Dunkirk101
12-21-2007, 08:24 PM
Churchill's hippie granddaughter dies
Story Highlights:
Arabella Spencer-Churchill, granddaughter of Britain's wartime PM, dies
The 58-year-old, who had pancreatic cancer, died in southwestern England
Spencer-Churchill was founder of the renowned Glastonbury rock festival
In the mid-1970s, she lived the down-and-out life as a squatter in London
LONDON, England (AP) -- Arabella Spencer-Churchill, the unconventional granddaughter of Britain's wartime prime minister and a founder of the Glastonbury rock festival, has died at age 58, her husband said.
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/9326/29333927jv3.png (http://imageshack.us)
Arabella Spencer-Churchill: "I'm immensely proud of my grandfather, but ... I was no good at being a Churchill."
Spencer-Churchill, who had pancreatic cancer, died at home in Glastonbury, southwestern England, said her husband, Ian McLeod. On the same day, her son, Nicholas Jake Barton, was sentenced to three years in prison in Australia for his part in an ecstasy drug racket.
Born on October 31, 1949, Spencer-Churchill was the daughter of Winston Churchill's son, Randolph, and June Osborne.
She was a free spirit in one of the grandest families in Britain, drawn to the hippie life. In the mid-1970s, she lived the down-and-out life as a squatter in London, running a low-cost restaurant for fellow squatters.
"I'm immensely proud of my grandfather, and I hope he would be proud of me, but ... I was no good at being a Churchill," she said in an interview published in The Independent newspaper in June.
"People never saw me for me. It doesn't do a lot for your confidence."
She was embroiled in controversy in 1971 when she declined an invitation to represent Britain at a NATO festival in the United States.
She wrote to the organizers: "My grandfather used the phrase 'The Iron Curtain.' It seems to be that what is facing us all now is the final curtain. The defense systems of the great powers are mutually infectious."
Don't Miss
Winston Churchill's great-grandson jailed
Her refusal caused a sensation in Britain, and in her family.
"My mother was saying, 'Darling, can't I just say you've had a nervous breakdown?' My brother (the former member of Parliament Winston Churchill) rang up, absolutely furious with me," she was quoted by The Independent as saying. "The whole thing was a nightmare. I felt I had let the family down. I felt I wanted to be a hippie, I felt I was left wing, I didn't feel like the rest of my family," she said.
She was 21 when she went to Glastonbury, a place associated with Arthurian lore.
She helped found the renowned Glastonbury festival and remained involved through this summer with the event, which often recreates the deep mud, and some of the glory, of Woodstock.
The 1971 festival, which featured Hawkwind, Traffic, Melanie, David Bowie, Joan Baez and Fairport Convention, attracted 12,000 people. Revived as a three-day festival in 1979, it had grown by 2007 to draw 153,000 people to hear acts including Coldplay, Brian Wilson, Kaiser Chiefs and Elvis Costello.
"Her energy, vitality, and great sense of morality and social responsibility have given her a place in our festival history second to none," festival organizer Michael Eavis said in a message posted on the festival Web site.
"May her place in the great eternity be always peaceful and perhaps the mysteries of the heavens will accommodate her spirit forever," Eavis said.
Spencer-Churchill is survived by her son and a 19-year-old daughter, Jessica McLeod.
Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced, but would be in accord with her Buddhist faith, her husband said
link: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/12/21/churchill.granddaughter.ap/index.html
Story Highlights:
Arabella Spencer-Churchill, granddaughter of Britain's wartime PM, dies
The 58-year-old, who had pancreatic cancer, died in southwestern England
Spencer-Churchill was founder of the renowned Glastonbury rock festival
In the mid-1970s, she lived the down-and-out life as a squatter in London
LONDON, England (AP) -- Arabella Spencer-Churchill, the unconventional granddaughter of Britain's wartime prime minister and a founder of the Glastonbury rock festival, has died at age 58, her husband said.
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/9326/29333927jv3.png (http://imageshack.us)
Arabella Spencer-Churchill: "I'm immensely proud of my grandfather, but ... I was no good at being a Churchill."
Spencer-Churchill, who had pancreatic cancer, died at home in Glastonbury, southwestern England, said her husband, Ian McLeod. On the same day, her son, Nicholas Jake Barton, was sentenced to three years in prison in Australia for his part in an ecstasy drug racket.
Born on October 31, 1949, Spencer-Churchill was the daughter of Winston Churchill's son, Randolph, and June Osborne.
She was a free spirit in one of the grandest families in Britain, drawn to the hippie life. In the mid-1970s, she lived the down-and-out life as a squatter in London, running a low-cost restaurant for fellow squatters.
"I'm immensely proud of my grandfather, and I hope he would be proud of me, but ... I was no good at being a Churchill," she said in an interview published in The Independent newspaper in June.
"People never saw me for me. It doesn't do a lot for your confidence."
She was embroiled in controversy in 1971 when she declined an invitation to represent Britain at a NATO festival in the United States.
She wrote to the organizers: "My grandfather used the phrase 'The Iron Curtain.' It seems to be that what is facing us all now is the final curtain. The defense systems of the great powers are mutually infectious."
Don't Miss
Winston Churchill's great-grandson jailed
Her refusal caused a sensation in Britain, and in her family.
"My mother was saying, 'Darling, can't I just say you've had a nervous breakdown?' My brother (the former member of Parliament Winston Churchill) rang up, absolutely furious with me," she was quoted by The Independent as saying. "The whole thing was a nightmare. I felt I had let the family down. I felt I wanted to be a hippie, I felt I was left wing, I didn't feel like the rest of my family," she said.
She was 21 when she went to Glastonbury, a place associated with Arthurian lore.
She helped found the renowned Glastonbury festival and remained involved through this summer with the event, which often recreates the deep mud, and some of the glory, of Woodstock.
The 1971 festival, which featured Hawkwind, Traffic, Melanie, David Bowie, Joan Baez and Fairport Convention, attracted 12,000 people. Revived as a three-day festival in 1979, it had grown by 2007 to draw 153,000 people to hear acts including Coldplay, Brian Wilson, Kaiser Chiefs and Elvis Costello.
"Her energy, vitality, and great sense of morality and social responsibility have given her a place in our festival history second to none," festival organizer Michael Eavis said in a message posted on the festival Web site.
"May her place in the great eternity be always peaceful and perhaps the mysteries of the heavens will accommodate her spirit forever," Eavis said.
Spencer-Churchill is survived by her son and a 19-year-old daughter, Jessica McLeod.
Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced, but would be in accord with her Buddhist faith, her husband said
link: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/12/21/churchill.granddaughter.ap/index.html