When Winston Went to War with the Wireless is the clumsy and misleading title of a new play about John Reith’s stewardship of the BBC during the 1926 general strike. Churchill, chancellor at the time, has a minor role as an irascible plodder who makes jokes without a punchline. His role is intended to foreshadow Boris’s career and the characters keep mentioning the gold standard and its damaging effects on Britain’s economy.

An unreliable history: When Winston Went to War with the Wireless, at the Donmar, reviewed
Plus: at the Theatre Royal, Windsor, a provocative tale of an unlikely friendship

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