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London museum airbrushes out Churchill's cigar
While there have been a lot of angry comments here on Gadling about Egypt's smoking ban and the even stricter smoking ban in Finland, neither country has tried to pretend people didn't smoke in the past. Now someone at the Winston Churchill's Britain at War Experience, a London museum, seems to have decided dead people could get lung cancer and airbrushed out a cigar from a photo of Winston Churchill.A visitor to the museum noticed that a famous photo of Churchill hanging above the entrance had been doctored to remove a cigar from his mouth. The altered photo and the original can be seen here. The museum denies all responsibility and says it's investigating, but being a museum they shouldn't have to wait for a member of the public to correct their history, especially about the very person the museum is named after.
Churchill was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War Two and was famous for lighting up a stogy faster than you can say "Dresden bombing." He also drank regularly, but his lungs and liver were apparently none the worse for wear since he died of a stroke at age ninety.
Photo courtesy Deutsches Bundesarchiv.
Filed under: Arts and Culture, History, Learning, Europe, United Kingdom
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jim Jun 18th 2010 4:30PM
"Faster than you can say Dresden Bombing"? Excuse me, have I missed something here?
Has Gadling transformed from travel blog in to a historical comment blog? If so perhaps our correspondent should explain what he intends by this remark? Seems somewhat out of context to the subject matter of the article to me. Is this an attempt to cause offence or put something missing from the article in to some kind of context?
Please explain.
Chroma Jun 18th 2010 3:45PM
facepalm.jpg
BTDT Jun 18th 2010 10:23PM
Quite simply, the world's gone mad.
BC Jun 20th 2010 2:01AM
Grow some skin. And learn a little history. REAL history, not the wussy PC I-wish-it-was-history.
Nikita Tymmons Jun 19th 2010 8:43AM
Actually I think it's rather funny. And even funnier is the fact that it was a visitor to the museum who first noticed the "editing".
But what's not funny at all is AOL's sneaky practice of creating "Profiles" when you first sign in to ANY AOL message board.
Warning: There is a hyperlink under your name on this comment board. Click on your name and see.
That profile was created the first time you signed on to ANY comment board on AOL ... and there are almost a hundred of them, including this one. It's linked to your EMail address . Permanently.
Now look at the archives of EVERY comment you've ever made, right there on your profile. To be seen by anyone who clicks onto it.
AOL never even warned you a "profile" was being made. Only that your comment had been "verified". AOL apparently thinks "verify" or "confirm" means "set up unauthorized profile". Sneaky sneaky
Oh yes. If you have an unusual name, your profile may be picked up by Google Search and you'll be all over the World Wide Web as an independent link. Instant fame?
We don't care about a single comment being picked up. We DO care about an archive.
Nasty Nasty ....
AOL .. play fair.
* Drop the practice of setting up unauthorized profiles
* Want to keep those profiles. Then INFORM us when we first post.
* Set the preference to "Private" by DEFAULT
* Remove "Profiles" from Google Search
nzm Jun 18th 2010 5:51PM
Cheap shot with the "Dresden bombing" quip. The blame was assigned to Churchill, but ultimately the bombing was undertaken by both the English and American air forces.
As far as airbrushing out Churchill's cigar, Arthur C. Clarke would have been very bemused. It's his "The Ghost from the Grand Banks" novel, set in 2012, coming true, where all smoking was digitally erased from old movies!
k Jun 19th 2010 3:25AM
Idiots
basketpam Jun 18th 2010 9:57PM
That's being so compulsive about something it's downright neurotic. Imagine the poor people that have to work for the nut who made this decision to do this STUPID thing. I would think one of the first things a person learns in museum curator class 101 is you do NOT alter famous artwork or photos. To be honest, anyone who is this goofy shouldn't be in charge of any sort of business or organization. For 14 very long years I worked for an obessive compulsive neurotic psychotic idiot who would have done just this stupid sort of thing. I hope the museum is suffering from major embaressment right now. Somehow I would think this would violate some sort of copyright laws or something. Now don't get me wrong, I DETEST smoking probably more than 90% of the rest of the population. But even I have the brains to know that changing the picture to alter history and try to make people think there was no cigar there is just downright crazy. For good or bad, a cigar was just as much a part of Winston Churchill as his unique speech pattern. Folks, just leave history alone. And get rid of this idiotic who pulled this stupid stunt.
d Jun 19th 2010 2:49AM
Brilliantly stated by basketpam! I too, despise smoking.....even in entrances I am forced to walk through but this is despicable political correctness taken to it's idiotic and dangerous extreme, especially if there are no consequences to the idiot involved
CCinRI Jun 19th 2010 8:42AM
This is the same mentality that is attempting to rewrite history in the Texas textbooks, and covering the genitals on sculptures and frescoes done by the masters.
Joe Papierz Jr Jun 18th 2010 10:43PM
Whoever did the airbrushing, and whoever knew about it and did nothing to stop it should be fired for intionally damaging museum property. No excuses. End of story.
Jerome Thomas Jun 19th 2010 12:40AM
I am bothered by the fact that people powerful enough to commit such an artistic atrocity are inclined to do it. I hope they aren't put in charge of the holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. No doubt heads will roll.
James Jun 19th 2010 12:36AM
Excuse me Mr. Orwell, but the changing of history has started, we thought you ought to know.
Sincerely,
Big Brother