This was published 15 years ago
Churchill's private shadow, taking notes
Patrick Kinna, 1913-2009
PATRICK KINNA, Winston Churchill's confidential assistant during World War II, saw the great man in some of his most private moments. From 1940 to 1945 his tiny, trim figure rarely left the prime minister's side, pencil and shorthand pad ever ready.
At Christmas 1941, while Churchill was staying at the White House, Kinna was summoned to take dictation by the prime minister, who was soaking in his bathtub, planning his speech to Congress. Finding the muse, Churchill stomped in and out of the tub, evading the ministrations of a valet with a towel.
Always there . . . Patrick Kinna behind Winston Churchill, W. Averell Harriman of the US and Joseph Stalin in Moscow in August 1942.Credit: AP
As the prime minister paced the room "completely starkers", there was a knock on the door and Churchill went to open it. It was Franklin Roosevelt in his wheelchair. Mortified at finding his guest naked, the US president prepared to make excuses, but Churchill said: "Oh no, no, Mr President. As you can see, I have nothing to hide from you."
Patrick Francis Kinna, who has died at 95, was born in south London, the youngest of eight children. After leaving school, he took a course in shorthand and typing, then joined Barclays bank.
As war threatened he joined the reserves, preferring active service to a possible posting to "the Catering Corps, washing dishes". But his skills as a clerk (with his 150 words per minute at shorthand and 90 wpm typing, he had won the All-England championship for secretarial speeds) put him in the Intelligence Corps, posted to Paris as clerk to Major-General HRH the Duke of Windsor.
Kinna found the duke "a nice person, full of smiles", though he was relieved he never had to meet Wallis Simpson, about whom he had heard "rumours". One of his duties was to ensure that the duke never took a piece of paper home, where it might fall into the hands of the duchess.
As the Germans neared Paris, the duke and entourage were ordered to evacuate. They spent a day destroying secret documents before the duke was spirited to safety. Kinna was left to hitchhike to the coast to find a ship home.
Back in England, Kinna was asked to be clerk to Churchill on the visit to Roosevelt. After returning to Britain, he joined Churchill's staff permanently, accompanying Churchill on all his trips abroad.
Some accounts suggest that Churchill was initially charmed by Joseph Stalin, but Kinna recalled that, after their first encounter in Moscow, Churchill stormed back into the office they were using at the Kremlin, wanting to dictate a telegram to Whitehall. "I have just had a most terrible meeting with this terrible man Stalin evil and dreadful," he began. "May I remind you, Prime Minister," interrupted the British ambassador, "that all these rooms have been wired and Stalin will hear every word you said."
The next morning, though it was obvious that Stalin had heard, he was "very nice and polite and sweet".
Later, on his return from the Yalta conference, Churchill asked Kinna to have his clothes fumigated, imagining that they had acquired some unwelcome residents.
Churchill had a reputation for being brusque and inconsiderate to his staff, but Kinna recalled him as "basically very kind", though if he was in full flight "nothing else mattered". Secretaries were instructed never to ask Churchill to repeat himself. As his dictation was fast and fluent, this was difficult.
After the 1945 general election, Churchill, now leader of the opposition, asked Kinna to stay as his private secretary, but Kinna had had enough of long hours. Churchill sent a glowing testimonial and nominated him for an MBE.
The two men exchanged white pelargoniums on their birthdays. After Churchill died, Lady Churchill presented him with a set of elegant tea tables used by her husband. Meanwhile, Ernest Bevin, the Labour government's foreign secretary, hired Kinna, who worked for Bevin until he died in 1951.
Kinna, who did not marry, worked for a timber firm before retiring and living with his sister, Gladys, in Brighton. He occasionally attended events commemorating the great men for whom he had worked. In 2005 he stood alongside the Queen at the opening of the Whitehall Churchill museum. He also gave lectures, donating the fees to charity.
Telegraph, London