Winston Churchill: a left hemisphere stroke or possible focal seizure on 20 October 1956

17 September–19 October 1956: Working holiday

Churchill wrote to Lord Cherwell on 19 September telling him ‘the weather is beautiful-sunny yet cool’ and inviting him to come to La Pausa. ⁸ Churchill also wrote to his wife on the same day,

Dr Roberts [Roberts was to become Churchill's regular doctor in the South of France] has examined me and finds me in very good health. I have started resolutely on the Baruch hearing aid, and am getting very used to wearing it. I can even hear the bird talk when I am alone. ⁸

Churchill wrote again to his wife on 15 October.

The time has passed v[er]y quickly & I am now within a week of coming home – five weeks to a day it will be. It has been a v[er]y pleasant spell, quiet and peaceful. I wish you had come for a week or so … I have begun painting one picture – a large long one of the view to the Eastward; and have progressed so well that after three days it is still an attraction to me … I hope the Queen was not too vexed at being beaten. It was just as well I wasn't there as there w[oul]d have been embarrassing cheers and counter-cheers. ⁸

20 October 1956: Collapse in the bathroom

Churchill's detective, Sgt Murray, ¹³ recalled:

At about 8:30 am, Sir Winston got out of bed to go to the bathroom. A few minutes later, the male nurse who had been on hand since his illness a year or more earlier, went into the bathroom and found him sitting on the floor, blue in the face and unable to move. The nurse quickly got him back into bed, piled hot water bottles round him and administered the prescribed treatment [nikethamide] decided on by his doctor, Lord Moran, at the time of the earlier stroke. The nurse immediately telephoned Dr David Roberts the English doctor who attended Lord Beaverbrook when he was at La Capponcina, and who was also one of the doctors in attendance on Prince Rainier and his family in Monaco. Sir Winston very quickly returned to his usual self, and when I went in to see him I found him sitting up in bed, a grave look on his face, but reasonably well.

On 20 October, Moran was staying with the Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man, Sir Ambrose Dundas Flux Dundas. Dundas told Moran, ‘France wants you on the telephone.’ Moran ¹ could not hear what Churchill said and so spoke with Roberts.

Roberts was guarded on the telephone, but I gathered Winston had some kind of black-out this morning. No, he did not think it was necessary for me to see him. He was already much better. All day I have had a feeling of disquiet. When Winston telephoned, did he want to see me?

21–28 October 1956: Recovery

Murray ¹³ records the challenges during Churchill's recovery:

Life with the Old Man himself was almost as difficult, because, frankly he was not cut out to be an ideal patient. Luckily his diet was only slightly restricted by his illness, but at lunchtime on the first day, when his doctor was just playing safe, his meal consisted of nothing but a piece of cheese, and he reacted strongly. ‘Only cheese for lunch. Only cheese for lunch’.

The stroke delayed Churchill's return to England by more than a week, and the illness drew the inevitable reaction from the press all over the world. Murray ¹³ wrote,

Life became tiresome as we contended with hordes of international reporters and constantly ringing telephones. I did my best to cope with my side, but it was impossible to stop bits of idle gossip, much of it incorrect, appearing in the newspapers.

28 October 1956: Return to London

The Churchills returned to London on 28 October in an Elizabethan airliner on a scheduled British European Airways flight. ‘Sir Winston Churchill … looked well when he arrived at London Airport. He was driven to his London home.’ ²⁰

1 November 1956: Assessment by Sir Russell Brain

Brain recorded that Churchill was seen with Moran on 1 November, though Moran did not record this assessment. ¹

Twelve days ago while in the South of France, he got up to go to the lavatory, found his right leg was weak and fell down, and does not remember anything more for twenty minutes. He thinks he was alright after this, but Dr Roberts, who saw him, reports that he had loss of speech, and weakness of the right arm and leg. He also mentions weakness of the left face, but that is probably a relic of the previous attacks. He complains of no symptoms now. I thought he was slightly dysarthric, but there was no weakness of the face or tongue or limbs. Both plantars were extensor. It was difficult to feel any carotid pulse on either side of the neck.

2–4 November: Return to political activity

Montague Browne ¹⁰ has written,

I was the more surprised when, on 2 November, WSC said that he felt too tired to draft a public message of support for the Government's action over Suez. The Private Office at Number 10 had asked me to convey this request from the Prime Minister. Did WSC not wish to support the operation? Yes, he said, he definitely did want to support it. Would I please draft in that sense?

4 November 1956: Assessment by Lord Moran

In an entry dated 4 November, Moran ¹ records that Churchill was still breakfasting at Chartwell when he entered his room, though it was after 10 o’clock. Churchill began a sentence then lost the thread. Churchill said, ‘I find it difficult to write letters. I mean to compose them. I find it difficult to do anything.’ Moran recorded,

I noticed that he was drowsy and apathetic. He gazed at me blankly, so that I was not sure whether he had heard what I had said, but when I told him it looked as if Dulles had cancer he woke up.

