By Charles Backus, Edward R. Campbell '39 Press Director
Charles Backus in London |
Last October, to coincide with the release of these two publications, we were enabled to invite Ms. Sandys to Texas through the good offices of Davis Ford and other members of the Press Advancement Board. She lectured in College Station first at the Bush Library's Annenberg Center and then at Rudder Auditorium for the "Community of Scholars" lecture series, as well as at UT's LBJ School and the Austin Country Club. Strong audience interest resulted in brisk sales throughout her stay in Texas.
Honorary Press Advancement Board member and former First Lady Barbara Bush, commenting on Sandys' presentation, described her as "charming, a great speaker, and she painted a picture of a grandfather and granddaughter that I will long remember."
Honorary Press Advancement Board member and former First Lady Barbara Bush, commenting on Sandys' presentation, described her as "charming, a great speaker, and she painted a picture of a grandfather and granddaughter that I will long remember."
Having had a wonderful time in Texas, Celia designed our visit to England as a reciprocal tour. Our group of eleven congenial individuals included Davis and Gwen Ford; Advancement Board member Lynn Box and husband Richard, former chairman of the Texas A&M Board of Regents; Press author Janet Pollard; and former US Senator Joseph Tydings, from Maryland.
The tour generated a great deal of camaraderie and good will for Texas A&M University among those whom we met. In addition, with Celia's personal involvement, we were able to assure that the two titles by her that are now published with the Texas A&M imprint, and perhaps other books from our list, will be stocked and sold in most of the Churchill sites in England.
The tour generated a great deal of camaraderie and good will for Texas A&M University among those whom we met. In addition, with Celia's personal involvement, we were able to assure that the two titles by her that are now published with the Texas A&M imprint, and perhaps other books from our list, will be stocked and sold in most of the Churchill sites in England.
Our journey began with a lovely dinner prepared and served by our host and her daughter in her London home on the banks of the Thames. A special guest that evening was Jane Portal (Lady Williams of Elvel), the last of Churchill's private secretaries and the mother of the current Archbishop of Canterbury.
Churchill War Rooms |
Chartwell |
Winston Churchill's gravesite at St. Martin's Church in Bladon |
Bleinheim Palace |
En route back to London, we stopped off at Harrow, the "public school" where Churchill received much of his early education and from where many of the poignant letters of a lonely child that appear in From Winston with Love and Kisses were written.
For our final night in London, we were the guests of Lord Gordon Wasserman in the private dining room of the House of Lords. We were treated to an extensive tour of Parliament and Westminster Hall, parts of which date to the 11th century. This storied complex, the location of so many of Churchill's triumphs and failures, was the perfect finale to our memorable tour.
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