Winston Churchill - Prime Minister - Biography.com Winston Churchill As prime minister of the United Kingdom, Sir Winston Churchill rallied the British people during WWII, and led his country from the brink of defeat to victory. IN THESE GROUPS “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.” “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” “Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities ... because it is the quality which guarantees all others.” “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.” Winston Churchill Winston Churchill - Mini Biography (TV-14; 4:12) Noted for his military service, Winston Churchill led England during World War II . He took the blame for the Gallipoli landings during World War I, but eventually became Prime Minister and led the fight against Adolf Hitler.

Synopsis Born to an aristocratic family in 1874, Winston Churchill served in the British military and worked as a writer before going into politics. After becoming prime minister in 1940, he helped lead a successful Allied strategy with the U.S. and Soviet Union during WWII to defeat the Axis powers and craft post-war peace. Elected prime minister again in 1951, he introduced key domestic reforms. Churchill died at age 90 in 1965. Early Life Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was born to an aristocratic family on November 30, 1874. As his life unfolded, he displayed the traits of his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, a British statesman from an established English family, and his mother, Jeanette "Jennie" Jerome, an independent-minded New York socialite. As a young child, Churchill grew up in Dublin, Ireland, where his father was employed by his grandfather, the 7th Duke of Marlborough, John Spencer-Churchill. When he entered formal school, Churchill proved to be an independent and rebellious student.

He did poorly at his first two schools and in April 1888, he was sent to Harrow School, a boarding school near London. Within weeks of his enrollment, he joined the Harrow Rifle Corps, which put him on a path to a military career. At first it didn't seem the military was a good choice for Churchill. It took him three tries to pass the exam for the British Royal Military College. However, once there, he did well and graduated 20th in his class of 130. Up to this time, his relationship with both his mother and father was distant, though he adored them both. While at school, Churchill wrote emotional letters to his mother, begging her to come see him, but she seldom came. His father died when he was 21, and it was said that Churchill knew him more by reputation than by any close relationship they shared. Churchill enjoyed a brief but eventful career in the British Army at a zenith of British military power. He joined the Fourth Hussars in 1895 and served in the Indian northwest frontier and the Sudan, where he saw action in the Battle of Omdurman in 1898.

While in the Army, he wrote military reports for newspapers The Pioneer and the Daily Telegraph, and two books on his experiences, The Story of the Malakand Field Force (1898) and The River War (1899). In 1899, Churchill left the Army and worked as a war correspondent for the Morning Post, a conservative daily newspaper. While reporting on the Boer War in South Africa, he was taken prisoner by the Boers while on a scouting expedition. He made headlines when he escaped, traveling almost 300 miles to Portuguese territory in Mozambique. Upon his return to Britain, he wrote about his experiences in the book London to Ladysmith (1900). Early Careers: Government and Military In 1900, Churchill became a member of Parliament in the Conservative Party for Oldham, a town in Manchester. Following his father into politics, he also followed his father's sense of independence, becoming a supporter of social reform. Unconvinced that the Conservative Party was committed to social justice, Churchill switched to the Liberal Party in 1904.

He was elected a member of Parliament in 1908, and was appointed to the prime minister's cabinet as president of the Board of Trade. That same year, he married Clementine Ogilvy Hozier, after a short courtship. As president of the Board of Trade, he joined newly appointed Chancellor Lloyd George in opposing the expansion of the British Navy. Also in 1908, he introduced several reforms for the prison system, introduced the first minimum wage, and helped set up labor exchanges for the unemployed and unemployment insurance. Churchill assisted in the passing of the People's Budget, which introduced new taxes on the wealthy to pay for new social welfare programs. The budget passed the House of Commons in 1909, but was initially defeated in the House of Lords, before being passed in 1910. He also drafted a controversial piece of legislation to amend the Mental Deficiency Act of 1913, mandating sterilization of the feeble-minded. The bill eventually passed both Houses with only the remedy of confinement in institutions. In January 1911, Churchill showed his tougher side when he made a controversial visit to a police siege in London.

