Churchill being rude from the Town Hall balcony

[Sheffield History]

Churchill being rude from the Town Hall balcony

13/11/1941

I hope this wasn't a deliberate indication of what he thought of Sheffield people

::

[DaveH]

Churchill being rude from the Town Hall balcony

13/11/1941

I hope this wasn't a deliberate indication of what he thought of Sheffield people

::

Chuchill did this gesture (the V for Victory sign) almost everywhere he went during the war to promote good morale and the belief that in our darkest hours we would win through, - hence the V for Victory (or even the V for what we thought of the Nazi's). Normally the V is the other way around with palm outwards for Victory, but as Churchill :-

1) was a heavy smoker and frequently had a cigar between those 2 fingers

2) was a heavy drinker of spirits and so was frequently drunk / confused and

3) was so tied up with the stress of winning the war

he frequently got it the wrong way around, most famously from the balcony of Buckingham Palace on VE day!

However, his intentions were in the right place and he was undoubtedly a great wartime leader whichever way he got the sign.

[SteveHB]

What about horse rider Harvey Smiths 'V-sign' in 1971,

He got a Right Rollocking for that one lol

[DaveH]

What about horse rider Harvey Smiths 'V-sign' in 1971,

He got a Right Rollocking for that one

This V sign is a gesture that allegedly dates back to the 100 years war with France. At the time the most formidable weapon was the English longbow which had lead to major victories at Crecy and Agincourt.

The French so feared attacks by the longbow that if they captured an English archer his 2 fingers used to draw the bow (the ones used in the gesture) were cut off so that he could no longer use the much feared weapon.

As an act of defiance, after a battle, win or loose (and the English did ultimately lose the war), the English longbow archers would raise 2 fingers to the French in the well known gesture, to show that they still had them and therefore could still fire their bow and so they lived to fight another day.

[DaveH]

Chuchill did this gesture (the V for Victory sign) almost everywhere he went during the war to promote good morale and the belief that in our darkest hours we would win through, - hence the V for Victory (or even the V for what we thought of the Nazi's). Normally the V is the other way around with palm outwards for Victory, but as Churchill :-

1) was a heavy smoker and frequently had a cigar between those 2 fingers

2) was a heavy drinker of spirits and so was frequently drunk / confused and

3) was so tied up with the stress of winning the war

he frequently got it the wrong way around, most famously from the balcony of Buckingham Palace on VE day!

However, his intentions were in the right place and he was undoubtedly a great wartime leader whichever way he got the sign.

To back up these previous statements about Churchill and his V for Victory jesture here are 2 wartime pictures of him, one of him getting the gesture RIGHT and the other of him getting it WRONG! These are genuine pictures and have not been edited in Adobe Photoshop or anything like that. Note also that cigar, easy to get the gesture wrong if you are in the habit of holding that between your fingers.