Q. I read recently that Winston S. Churchill was almost killed by a car in Manhattan.  Where and when? 

A. One of history’s close calls occurred Dec. 13, 1931, on Fifth Avenue between 76th and 77th Streets.  Churchill, 57, had sailed to the United States to give a series of lectures on “the Pathway of the English-Speaking Peoples”; one was scheduled for the next night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.  About 10:30 p.m., he set out to visit his friend Bernard M. Baruch, the financier, at 1055 Fifth Avenue. 

Traveling north in a taxi (Fifth Avenue was two-way in those days), Churchill became confused about the building numbers.  The taxi driver, who was new to Manhattan, turned around.  Churchill got out on the Central Park side, walked a few paces north and then tried to cross the avenue against the light. 

Used to traffic that keeps to the left, Churchill looked to his right, saw no one coming and kept walking.  A car driven by an unemployed mechanic named Mario Contasino, moving about 30 miles an hour, dragged Churchill several yards and flung him into the street, bruising his right chest, spraining his right shoulder and cutting his forehead and nose.