Well some people consider reading a book as being a chance to learn something new. Not only have you learnt a little more about both Churchill and Roy Jenkins, but a bit of French too. Winston Churchill went to public school (Harrow). Roy Jenkins went to grammer school, which aped public school education. Both would have learnt French and Latin and been familiar enough to use common idioms in those languages to make a point in speech and writing, as well as be able to converse, or public speak intelligably in French, even if their accents would curl the toes of a native speaker. They would assume their target audience would most likely recognise the phrase, or what would be the point? French was the language of diplomats at the time. It is why French terms like chargé d'affaires is used, for example, to this day. Churchill, being a toff and born to rule would need to learn the language of diplomacy as a key part of his education. He also had people close to him more fluent in the language, so it was part of his life. He knew enough to converse in it with de Gaulle, for example, though it was more Franglais than French.
