, Churchill was often to be found on the roof during air raids watching the Luftwaffe in action. In fact he only used his basement bedroom to sleep in on three occasions during the entire war.

As we toured the various small offices, bedrooms, kitchen and other facilities, I became full of admiration for the officers and especially for their support staff who usually worked 14 hour shifts down there. They saw the surface so rarely that notices were displayed to tell them what the weather was like overhead. Many of them also had to use sun lamps to keep their health up.

Working in those cramped underground conditions must have been appalling. I have nothing but admiration for them all.

I would thoroughly recommend you visit these rooms which will give you a feeling for the bravery of those individuals who supported Churchill's wartime leadership in very dismal and dangerous conditions. Admission also includes the adjacent Churchill museum which is equally fascinating.