Having watched The Gathering Storm at the weekend I finally tried to find out what the name of the documentary - the signature tune of which has remained in my psyche since childhood in England. Thanks to the reviews above I now know it was The Valiant Years. I was only 9 or 10 but the majestic music and the rippling of the water at the end of each episode - which one must presume is at Chartwell - Winston Churchill's home - I can summon in a thrice. I must confess as an adopted Australian now I am very much aware of Churchill's great blunders which cost tens of thousands of lives over decades but he was certainly the leader the Allies needed during the War. I remember some years back seeing a documentary on Churchill's life which ended with his funeral (which I can still remember vaguely as a child) and feeling inconsolable grief for a few minutes. There was something very big about Churchill and very small about the island he was trying to protect which I think resonates with the child within us and the father we ( I guess most of us writing in this column) have lost. I hope to at least get a copy of the music one day - but the DVD would be grand.
Review of Winston Churchill: The Valiant Years
Winston Churchill: The Valiant Years
(1960–1963)
The power to hold you through the years!
1 June 2010