Police had surrounded a house where two robbers had been caught. Churchill's degree of participation is still in some dispute. Some accounts have him going to the scene only to see for himself what was going on; others state that he allegedly gave directions to police on how to best storm the building. What is known is that the house caught fire during the siege and Churchill prevented the fire brigade from extinguishing the flames, stating that he thought it better to "let the house burn down," rather than risk lives rescuing the occupants. The bodies of the two robbers were found inside the charred ruins. While serving as first lord of the Admiralty, Churchill helped modernize the British Navy, ordering that new warships be built with oil-fired instead of coal-fired engines. He was one of the first to promote military aircraft and set up the Royal Navy Air Service. So enthusiastic was he about aviation that he took flying lessons to understand firsthand its military potential. Though not directly involved in the disastrous Battle of Gallipoli, Churchill resigned his post because he felt responsible for proposing the expedition.

For a brief period, he rejoined the British Army, commanding a battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers on the Western Front and seeing action in "no man's land." In 1917, he was appointed minister of munitions for the final year of the war, overseeing the production of tanks, airplanes and munitions. From 1919 to 1922, Churchill served as minister of war and air and colonial secretary under Prime Minister David Lloyd George. As colonial secretary, Churchill was embroiled in another controversy when he ordered air power to be used on rebellious Kurdish tribesmen in Iraq, a British holding. At one point, he suggested that poisonous gas be used to put down the rebellion. This proposal was considered but never enacted, though the conventional bombing campaign was and failed to end the resistance. Fractures in the Liberal Party led to the defeat of Churchill as a member of Parliament in 1922, and he rejoined the Conservative Party. He served as chancellor of the exchequer, returning Britain to the gold standard, and took a hard line against a general labor strike that threatened to cripple the British economy.

With the defeat of the Conservative government in 1929, Churchill was out of government. He was perceived as a right-wing extremist, out of touch with the people. He spent the next few years concentrating on his writing and published A History of English Speaking Peoples. World War II Though not at first seeing the threat that Adolf Hitler posed when he rose to power in 1933, Churchill gradually became a leading advocate for British rearmament. By 1938, as Germany began controlling its neighbors, Churchill had become a staunch critic of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement toward the Nazis. On September 3, 1939, the day that Britain declared war on Germany, Churchill was appointed first lord of the Admiralty and a member of the war cabinet, and by April 1940, he became chairman of the Military Coordinating Committee. Later that month, Germany invaded and occupied Norway, a setback for Neville Chamberlain, who had resisted Churchill's proposal that Britain preempt German aggression by unilaterally occupying vital Norwegian iron mines and sea ports. In May, debate in Parliament on the Norwegian crisis led to a vote of no confidence toward Prime Minister Chamberlain.

On May 10, King George VI appointed Churchill as prime minister and minister of defense. Within hours, the German Army began its Western Offensive, invading the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Two days later, German forces entered France. Britain stood alone against the onslaught. (Photo: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images ) Quickly, Churchill formed a coalition cabinet of leaders from the Labor, Liberal and Conservative parties. He placed intelligent and talented men in key positions. On June 18, 1940, Churchill made one of his iconic speeches to the House of Commons, warning that "the Battle of Britain" was about to begin. Churchill kept resistance to Nazi dominance alive, and created the foundation for an alliance with the United States and the Soviet Union. Churchill had previously cultivated a relationship with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s, and by March 1941, he was able to secure vital U.S. aid through the Lend Lease Act, which allowed Britain to order war goods from the United States on credit. After the United States entered World War II, in December 1941, Churchill was confident that the Allies would eventually win the war.

In the months that followed, Churchill worked closely with U.S. President Roosevelt and Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin to forge an Allied war strategy and post-war world. In meetings in Teheran (1943), Yalta (February 1945) and Potsdam (July 1945), Churchill collaborated with the two leaders to develop a united strategy against the Axis Powers, and helped craft the post-war world with the United Nations as its centerpiece. As the war wound down, Churchill proposed plans for social reforms in Britain, but was unable to convince the public. He was defeated in the general election in July 1945. During the next six years, Churchill became the leader of the opposition party and continued to have an impact on world affairs. In March 1946, while on a visit to the United States, he made his famous "Iron Curtain" speech, warning of Soviet domination in Eastern Europe. He also advocated that Britain remain independent from European coalitions and maintain its independence. After the general election of 1951, Churchill returned to government.

