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Winston Churchill has often been quoted…but he’s often been misquoted too. Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with Christoph Droesser, editor and reporter for the German newspaper Die Zeit, who’s checked out some sayings that have been attributed to Churchill.
�The only statistics you can trust are those you falsified yourself� that’s a good one. Another is when he was asked about his longevity, and he said �first of all, no sports.� If you ask Germans about these quotes they say this is Churchill, but if you go to England, they won’t have heard it. (So what did your investigation turn up?) About the sports thing, I found out before the war and in his younger years, Churchill was a true athlete. A real quote from his is, �No hour you spend in the saddle is wasted.� (What about the statistics quote?) This was a slam against Churchill and the Germans tried to portray Churchill as a liar in the press during and after the war so I think that’s how this image of Churchill got into the public image in Germany. (When you came out with this news, what was the reaction in Germany?) Of course astonishment but I don’t think I can do away with it because they’re so entrenched. With out quotes, it’s the same, people say I can’t prove this.