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Tom was a bit too young to be sent overseas, being just a few months past seventeen, and the rules said one must be over eighteen to serve abroad. Instead, as a member of the Coldstream Guards, after his basic training he was assigned to the guard detachment of the Prime Minister鈥檚 residence, Chequers. After a short time there, he came to find out that Mr. Churchill was addicted to movies, American movies especially.

A very large and long study upstairs of Chequers had been semi-converted to a theatre, with two fine state-of-the-art projectors and screen. Serving soldiers were stationed there to protect the P.M. on the weekends when he was in residence, security duties during the week assigned to the Metropolitan Police. Tom learned that, proportional to the numbers of troops at Chequers, three infantry soldiers could be given tickets for the movies, shown every Saturday night.

The custom during this time, borne of regular cinemas, was the better seats were in the back of the theatre, and the cheap seats were always in front. After showing his ticket and being seated in the back of the makeshift cinema, once everyone was seated, a voice from the rear of the theatre would announce, 鈥漵tand, please, for the Prime Minister鈥�, and all would rise. In marched Churchill, cigar first, wearing a silk dressing gown, proceeding to the very front of the room, where a small table to the right of his seat was fixed with a decanter of whiskey, glass, a soda dispenser, matches and ashtray to complete the set. Churchill鈥檚 guests were all seated in the front near him. Once in place, the lights would dim, and the movie commenced.

That night, 鈥楲ifeboat鈥� starring Tallulah Bankhead was showing, a film and an encounter still clear in the memory of that wartime soldier.

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Henry Wheeler of the 大象传媒 Radio Shropshire CSV Action Desk on behalf of Tom Cross and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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