WHAT A MOMENT it must have been. The Washington Star called it 'electric'. Alistair Cooke, who was there, said it was 'terribly exciting'. Behind the cluttered desk in the Oval Office were seated the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Barely two weeks had passed since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. America was in the war now and Britain's lonely struggle was no longer lonely.

Churchill had arrived in Washington the day before, 22 December 1941, and Roosevelt had gone to the airport to greet him. One of the first questions put to the Prime Minister was whether he would be willing to face an American-style press conference. Churchill relished the opportunity, perhaps in the