He was appointed minister of defense between October 1951 and January 1952, and became prime minister in October 1951. In 1953, Churchill was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. He introduced reforms such as the Mines and Quarries Act of 1954, which improved working conditions in mines, and the Housing Repairs and Rent Act of 1955, which established standards for housing. These domestic reforms were overshadowed by a series of foreign policy crises in the colonies of Kenya and Malaya, where Churchill ordered direct military action. While successful in putting down the rebellions, it became clear that Britain was no longer able to sustain its colonial rule. Later Years and Death Churchill had shown signs of fragile health as early as 1941, while visiting the White House. At that time, he suffered a mild heart attack and, in 1943, he had a similar attack while battling a bout of pneumonia. In June 1953, at age 78, he suffered from a series of strokes at his office. The news was kept from the public and Parliament, with the official announcement stating that he had suffered from exhaustion.

He recuperated at home, and returned to his work as prime minister in October. However, it was apparent even to him that he was physically and mentally slowing down. Churchill retired as prime minister in 1955. He remained a member of Parliament until the general election of 1964, when he did not seek re-election. There was speculation that Churchill suffered from Alzheimer's disease in his last years, but many medical experts feel that his reduced mental capacity was more a result of the strokes he had suffered. Despite his poor health, Churchill was able to remain active in public life, albeit mostly from the comfort of his homes in Kent and Hyde Park Gate, in London. On January 15, 1965, Churchill suffered a severe stroke that left him gravely ill. He died at his London home nine days later, at age 90, on January 24, 1965. Britain mourned for more than a week.

Videos Sir Winston Churchill: A biography – Churchill College Churchill College Archives Centre Our Collections The Churchill Papers Sir Winston Churchill: A biography Sir Winston Churchill: A biography The aim of this page is to give a brief introduction to the career of Sir Winston Churchill, and to reveal the main features of both the public and the private life of the most famous British Prime Minister of the twentieth century. The Child Winston Churchill was born into the privileged world of the British aristocracy on November 30, 1874. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a younger son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough. His mother, Jennie Jerome, was the daughter of an American business tycoon, Leonard Jerome. Winston's childhood was not a particularly happy one. Like many Victorian parents, Lord and Lady Randolph Churchill were distant. The family Nanny, Mrs Everest, became a surrogate mother to Winston and his younger brother, John S Churchill. The Soldier After passing out of Sandhurst and gaining his commission in the 4th Hussars' in February 1895, Churchill saw his first shots fired in anger during a semi-official expedition to Cuba later that year. He enjoyed the experience which coincided with his 21st birthday.

In 1897 Churchill saw more action on the North West Frontier of India, fighting against the Pathans. He rode his grey pony along the skirmish lines in full view of the enemy. "Foolish perhaps," he told his mother, " but I play for high stakes and given an audience there is no act too daring and too noble." Churchill wrote about his experiences in his first book The Story of the Malakand Field Force (1898). He soon became an accomplished war reporter, getting paid large sums for stories he sent to the press - something which did not make him popular with his senior officers. Using his mother's influence, Churchill got himself assigned to Kitchener's army in Egypt. While fighting against the Dervishes he took part in the last great cavalry charge in English history - at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898. Churchill had always been determined, as he said, to beat his sword into an iron dispatch box. So in 1899 he left the army to stand for parliament. He was defeated and almost immediately left for South Africa as war correspondent for the Morning Post.

Never able to resist a fight, he took part in the defence of an armoured train which had been ambushed by the Boers. He was captured and treated as a prisoner of war, but within a few weeks he escaped and made his way back to Durban. Churchill was hailed as a hero and took advantage of his status: he always treated advancement as a springboard not a sofa. He obtained a military commission from the Commander-in-Chief but continued to act as a war correspondent, enjoying many further adventures. After his successful election to parliament in 1900, Churchill continued to trade on his military experiences and eventually became First Lord of the Admiralty. But in spirit he always remained a dashing cavalry officer and his rashness in attack often got him into trouble, notably over the Dardanelles disaster in 1915. As a result he resigned from his Cabinet post and joined the Scots Fusiliers who were fighting on the Western Front. Once again he enjoyed the experience - he actually liked the noise made by the "whiz-bangs". He was a popular and efficient officer, as well as a brave one. But his heart was at Westminster and in May 1916 he returned to the political fray.

