Nancy Pistorius | Lawrence Journal-World | April 15, 2013
All eyes in the USA were focused on London last summer, with the Queen's Jubilee and the 2012 Summer Olympics drawing throngs to the vibrant city. And in any coffee shop in Lawrence these days, you're liable to hear customers discussing the misfortunes of the aristocratic Crawley family on "Downton Abbey" as much as the local weather forecast. Although your budget might not allow you to hop across the pond this spring, there are still places within an easy day's drive of Lawrence where Anglophiles can get their British fix.
National Churchill Museum
"We are all worms," Winston Churchill stated as a young man, "but I do believe that I am a glowworm."
That glowworm shone brightly during the darkest days of WWII, leading his country through battles and becoming a symbol for victory.
After the war, Churchill lobbied for peace. At Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., in 1946, Churchill warned of the "Iron Curtain" in the USSR and urged Anglo-American preparedness.
At the National Churchill Museum in Fulton (which underwent a $4 million renovation in 2006), you can explore Churchill's life experiences through a series of interactive exhibits that are engaging for young and old alike. You can experience the sights and sounds of life in a trench on the Western Front during World War I, see and hear the effects of a London air raid at the height of the Blitz as you're placed in the midst of a dazzling light and sound show, decipher WWII secret codes like a spy, or just sit back in an overstuffed chair surrounded by the ambience of an English gentleman's club.
“Leave the past to history especially as I propose to write that history myself.”
