Friday 24 June 2022 04:09 PM How Churchill aide KEPT 1955 TV screen test he wanted DESTROYED trends now
He famously kept the morale of Britons high with his wartime radio speeches to the nation.
But Winston Churchill was less than impressed with television and refused to appear on it.
Now, broadcaster Michael Cockerell has recounted how he was given a clip from the one and only TV screen test that Churchill did in 1955 after the success of the Queen's Coronation, which was watched by an estimated 20million people.
Churchill was seen in the clip, which was recorded in secret, apologising for having 'to descend to this level' – before he ordered the Conservative party's then television chief, Winifred Crum-Ewing, to destroy it.
Speaking at the Chalke Valley History Festival, which is sponsored by the Daily Mail, Mr Cockerell, 81, told how Mrs Crum-Ewing defied Churchill's order and kept the tape under her bed for 30 years in a 'big canister'.
She told the political interviewer that he could have the clip, which was then shown once on the BBC in 1986.
Mr Cockerell played the clip again today during a talk in which he recounted his recollections of interviewing prime ministers from Harold MacMillan to Boris Johnson.
Mr Cockerell said Churchill hated TV because he 'couldn't bare the thought' of having to worry what he looked like.
Winston Churchill ordered the recording of a secret television screen test in 1955 but then ordered it be destroyed. Yet his aide Winifred Crum-Ewing secretly kept the tape under her bed, before giving it to broadcaster Michael Cockerell. Above: A grab from the clip
But he said he changed his mind after thinking, 'if the Queen thinks it is a good idea, maybe I should have a go.'
In the clip, Sir Winston – who was then coming towards the end of his second stint as Prime Minister – was seen saying he wanted to see 'what are the conditions under which this thing, TV, is going to make its way in the world'.
He added: I'm sorry… have to descend to this level but we all have to keep faith with modern inventions and it is just as well to know where you are in regard to them.'