The Politician Churchill was first elected to parliament in 1900 shortly before the death of Queen Victoria. He took his seat in the House of Commons as the Conservative Member for Oldham in February 1901 and made his maiden speech four days later. But after only four years as a Conservative he crossed the floor and joined the Liberals, making the flamboyant gesture of sitting next to one of the leading radicals, David Lloyd George. Churchill rose swiftly within the Liberal ranks and became a Cabinet Minister in 1908 - President of the Board of Trade. In this capacity and as Home Secretary (1910-11) he helped to lay the foundations of the post-1945 welfare state. His parliamentary career was far from being plain sailing and he made a number of spectacular blunders, so much so that he was often accused of having genius without judgement. The chief setback of his career occurred in 1915 when, as First Lord of the Admiralty, he sent a naval force to the Dardanelles in an attempt to knock Turkey out of the war and to outflank Germany on a continental scale. The expedition was a disaster and it marked the lowest point in Churchill's fortunes.

However, Churchill could not be kept out of power for long and Lloyd George, anxious to draw on his talents and to spike his critical guns, soon re-appointed him to high office. Their relationship was not always a comfortable one, particularly when Churchill tried to involve Britain in a crusade against the Bolsheviks in Russia after the Great War. Between 1922 and 1924 Churchill left the Liberal Party and, after some hesitation, rejoined the Conservatives. Anyone could "rat", he remarked complacently, but it took a certain ingenuity to "re-rat". To his surprise, Churchill was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer by Stanley Baldwin, an office in which he served from 1924 to 1929. He was an ebullient if increasingly anachronistic figure, returning Britain to the Gold Standard and taking an aggressive part in opposing the General Strike of 1926. After the Tories were defeated in 1929, Churchill fell out with Baldwin over the question of giving India further self-government. Churchill became more and more isolated in politics and he found the experience of perpetual opposition deeply frustrating.

He also made further blunders, notably by supporting King Edward VIII during the abdication crisis of 1936. Largely as a consequence of such errors, people did not heed Churchill's dire warnings about the rise of Hitler and the hopelessness of the appeasement policy. After the Munich crisis, however, Churchill's prophecies were seen to be coming true and when war broke out in September 1939 Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appointed him First Lord of the Admiralty. So, nearly twenty-five years after he had left the post in pain and sorrow, the Navy sent out a signal to the Fleet: "Winston is back". The War Leader For the first nine months of the conflict, Churchill proved that he was, as Admiral Fisher had once said, "a war man". Chamberlain was not. Consequently the failures of the Norwegian Campaign were blamed on the pacific Prime Minister rather than the belligerent First Lord, and, when Chamberlain resigned after criticisms in the House of Commons, Churchill became leader of a coalition government. The date was May 10, 1940: it was Churchill's, as well as Britain's, finest hour.

When the German armies conquered France and Britain faced the Blitz, Churchill embodied his country's will to resist. His oratory proved an inspiration. When asked exactly what Churchill did to win the war, Clement Attlee, the Labour leader who served in the coalition government, replied: "Talk about it." Churchill talked incessantly, in private as well as in public - to the astonishment of his private secretary, Jock Colville, he once spent an entire luncheon addressing himself exclusively to the marmalade cat. Churchill devoted much of his energy to trying to persuade President Roosevelt to support him in the war. He wrote the President copious letters and established a strong personal relationship with him. And he managed to get American help in the Atlantic, where until 1943 Britain's lifeline to the New World was always under severe threat from German U-Boats. Despite Churchill's championship of Edward VIII, and despite his habit of arriving late for meetings with the neurotically punctual King at Buckingham Palace, he achieved good relations with George VI and his family. Clementine once said that Winston was the last surviving believer in the divine right of kings.

As Churchill tried to forge an alliance with the United States, Hitler made him the gift of another powerful ally - the Soviet Union. Despite his intense hatred of the Communists, Churchill had no hesitation in sending aid to Russia and defending Stalin in public. "If Hitler invaded Hell," he once remarked, "I would at least make a favourable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons." In December 1941, six months after Hitler had invaded Russia, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. The war had now become a global one. But with the might of America on the Allied side there could be no doubt about its outcome. Churchill was jubilant, remarking when he heard the news of Pearl Harbor: "So we have won after all!" However, America's entry into the war also caused Churchill problems; as he said, the only thing worse than fighting a war with allies is fighting a war without them. At first, despite disasters such as the Japanese capture of Singapore early in 1942, Churchill was able to influence the Americans. He persuaded Roosevelt to fight Germany before Japan, and to follow the British strategy of trying to slit open the "soft underbelly" of Europe.

