Page 28 - WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE DISCOVERING ENGLAND

» t was in 1938, with the ominous war Royal Navy, 24 hours a day. Each morning at phone Room—via a complicated system

clouds approaching, that a central 8:00 a daily summary was prepared for King where Churchill conducted strategic phone
emergency working area was select- George VI, Prime Minister Churchill, and calls with President Franklin Roosevelt—
Ied for the War Cabinet and Chiefs the Chiefs of Staff. In 1941 the Cabinet War had been left intact. In 1948 the government
of Staff—an emergency refuge safe from Rooms were expanded to include bedrooms formally preserved the rooms, with guided
surprise bomb attacks. Basement tours beginning in 1984.
storage rooms under the Office of
Works and the Board of Trade were "It’s hard to imagine an entire
country managing a war from
chosen for their ideal, central loca-
tion and because of the fortified such a relatively small space, yet
that space is filled with so much
structure. With a staff of civil ser-
vants, military personnel, and gov- history,” observed Michael
Canepa of San Diego, Calif.,
ernment ministers, it opened on
August 27, 1939—just one week when he toured the rooms dur-
ing his first trip to London.
before the outbreak of World War II.
In 2005 Queen Elizabeth II
As Churchill stood in the Cabinet opened the adjoining Churchill
Room, he proclaimed, “This is the Museum, which encompasses
room from which I will lead the a high-tech, multimedia dis-
war.” And that he successfully did.
play of lights, sounds, photos,
Some 115 war cabinet meetings news clips, and black and white
were conducted here over the next news reels—some 1100 docu-
six years, with Churchill seated in
the larger chair in the center of the ments, 1150 images, and ten
films--sharing important mo-
table, a massive world map on the for the staff—and a bedroom, kitchen, and ments of his life, his distinctive voice blaring
wall behind him.
dining room for the Churchills. The lights in some of his famous speeches. It’s here in
The Map Room, where the war was plotted, were finally turned off on August 16, 1945, the museum that visitors can see the books
was staffed by various officers, including one and books, documents, and furniture were Churchill wrote, the artwork he painted, and
each from the Royal Air Force, Army, and placed in storage. The Transatlantic Tele- other personal items, such as his hairbrush,

28 Wine Dine & Travel Winter 2014