by Working
The following day the party returned to Athens. As she climbed down the ladder from Ajax into the tender taking them into Athens for the meetings, Holmes recalls that Churchill asked her: ‘ “Are you sure you have enough clothes on? You don’t look warm enough to me.” He gave instructions that a spare overcoat was to be brought from Ajax for me.’ She and Layton had only the shortest notice that they would be leaving for Athens on Christmas Eve. Both had planned that they might have to work at Chequers over the holiday and had no time to pack properly for a trip to cold and dangerous Athens. Whether it was the hasty departure or rationing that left Holmes without a coat, we do not know. We do know that the secretaries had become skilled at converting pieces of fabric into clothing: ‘one girl even had a fine winter coat made out of an army blanket’.72
Holmes goes on to report that ‘we were again shelled as the motor launch reached the shore. We drove in an armoured car… to the British Embassy. The building was under siege.’73 Although the party was under fire much of the time in Athens, none of the oral histories and memoirs complain about the danger and discomfort. The only fear, expressed earlier by Layton, was ‘I suddenly began to feel frightened. What would happen if HE caught cold in this bitter wind? Where was there we could go?’74 Just as Churchill worried about Holmes, Layton worried about him.
Churchill and his staff went to the Greek Foreign Ministry, then under attack, with parts of the building on fire. Separate meetings were scheduled with Archbishop Damaskinos, representing the royals, and with Georgios Papandreou, prime minister of the Greek government-in-exile, anti-royalist and anti-communist. The only lighting was provided by hurricane lamps as the electricity supply had been damaged during the fighting.
After the meetings in Athens, Churchill and the others returned to the Ajax, but Holmes and Colville went to the British Embassy so she could type up her notes from the meeting and Colville could cable them to the cabinet. That accomplished, the pair set out to reboard the Ajax. Colville, some three decades later, recalls, or claimed to recall, perhaps with tongue in cheek, that he and Holmes shared the sight of the Acropolis and Mount Lycabettus
by the light of the full moon. It was no less thrilling to share that romantic pleasure with Marian Holmes who was not only shyly charming and highly efficient, but closely resembled one of the prettier species of gazelle. What rapture it was going to be to glide with her across the smooth moon-lit waters of Phaleron Bay in the snug warmth of a spacious and spotless naval pinnace… In the moonlight Marian Holmes’s long golden hair transformed her into the Lorelei.75
The event did not quite match up to the alleged fantasy. Holmes recalls:
An armoured car drove us back to the Piraeus Harbour, where there was supposed to be a motorboat waiting for us [to return them to the Ajax]… the driver [of the car] had to get back so Jock and I were stranded… Some Greek soldiers came up and Jock was in danger of being arrested because he was in a RAF uniform. They thought we were a hangover from the Germans… it was all a bit dicey.
The Greeks did not speak English and neither Colville nor Holmes had any Greek. Colville spoke a few lines of ancient Greek, to no avail: he says he tried this line from Sophocles’ play Ajax: ‘My son, mayest thou be more fortunate than thy father.’ He certainly picked the apposite source, but his ‘accent bore no resemblance at all to modern Greek’.76 Matters got worse when Colville tried a few words of German. Dicey, indeed. But finally, all was settled and they were returned safely to the Ajax. In recalling this incident Holmes makes no mention of any romantic approaches by Colville, either because his longing was just that or because she thought them not proper to discuss.
In the thoughtfulness of which he often was capable, Churchill, while aboard the Ajax, asked for the names of the fifteen ‘plucky women on Embassy staff’ and requested that they all receive the British Empire Medal, because ‘these ladies have been living for three weeks under the constant fire of the enemy, in spite of which they have carried out their duty with utmost credit and tireless devotion to duty’.77 Just as he had found time on the voyage to Quebec on the Queen Mary to cable President Roosevelt, requesting added leave time for the wounded American soldiers on board, so under fire and enormous pressure to work out a settlement of the Greek civil war, he found time to think of those women whose unheralded contributions he knew from first-hand observation to be crucial to a successful war effort.