This involved the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, and Italy - the last of which proved to have a very well armoured belly. It soon became apparent that Churchill was the littlest of the "Big Three". At the Teheran Conference in November, 1943, he said, the "poor little English donkey" was squeezed between the great Russian bear and the mighty American buffalo, yet only he knew the way home. In June 1944 the Allies invaded Normandy and the Americans were clearly in command. General Eisenhower pushed across Northern Europe on a broad front. Germany was crushed between this advance and the Russian steamroller. On May 8, 1945 Britain accepted Germany's surrender and celebrated Victory in Europe Day. Churchill told a huge crowd in Whitehall: "This is your victory." The people shouted: "No, it is yours", and Churchill conducted them in the singing of Land of Hope and Glory. That evening he broadcast to the nation urging the defeat of Japan and paying fulsome homage to the Crown.

From all over the world Churchill received telegrams of congratulations, and he himself was generous with plaudits, writing warmly to General de Gaulle whom he regarded as an awkward ally but a bastion against French Communism. But although victory was widely celebrated throughout Britain, the war in the Far East had a further three months to run. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki finally brought the global conflict to a conclusion. But at the pinnacle of military victory, Churchill tasted the bitterness of political defeat. The Elder Statesman Churchill expected to win the election of 1945. Everything pointed to his victory, from the primitive opinion polls to the cartoons in newspapers and the adulation Churchill received during the campaign, but he did not conduct it well. From the start he accused the Labour leaders - his former colleagues - of putting party before country and he later said that Socialists could not rule without a political police, a Gestapo. As it happened, such gaffes probably made no difference. The political tide was running against the Tories and towards the party which wholeheartedly favoured a welfare state - the reward for war-time sacrifices. But Churchill was shocked by the scale of his defeat.

When Clementine, who wanted him to retire from politics, said that it was perhaps a blessing in disguise, Churchill replied that the blessing was certainly very effectively disguised. For a time he lapsed into depression, which sympathetic letters from friends did little to dispel. Soon, however, Churchill re-entered the political arena, taking an active part in political life from the opposition benches and broadcasting again to the nation after the victory over Japan. In defeat Churchill had always been defiant, but in victory he favoured magnanimity. Within a couple of years he was calling for a partnership between a "spiritually great France and a spiritually great Germany" as the basis for the re-creation of "the European family". He was more equivocal about Britain's role in his proposed "United States of Europe", and, while the embers of the World War II were still warm, he announced the start of the Cold War. At Fulton, Missouri, in 1946, he pointed to the new threat posed by the Soviet Union and declared that an iron curtain had descended across Europe. Only by keeping the alliance between the English-speaking peoples strong, he maintained, could Communist tyranny be resisted.

After losing another election in 1950, Churchill gained victory at the polls the following year. Publicly he called for "several years of quiet steady administration". Privately he declared that his policy was "houses, red meat and not getting scuppered". This he achieved. But after suffering a stroke and the failure of his last hope of arranging a Summit with the Russians, he resigned from the premiership in April 1955. "I am ready to meet my Maker," Churchill had said on his seventy-fifth birthday; "whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter". Churchill remained a member of parliament, though an inactive one, and announced his retirement from politics in 1963. This took effect at the general election the following year. Churchill died on 24 January 1965 - seventy years to the day after the death of his father. He received the greatest state funeral given to a commoner since that of the Duke of Wellington. He was buried in Bladon churchyard beside his parents and within sight of his birthplace, Blenheim Palace.

The Family Man In the autumn of 1908 Churchill, then a rising Liberal politician, married Clementine Hozier, granddaughter of the 10th Earl of Airlie. Their marriage was to prove a long and happy one, though there were often quarrels - Clementine once threw a dish of spinach at Winston (it missed). Clementine was high principled and highly strung; Winston was stubborn and ambitious. His work invariably came first, though, partly as a reaction against his own upbringing, he was devoted to his children. Winston and Clementine's first child, Diana, was born in 1909. Diana was a naughty little girl and continued to cause her parents great distress as an adult. In 1932 she married John Bailey, but the marriage was unsuccessful and they divorced in 1935. In that year she married the Conservative politician, Duncan Sandys, and they had three children. That marriage also proved a failure. Diana had several nervous breakdowns and in 1963 she committed suicide. The Churchills' second child and only son, Randolph, was born in 1911.

