Hi! How are you doing?
I am not yet finished, I am afraid.

Sounds weird, doesn't it?

"'When he took over from Neville Chamberlain, he [Churchill] put a bomb under Whitehall,' recalled Air Marshal Sir Charles Portal."

We are in the final months of 1940 London Blitz. The eventuality of a German invasion is being seriously considered, and emergency plans conceived accordingly. Churchill had a full battery of coloured phones for the different services, some Central War Rooms, a Map Room, a bunker, a No. 10 Annexed, a whole panoply of measures and structures to organize resistence (including the huge subterranean compound what was then called "the Paddock" and the Dollis Hill offices)…

So I wonder if Portal is exclaiming Churchill "put a bomb under Whitehall" to convey the idea that Winston himself was a "bomb", a human power plant, an ubiquitous presence, everywhere and anytime, day and night, in his fight. Alternatively, he may have placed a real bomb under Whitehall, so as to make it explode as a warm welcome to the invaders (I guess). But I cannot say that without checking it first.

Is that "bomb" a way of speaking or a real thing?

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge,

CM

It's a way of speaking, meaning he dramatically "shook things up". Many who were in government at the time noticed that when Churchill took over in the summer of 1940 much of the air of complacency was swept aside, things started happening quicker, people at all levels started to work with an air of urgency, and that suddenly you could see even very senior civil servants running down corridors.

In his dreams and in his diary, Churchill, might have been tempted to place a bomb, especially under some of his government "colleagues", but even a maverick like him wouldn't really countenance such an act.

It simply means that from the moment he took charge then no one in Whitehall got a minute's peace or could never be complacent, idle, or unsupervised on his watch.

Portal was a little miffed that he suddenly found himself being rung by WC several times a day, but at the same time had a grudging admiration for Churchill's capacity to micro-manage things.

EDIT. What MM said ....

That is much more logical. I always fear a mishap in ambush when translating. In fact, WC was described as human "dynamo" in this respect. And he certainly was. The moment required no less, on the other hand.

Thanks a zillion!