Inside the BBC’s broadcast chamber, Churchill settled in to begin his speech. The room was cramped, with a single armchair, a desk, and a microphone. The translator, Saint-Denis, was to introduce him to listeners, but found he had no place to sit. “On my knees,” Churchill said. He leaned back and patted his thigh. Wrote Saint-Denis, “I inserted a leg between his and next moment had seated myself partly on the arm of the chair and partly on his knee.”