Moran ¹ discussed Churchill with his daughter and son-in-law, Mary and Christopher Soames. Mary Soames said, ‘I know there is nothing to be done.’ She had noticed a marked deterioration in her father when he came back from France.

What I find sad, Charles, is that he doesn't seem interested in anything any longer. He doesn't want to do things … Of course, he varies a good deal. Last night, though we all bellowed, it seemed as if he heard nothing. And then – not very often now – he will perk up and for a short time take an interest in the conversation. ¹

Shortly after this Churchill was having an extension to his studio built. Murray found Churchill placing a foot on the first rung of the ladder the builders were using. Murray told Churchill, ‘you can't go up there, Sir Winston’. Churchill remonstrated with Murray. ‘You know this is not the first time I have gone up a ladder.’ Without further ado Churchill began to ascend slowly but with great determination. At the top he walked around a narrow plank and complimented the workmen on the way they were tackling the job. For the next two days Churchill repeated his climb to inspect the progress of his new building. ¹³

Sir Russell Brain Bt (1895–1966)

Brain was a Consultant Physician at the (then) London Hospital and the Maida Vale Hospital for Nervous Diseases. Brain ²² earned his living primarily from his private practice and as the author of Diseases of the nervous system, Clinical neurology, and other medical and non-medical books. He was President of the Royal College of Physicians from 1950 to 1956, succeeding Lord Moran.^23,24 Brain had assessed Churchill previously at Moran's request on 5 October 1949, 15 October 1949, and 8 December 1949 following Churchill's first stroke ³ and on multiple occasions in 1950–1952 for further episodes of cerebrovascular disease ²⁴ and in June 1953 after Churchill's second stroke. ⁵

Brain was knighted in 1952, made a baronet on 29 June 1954, and on 26 January 1962 was created Baron Brain of Eynsham in the County of Oxford. In March 1964 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Lord Moran (1882–1977)

Charles Wilson (Figure 1) was appointed Dean of St Mary's Medical School in 1920, a post he held until 1945. He became Churchill's doctor on 24 May 1940 and remained his personal physician until Churchill's death in 1965. ²⁵ He treated Churchill for chest pain in December 1941 in Washington, ²⁶ for pneumonia in London in February 1943, ²⁷ for pneumonia and atrial fibrillation in Carthage in December 1943, ²⁸ and for pneumonia in London in August 1944. ²⁷ Moran also treated Churchill in 1949 when he suffered his first stroke ³ and was primarily responsible for managing the further episodes of cerebrovascular disease in 1950–1952, ⁴ his second stroke in 1953⁵ and Churchill's recovery from it ⁶ and the cerebellar infarction in June 1955, again with an excellent recovery. ⁷

Wilson was knighted in 1938, created Baron Moran of Manton in the County of Wiltshire in 1943 and was appointed Treasurer (1938–1941) then President of the Royal College of Physicians of London (1941–1950). ²⁶

Dr Dafydd (‘David’) Myrddin Roberts (1906–1977)

Roberts qualified from Cardiff in 1933 and was commissioned on 7 February 1941 as Flying Officer, Medical Branch RAF Volunteer Reserve, with home postings. He relinquished his commission on 5 January 1943 because of ill health. ²⁹ Gilbert ⁹ states that he had been invalided out of the Royal Air Force with a 90% disability pension. Roberts moved to the Alpes Maritime in 1953 and practised medicine in Monte Carlo, with the permission of the French authorities on condition that he treated only British patients. ⁹ Roberts continued to practice in Monaco at Le Victoria, and as Physician at Princess Grace Hospital until the 1970s when he returned to England. ²⁹ He died on 28 July 1977 at the Querns Hospital, Cirencester of bronchopneumonia, Parkinsonism, and cerebrovascular disease. ²⁹

His first professional contact with Churchill was in 1956. Mary Soames ¹⁵ quotes the letter of 3 March 1956 from her father to her mother: ‘Nursing a sore throat with aid of Dr Roberts who I think is a good man (I had him last time you will remember).’ The ‘last time’ refers to an earlier visit in January 1956, although there is no record of that attendance. Thereafter, Roberts looked after Churchill whenever he stayed on the Riviera and was responsible for Churchill's care when he developed pneumonia, pleurisy, and jaundice in 1958, ³⁰ as he was on this occasion. Montague Browne ¹¹ described Roberts as ‘conscientious and prompt’. Mary Soames ¹⁵ wrote: ‘Both WSC and CSC liked him very much.’