After addressing the crew of the Ajax, thanking them for their work, Churchill and his staff boarded his Skymaster for the flight home, via Naples. Before sailing, Holmes says that ‘Bearers of gifts knocked on the door of our cabin all morning. There were sponges, grapefruit, butter, pictures of Ajax framed for us by the ship’s carpenters… The most cherished offering was a good conduct certificate which read, in part… She [Holmes] has conducted herself most excellently under difficult conditions. She has been an asset to the ship,’ signed by the captain of HMS Ajax. Layton probably received a similar certificate.
In Naples Churchill stopped off to meet with Field Marshal Alexander and Admiral Cunningham. The field marshal had arranged for the two secretaries (Holmes and Layton) to stay in a fully staffed chalet in the grounds of his Villa Rivalta. The admiral had further arranged a dinner for the two women at his HQ, the Villa Emma, and insisted that they ‘be served with some of his best brandy’, which they enjoyed sitting on a terrace overlooking Capri with ‘garlands of flowers’78 in the house where Admiral Nelson had lived with his mistress Emma, Lady Hamilton, a tale recounted in That Hamilton Woman (1941),** one of Churchill’s favourite films, watched, and not for the first time, on a sea voyage to meet with President Roosevelt and at Chequers.
While in Naples Churchill had time to dictate a loving note to Mrs Churchill. Holmes recalls that he was a bit grumpy and that she ‘could not hear what he was saying… he often abandoned his dentures and would be smoking a cigar and he also had a slight impediment.’ So she asked him to repeat two words. ‘Tender love,’ he said, but still inaudibly. She told the prime minister that she still could not hear him. ‘Tender love,’ he repeated. ‘You ought to know what that is.’ One of the less endearing aspects of the prime minister was his occasional and ill-concealed irritability, especially when tired, as he had every right to be in this instance after his frustrating exertions with the combative Greek factions and while under fire. There were, of course, more substantial reasons for any irritability, especially in the early days of the war when disaster followed disaster. But that tale has been well told by others, viewing history from the top down, rather than from the staff level up.
But exhaustion rarely lasted. When asked about Churchill’s health in general, Holmes described his ‘stamina as amazing… He seems to throw off illness in a stubborn way.’ And he had ‘this marvellous ability to sleep, to sort of catnap really… awake early and working.’
Churchill’s eagerness to share with Holmes and others on his staff his sense of history in each of the venues they visited, and his courteous inclusion of them in events such as the ballet in Moscow, does not mean that for someone born at Blenheim, hierarchy did not matter. When asked, Holmes admitted that she had never had dinner with Churchill’s intimate circle, with the exception of one occasion, aboard a flight from Cairo to Naples. She was working in the back of the plane ‘on a rather rickety table with a typewriter… planning to have lunch with Sawyers.’ The prime minister sent back a message asking her to come forward for lunch with him and Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), and the others. She did as asked and Churchill offered her some brandy. She goes on: ‘I had to desist because I thought I’d never get any work done… I thought I was going to fall flat on my face if I had brandy. Never be able to do any work, in these conditions… on an aircraft.’ But, she says, ‘Generally, I didn’t eat with the family, not really, no.’
One of Holmes’s most interesting recollections is her private moments with Churchill, after the day’s work had been done, when he w
as ‘wanting to unwind’.79 These times were ‘totally fascinating… He would recite Tennyson… with all the emotions and tears falling down… a poem called “Locksley Hall”. Then he would talk about his early life… when he was in India. He was very mellow… but his invective was quite memorable too.’ Elizabeth Layton said she could ‘hear the tears in his voice’.80
Churchill had a lively and imaginative vocabulary. Without naming names, she reports Churchill saying someone should ‘be swatting flies in his wife’s boudoir’; someone else was ‘a yapping dog… Occasionally he would swear and then sort of profusely apologize – especially if a lady was present.’ On another occasion he described someone as ‘a bladder with a name on it’.81 She wrote: ‘I would not have missed his reminiscences for anything.’82
After Athens, Holmes was not surprised when the prime minister said to her: ‘You know I can’t give you the excitement of Athens every day.’83 He was wrong. Her next trip would be even more exciting: Yalta in February 1945, when Churchill met President Roosevelt and Marshal Stalin. After only a few weeks of routine work at Downing Street and Chequers, Churchill asked her if she was coming with him to Yalta. When she said ‘no’, he told Leslie Rowan to add her name to the list of those travelling with him to Yalta. Because the staff was a cohesive unit and worked well together with no friction, Holmes was worried that she might be replacing Jo Sturdee on this trip, which she told Rowan she would not do. Rowan assured her that ‘what the Boss says, goes and orders is orders’84 and that both she and Sturdee would be travelling to Yalta.
