Winston Churchill Goes Backward Down a Water Slide & Loses His Trunks (1934)

World-changing figures can have their lighter moments too. Just witness Winston Churchill above, taking a trip to the French Riviera in 1934 and sliding backward down a water slide, only to lose his swim trunks at the end. The previously unseen clip comes from the Churchill family archives and founds its way into a Smithsonian documentary in 2021.

via @Fasc1nate

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Comments (4)
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  • Richinto says:

    Those aren’t his trunks floating at the end of the clip. Looking at the time between 0:05 and 0:07 it is clear he is riding on a large, rectangular pad of some sort, and this is what bobs to the surface at the end of the clip. His trunks would not be buoyant enough to float to the surface.

  • John says:

    Not his trunks. It’s the mat that he slides down on. Watch the start you can see it under his shoulder once in the water it will just float to the top

  • john pimm says:

    This clip is in (in b+w) the CHURCHILLS BODYGUARD series the BBC did. It ‘must predate 2021’, I ‘always thought it was his shorts because he looks so embarassed. ?

  • john pimm says:

    Having looked at CHURCHILLS BODYGUARD again episode nearly killed in new york, I think it is a similar but different clip, but still the float.

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