Cooking for Churchill: Georgina Landemare

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2023

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Clear soup, Irish stew and steamed puddings - this was the war work of Georgina Landemare, the Churchills' longest-serving cook.

Throughout the war years, Georgina served the Prime Minister, delegations of diplomats and the occasional royal, as well as the other staff of 10 Downing Street, Chequers and the War Rooms.

Annie Gray is back with Kate today to introduce us to Georgina; why she went into the service industry, where she learnt to cook the French way, and how she managed to make the most of wartime rations (with a few top-ups here and there).

*WARNING there are adult words and themes in this episode*

Produced by Charlotte Long and Sophie Gee. Mixed by Stuart Beckwith.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello my lovely bit Twixters, it's me Kate Lester. I am here with your fair dues warning to protect
0:06.1	you from yourselves and most importantly protect you from me and the kind of awfulness that I like
0:12.3	to talk about on the airwaves. What are we talking about today? Well, we're talking about Churchill,
0:17.6	which we're already in to controversial territory, but we're talking about food actually. We're
0:23.0	talking about the kind of food that Churchill like to eat. I don't think that's particularly
0:27.2	shocking, but you know what, you just might not want to listen to someone talking about food.
0:31.5	Oh and I'll definitely be swearing, definitely. I don't think there's anything weird
0:35.3	than that actually. So if you're all right with that, I'm all right with that. Let's do it!
0:42.6	Pitch at the scene, bit Twixters. You are in your kitchen. You are serving up all a simple soup.
0:48.7	Perhaps some radish rosettes. I can't cook at all, so honestly anything is impressive to me,
0:53.6	but, but, back to the scene. You're waiting for your guests to arrive, but these aren't just regular
0:59.0	guests. No, no, no. They are King's Queens, world leaders, just generally really important people,
1:04.2	far more important than those clubs anyway. And what ingredients do you have? What is it that you're
1:08.6	working with? Well, rations actually. Oh, and there's also air raids going on and your kitchen is
1:16.0	already different. This chaotic scene would have been a regular occurrence for Georgina Landermere,
1:25.3	who was the head of Winston and Clementine Churchill's kitchen from 1940 till 1954.
1:32.1	Today, but Twixtersheets, I'm going to find out what this lady cooked, who she was, what it was
1:37.8	like to work for the Churchill's, and how the healthy prepare a banquet feast in the middle of an
1:42.5	air raid. What do you look for, a man? Oh, money of course. You're supposed to rise when an adult speaks to you.
1:54.2	I make perfect copies of whatever my boss needs. I just turn him to none and push him to the
2:00.6	air raid. Now, the air raid. Yes, social courtesy does make a difference.
2:17.2	Hello, and welcome back to Bitwixtersheets, the history of sex, scandal in society, with me,
	...

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