Churchill’s party was flown to Malta and there boarded the HMS Orion, where Churchill and his daughter Sarah joined them. When President Roosevelt’s ship, the USS Quincy, sailed into the harbour, the two leaders waved to each other from their respective bridges. Layton and Holmes say they were invited to drinks and dinners by each of the officers’ levels (by rank) aboard ship. She wrote that Churchill ‘visited the Wardroom and stood at the bar and had a drink with all the officers crowding around him. He is simply wonderful at these impromptu chats.’85 He urged the officers to be ‘kind to my lady secretaries. They travel everywhere with me, sometimes under most difficult conditions and they put up with all my bad tempers.’86 Hard to resist that Churchillian charm. The officers sang ‘Goodnight, Ladies’ to Holmes and Layton as they left the wardroom. The party then flew on to Yalta, where, on ‘late night duty, we are sleeping in a nearby sanatorium’, with scarce bathroom and washing facilities, and having to wait in a queue with Field Marshal Alexander for a bath. ‘What a hole I’ve brought you to,’ the prime minister apologized to Holmes. But the days and work contained sufficient excitement to offset the physical hardships.87
The prime minister gave a dinner for the leaders at the Vorontsov Palace on 10 February 1945.88 Holmes recalls that Commander ‘Tommy’ Thompson ‘came in to get the PM’s approval of the table plan. He [Churchill] thought some of the courses ought to be cut out.’ With his usual attention to the details of dinner gatherings, and his use of the dinner table to advance his policies, Churchill ‘finally approved the table plan saying that what they would lose in pleasure they could gain in business’.89 Consumed with work, even at dinners, and planning ahead.
Churchill’s personal secretaries had dinner that night in another dining room with the staff of the president, many of whom they knew from the meetings at Quebec and Hyde Park. The special relationship was – and is – deep.
Before leaving, Churchill toured the site of the Battle of Balaclava. The entourage then boarded the SS Franconia so the prime minister could work there. Holmes could sleep in her own cabin aboard the ship. But not for long. The staff was to fly home shortly after its stay on the SS Franconia to get some work done. They were escorted to Saki airbase, where the Soviets had arranged a grand buffet. British and Russian toasts were ‘ad nauseam – our private toast was: Here’s Saki in your eye.’90 With typical Churchillian curiosity and knowledge, he regretted merely flying over the island of Samothrace – a site of ancient renown because of the discovery of the justly famed statue of Nike, now prominently displayed in the Louvre.
On the way home, Holmes landed at Athens in February 1945, for the second time in her career, where the Churchill party was greeted as heroes for having brought to an end the Greek civil war. Holmes had a dinner that night with the officers aboard HMS Ajax, many of whom she knew from her previous visits aboard that ship. Then she flew to Cairo’s famous Mena House Hotel, with its glorious views of the Sphinx.
When preparing to fly back to Britain, the prime minister asked who would be on the plane with him. When told it would be Miss Layton this time, he commented, ‘And so my bevy is to be divided.’91 Holmes flew back through Marseilles, where she was given a ‘hot meal in “The Blitz” café’.92
Back at home, the work continued. As did the excitement of working for Churchill. With some understatement, Holmes describes the week of 29 April 1945 as ‘very exciting. Liz [Layton] and I hope that, as well as the surrender in Italy, the whole war will come to an end while we are on duty.’93 Grinning, the prime minister said to her, ‘It’s nice to be winning, isn’t it?’ as the German armies in Italy surrendered to the Allies.94
At 3 p.m. on 8 May 1945 Churchill spoke to the nation. Holmes’s diary records: ‘We have come though the greatest and hardest trial in our long history – as victors. The PM’s voice broke as he said “Onward Britannia”. We all rushed into the garden [at Downing Street]… we clapped him as he passed between us and he thanked us warmly, his own staff.’95 Churchill knew, and his staff knew he knew, that his personal secretaries, privy to all the secret information during the war, working tirelessly and enduring arduous and dangerous trips, were a key part of the war effort, having done much to enable him to be effective in conducting that battle.
