Interview with Giancolombo            

The Churchill Exploit

In 1951, Giancolombo was in Venice, the town he knew like the back of his hand. This time the target was to take no less than Churchill, the British Prime Minister who determined the fate of England through WWII. And Churchill wanted to swim in the beautiful Venice. He considered his morning plunge at Lido a pleasure he won’t renounce to. It was impossible to get close to him, the area was all blocked and nobody could pass without be controlled by police, neither by land nor by sea, since the security forces were equipped with boats.

"Of course the photojournalists were all banned. Churchill was there to attend the Venice Film Festival and everyone knew about that habit to swim. The place was notorious: next to the hotel Excelsior. And the time was always the same: 11 in the morning. All photographers who had a telephoto lens - many had big ones - had found place on the roofs of the hotels nearby" recalls Giancolombo.

But there was nothing to do: he was always small in every picture, although his remarkable size. "I studied carefully the situation and I decided to disguise myself as an English tourist”. It was good to Giancolombo, for his physical features. He had already experienced that the trick worked: cheats and dodgers in resorts always thought he was a foreign tourist and tried to swindle out of him. White pants and blouse, a tie of an impossible colour, yellow and black shoes, sunglasses on the head and a hat à la Jacques Tati. Such an Anglo-Saxon. "The night before I coped with the lifeguard, who was always there to guard and eventually give a hand to drunks going to swim at dawn. I entrusted him with my camera, a primerflex with a 165 mm telephoto lens ".

At daylight, full dressed and a pipe in his mouth, he went to the beach pretending to admire the sunrise. The cops every morning were settling their network of security against malicious, journalists and photographers. "A couple of them came along, and spoke to me. Slurring (with an accent that could be from Oxford to them) - I'm sorry, I don't understand, I don't understand, excuse me - I persuaded them about my English origin ". The lifeguard helped him out, how they already agreed, and told them to leave him alone, because he was a half-mad who wasted his time watching the waves. He was rather convincing and the cops decided to ignore the Englishman.

Hundred metres off - had proclaimed strict orders from Rome. Bad impression was to be avoided with such an important guest: police lined up and photographers held off. "Just when Sir Winston entered the water, I take off my glasses and dived. The way I was, all kitted out ". Giancolombo had planned: he had calculated exactly the sea depth to emerge only with shoulders. The faithful lifeguard passed him the camera and he began to take shots. "Now Churchill was six or seven meters from me, splashing cheerfully, raising high squirts, filling the mouth with water like a kid ".

 

      

                        

    

 

The Prime Minister took much time to understand what was happening. Then he started yelling breathlessly. "At that point, I had finished the first roll, always bathing, with my arms upwards, and I was changing the cartridge". He was caught: English and Italian cops threw themselves in water still in uniform and started chasing him. Giancolombo is not a man who gives up easily: he continued to shoot while fleeing. The problem was where to flee to. Like in any incredible short story, there is always someone who gets you out of trouble. A boat came alongside and I was lifted up. "They were the colleague Dino Jarach and the journalist Franco Schepis, come with a paddle boat to rescue me. Rowing hastily, I was led few hundred meters further on, along the beach ".

Off the coast the small police boats, back in water some cops, and others forced to turn around the main road; Giancolombo had all the time to go down in a cabin, discarding everything and get confused with other bathers, the cartridges hidden inside the swimming trunks. "So I mocked the hot and bothered police, passing amid with great aplomb, as if nothing happened." He got to the hotel, wore new clothes, and then with the film reached the airport as soon as possible.

An hour later, the rolls were safe on the plane for Milan and

the hit was perfectly successful. And then, like any good criminal, Giancolombo wanted to return to the “crime scene”: this time the police, who had understood what happened, took a moment to grab him. But all was done.

Winston Churchill, informed of the event, grinned and bore it. "Apologies to the Prime Minister followed, and the publication of photographs on Life" concludes Giancolombo.

 

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