In 1936, a not yet Sir Winston Churchill found himself at a dismal point in his political career.
Having publicly taken the side of King Edward VIII in the matter of abdication and a less than royal wedding to Wallace Simpson, he found himself to be a bit of a pariah - beyond the Pale as far as his former supporters were concerned.
He wrote: “I was myself so smitten in public opinion that it was the almost universal view that my political life was at last ended.”
This was not the first time he reckoned his goose was cooked.