Churchill, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer

Churchill, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer (1874-1965), statesman, author, b. Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England.

Winston Churchill was the son of Lord Randolph Churchill, a Conservative Member of Parliament and a descendant of the great General, John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough.

From 1895, as an officer in the 4th Queen's Own Hussars, he fought in Cuba, India and the Sudan. Then he went to South Africa to write newspaper reports about the Boer War (1899-1900).

He was captured by the Boers but escaped and his story of his escape made him famous.

In 1900 Churchill was elected Conservative MP for Oldham, Lancashire, and, during the next forty years, he held many important posts in different governments.

In the First World War (1914-18) he was First Lord of the Admiralty, but his plans for an attack on Turkey failed and he left the government to be a soldier in France.

In the Second World War (1939-45) he became Prime Minister in 1940 and he announced, 'I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.'

His speeches (broadcast on the radio) and his own example of courage, hard work and confidence made him a hero for Britain and her allies.

After the war, Churchill was Prime Minister again in 1951-55. He retired from office at the age of eighty and was knighted.

From 1898 Churchill published a long series of books. Among the most famous are his History of the English Speaking Peoples (4 volumes) and The Second World War (6 volumes). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953, the only Prime Minister ever to recieve this honor.

President John F. Kennedy made Churchill an Honorary Citizen of the United States in 1963.

Churchill's hobby was painting and his work earned him an invitation to become a member of the Royal Academy.

See William Manchester The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Visions of Glory