As bombing continued, John Colville found himself absorbed by romantic distractions. On November 17, he rode with Audrey Paget at Hatfield Park and was captivated by her beauty and charm, yet he remained emotionally tied to Gay Margesson. Colville concluded that, despite Audrey’s appeal, he was still in love with Gay and that marriage would be foolish in the middle of Europe’s crisis.

At the same time, Pamela Churchill was increasingly distressed by money. On November 19, she wrote Randolph Churchill asking for another ten pounds a week because household costs and the care of their baby nearly consumed her income. Pamela also warned Randolph to curb his own spending, gambling, and drinking, because his habits were making her constantly anxious; despite her disappointment in the marriage, she ended by stressing her love for him and her hope that he would sacrifice for their family.

Winston Churchill continued to rely on weekends at Ditchley and Chequers as relief from bomb-damaged London. At Ditchley, he and his guests watched The Great Dictator, and later Churchill fell awkwardly between a chair and an ottoman. Instead of being embarrassed, Churchill laughed at himself and called the mishap “a real Charlie Chaplin,” turning the accident into comic release.

The weekend of November 30 brought more serious family observances: Churchill’s sixty-sixth birthday and the christening of Pamela and Randolph’s son, Winston, at Ellesborough church. During the service Churchill repeatedly wept and murmured pity for a child born into wartime. At lunch, after toasts to the baby and then to Churchill, Beaverbrook praised him extravagantly, but Churchill, overcome by emotion, could only begin, “In these days, I often think of Our Lord,” before breaking down and sitting in silence, revealing how heavily the war weighed on him.

The next day Beaverbrook resigned yet again, arguing that aircraft-factory dispersal required stronger backing and claiming he no longer had the support for the job. Churchill, though sympathetic to Beaverbrook’s asthma and depression, refused to accept the resignation and urged him to rest briefly and continue. Beaverbrook remained in office, while a cold then spread through the Churchill family, affecting Mary, Winston, and Clementine in turn; even so, the bombs kept falling.