TONI FRISSELL

‘'Delighted, my dear’, he said. ‘Where would you like me to sit?’

Toni records that when the session actually started, Churchill became ‘rather frigid’:

‘First he made a series of V for Victory signs as if I was in a crowd of newspapers photographers. Presently an impatient look came over his face. I was up to nine exposures and hadn’t accomplished anything. In my mind I tried to think of an appropriate thing to say. Finally I burst out with what was on my mind, ‘Mr. Churchill’, I said desperately. ‘You are not thinking the right thoughts’  ̶  this to one of the great thinkers of the century!

‘Oh’, he said.

I went on. ‘You are thinking how tiresome this woman is who’s detaining you when you want to go out for a walk with Mrs. Churchill. Are those the right thoughts for this struggling photographer who wants to record a great picture of you?’

I said this with a broad smile and in my most persuasive voice. At those outrageous words the boredom and impatience left Churchill’s face. He looked gentle with just a quiver of a smile on the right side of his mouth. The remaining three frames were taken with all the speed that a 1/10 of a second exposure would permit. I knew I had three’’. 

George Plimpton