How many ships could a woman’s face launch? This question seems to have preoccupied Winston Churchill. As a young officer attending gala balls and events, he rated women on a scale of 1000 – based on the legend of Helen, whose beauty triggered the Battle of Troy.
It was in Hyderabad, 1897, that he first found a woman worth warring for. He first met Pamela Plowden at a Polo tournament in Hyderabad, where Churchill bragged of beating a first-class team 9-3. He does not mention the encounter in his autobiography, but it came to light after later biographers mention it as a key moment in his life.
He wished to take her around Hyderabad on elephant-back – a mode of transport that avoided the occasionally hostile natives of Hyderabad. The ride kicked off a romance by post, as he would later write to her in earnest:
I have lived all my life seeing the most beautiful women London produces… Never have I seen one for whom I would forego the business of life. Then I met you… Were I a dreamer of dreams, I would say… “Marry me – and I will conquer the world and lay it at your feet.
Copyright©Madras Courier, All Rights Reserved. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from madrascourier.com and redistribute by email, post to the web, mobile phone or social media.Please send in your feed back and comments to [email protected]
