Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill was one of the 20th century’s most famous prime ministers. In a recent BBC poll, he was voted the Greatest Briton of all time, receiving half a million votes. He was a strong and determined leader. He led the people of Britain through World War II and was not afraid of taking risks. He was a powerful speaker and his speeches represented the spirit of wartime Britain and raised national morale. He also had enormous energy. He celebrated his 70th birthday during World War II, he never seemed to go to bed and he had a daily schedule which few people could contemplate.

Winston’s childhood

Winston Churchill had a typically upper-class Victorian upbringing. He lived in the nursery wing of Blenheim Palace, where he was born in November 1874. He rarely saw his father, the youngest son of a duke, or his mother, who was an American heiress. Sent off to boarding school at the age of seven and later to Harrow, a boys’ public school, his scholastic and sporting achievements were unremarkable. Letters from the headteacher to his mother reported on his failure to study hard and his inability to be punctual.

‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’ Winston Churchill

Military and political life

After school Churchill trained as a soldier at Sandhurst Royal Military College. He served in India, the Sudan and South Africa. While in South Africa, he was captured and sent to a prisoner of war camp, but he made a daring escape. Back home, he followed his father into politics and became a Member of Parliament. When Neville Chamberlain resigned as prime minister in 1940, Churchill was elected to lead the War Cabinet – a coalition of all talents, not based on party affiliation.