This article is within the scope of WikiProject University of Oxford, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the University of Oxford on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.University of OxfordWikipedia:WikiProject University of OxfordTemplate:WikiProject University of OxfordUniversity of Oxford articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Politics of the United Kingdom, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Politics of the United Kingdom on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Politics of the United KingdomWikipedia:WikiProject Politics of the United KingdomTemplate:WikiProject Politics of the United KingdomPolitics of the United Kingdom articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
This article is of interest to WikiProject LGBTQ+ studies, which tries to ensure comprehensive and factual coverage of all LGBTQ-related issues on Wikipedia. For more information, or to get involved, please visit the project page or contribute to the discussion.LGBTQ+ studiesWikipedia:WikiProject LGBTQ+ studiesTemplate:WikiProject LGBTQ+ studiesLGBTQ+ studies articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject London, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of London on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.LondonWikipedia:WikiProject LondonTemplate:WikiProject LondonLondon-related articles
A fact from Ian Harvey (politician) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 9 January 2007. The text of the entry was as follows:
There's a famous story that, on hearing of Harvey's arrest, Winston Churchill remarked "On the coldest night of the year? Makes you proud to be British!"
However, the earliest source I can find is D. R. Thorpe: "Supermac: The Life of Harold Macmillan" (2011), note 18 to pages 374-375. cagliost (talk) 08:40, 14 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, it is famous story. If it's going in the article then the reader needs to be given a gentle nudge that it might be just a good story (or maybe somebody else said it, and it like many other witty sayings it came to be misattributed to Churchill - a well-documented phenomenon which somebody called "Churchill Drift" - I've seen an anthology of Churchill sayings with an entire long section devoted to things he supposedly said but didn't). I think we'd need to find a writer who traces it back to a reliable primary source, eg. the diaries or memoirs of somebody who was there, before firmly attributing it to him.Paulturtle (talk) 20:10, 24 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
It's also mentioned in a footnote by D.R.Thorpe in the diaries of Kenneth Rose, again without attribution to a primary source. So quite possibly apocryphal.Paulturtle (talk) 00:36, 23 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
.svg){kind=small}