Big Ben was now lit and striking, and victory parties were held all over the country. Churchill continued his routine of dictating memos, speeches and bulletins late into the night, keeping the same work pace he had established during the earlier years of the war. But he did find time to issue an order ensuring that there be enough beer in the capital for the celebration.96
By June he had started dictating his election campaign speech. As a civil servant, Holmes was not allowed to do any election work, only the work of the ongoing government. But she did occasionally type speeches related to the upcoming election, as did Jo Sturdee. Holmes notes that ‘at one point he was completely overwhelmed with emotion [considering the upcoming election]. The sight of this great and fearless man sobbing made tears well up in my own eyes. His compassion is so deep.’97 The only problem she faced that night was Randolph standing over her as she typed the speech, ‘breathing whisky and onions down my neck’.98 But exhilaration prevailed. One night after the prime minister went to bed at 2.30, she and others on the late-night shift ‘skipped into St James’s Park and had a go on the swings and seesaw at 3 a.m.’99
Holmes had not seen the last of exciting travel. She was asked to accompany the prime minister to the upcoming Potsdam Conference and she wrote: ‘Am being taken to Berlin! Hooray. Tottered off to bed at three a.m.’100 There were perks, certainly, but there was also a daunting amount of full-time work. By mid-July Holmes was landing at a military airfield near Berlin and being driven to a ‘beautiful villa’ in the Soviet zone near Potsdam. The prime minister arrived the next day, with his daughter Mary and a ‘galaxy of Field Marshals’. Some problem, which Holmes does not identify, had the Private Secretary on duty ‘jumping around like a parched pea on a shovel’, so the atmosphere was far from tension-free. Churchill, at one point, ‘wandered into the office about 1 a.m. and looked at some pictures on the wall. He said he could paint those kinds of scenes until the cows come home and do them much better what’s more.’101
The morning after his evening arrival in Potsdam, Churchill deviated from his usual work-in-bed-until-noon routine and walked over to President Truman’s villa for a first meeting. Churchill very much liked
the president and decided they could work together, which must have been a relief.102 Holmes saw Truman at a later lunch between the two men in Churchill’s villa and describes him as ‘a nice crisp man with an air of determination’.103 Recall that Sturdee also used the word ‘nice’ about Truman. The president had a more nuanced reaction to the prime minister: Churchill ‘gave me a lot of hooey about how great my country is. I am sure we can get along if he does not try to give me too much soft soap.’104 Holmes deemed it sufficiently noteworthy to record that Truman walked over to the prime minister’s villa alone, with none of the security detail around FDR when in Hyde Park.105 Of course the entire Potsdam conference area was sealed off by Soviet troops, so security within the perimeter was assured.
When the conference was interrupted so that Churchill could fly back to Britain to await the results of the general election, Holmes flew back with him on Churchill’s beloved Skymaster.†† By now the ‘ace RAF crew’ knew her pretty well, as she notes: ‘The crew have got into the habit of coming back to our compartment asking very formally if Miss Holmes could come up front “for ballast”.’106 We cannot be certain she accepted the invitation, but we do know that lunch was served after take-off.
She writes of the election: ‘[T]he most depressing atmosphere I could ever have imagined… Ministers being bowled out one after another. Labour gaining fast over Conservatives. It became obvious by the afternoon that Labour had won the Election with an overwhelming majority. Everyone at the office completely stunned… Mr Attlee is now the prime minister.’107 Churchill, knowing that a general election was imminent, had included the deputy prime minister Clement Attlee at Potsdam, so that he would be fully informed should the up-coming election not favour the Tories. Attlee had stayed in Britain during previous conferences to run the country’s domestic affairs.