He was exceptionally handsome and rumbustious, and his father was very ambitious for him. During the 1930s Randolph stood for parliament several times but he failed to get in, being regarded as a political maverick. He did serve as Conservative Member of Parliament for Preston between 1940 and 1945, and ultimately became an extremely successful journalist and began the official biography of his father during the 1960s. Randolph was married twice, first in 1939 to Pamela Digby (later Harriman) by whom he had a son, Winston, and secondly in 1948 to June Osborne by whom he had a daughter, Arabella. Neither marriage was a success. The life of Sarah, the Churchills' third child, born in 1914, was no happier than that of her elder siblings. Amateur dramatics at Chartwell led her to take up a career on the stage which flourished for a time. Sarah's charm and vitality were also apparent in her private life, but her first two marriages proved unsuccessful and she was widowed soon after her third.

Her first husband was a music hall artist called Vic Oliver whom she married against her parents' wishes. Her second was Anthony Beauchamp but this marriage did not last and after their separation he committed suicide. In 1918 Clementine Churchill gave birth to a third girl, Marigold. But in 1921, shortly after the deaths of both Clementine's brother and Winston's mother, Marigold contracted septicaemia whilst on a seaside holiday with the childrens' governess. When she died Winston was grief-stricken and, as his last private secretary recently disclosed in an autobiography, Clementine screamed like an animal undergoing torture. The following September the Churchills' fifth and last child, Mary, was born. Unlike her brother and older sisters, Mary was to cause her parents no major worries. Indeed she was a constant source of support, especially to her mother. In 1947 she married Christopher Soames; who was then Assistant Military Attaché in Paris and later had a successful parliamentary and diplomatic career. Theirs was to be a long and happy marriage. Over the years Christopher became a valued confidant and counsellor to his father-in-law.

They had five children, the eldest of whom (Nicholas) became a prominent member of the Conservative party. Christopher Soames died in 1987. The Private Man Churchill's enormous reserves of energy and his legendary ability to exist on very little sleep gave him time to pursue a wide variety of interests outside the world of politics. Churchill loved gambling and lost what was, for him, a small fortune in the great crash of the American stock market in October 1929, causing a severe setback to the family finances. But he continued to write as a means of maintaining the style of life to which he had always been accustomed. Apart from his major works, notably his multi-volume histories of the First and Second World Wars and the Life of his illustrious ancestor John, first Duke of Marlborough, he poured forth speeches and articles for newspapers and magazines. His last big book was the History of the English-Speaking Peoples, which he had begun in 1938 and which was eventually published in the 1950s. In 1953 Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Churchill took up painting as an antidote to the anguish he felt over the Dardanelles disaster.

Painting became a constant solace and preoccupation and he rarely spent a few days away from home without taking his canvas and brushes. Even during his tour of France's Maginot Line in the middle of August 1939 Churchill managed to snatch a painting holiday with friends near Dreux. In the summer of 1922, while on the lookout for a suitable country house, Churchill caught sight of a property near Westerham in Kent, and fell instantly in love with it. Despite Clementine's initial lack of enthusiasm for the dilapidated and neglected house, with its overgrown and seemingly unmanageable grounds, Chartwell was to become a much-loved family home. Clementine, however, never quite overcame her resentment of the fact that Winston had been less than frank with her over the buying of Chartwell, and from time to time her feelings surfaced. With typical enthusiasm, Churchill personally undertook many major works of construction at Chartwell such as a dam, a swimming pool, the building (largely with his own hands) of a red brick wall to surround the vegetable garden, and the re-tiling of a cottage at the bottom of the garden.

In 1946 Churchill bought a farm adjoining Chartwell and subsequently derived much pleasure, though little profit, from farming. Churchill was born into the world of hunting, shooting and fishing and throughout his life they were to prove spasmodic distractions. But it was hunting and polo, first learned as a young cavalry officer in India, that he enjoyed most of all. In the summer of 1949, Churchill embarked on a new venture - he bought a racehorse. On the advice of Christopher Soames, he purchased a grey three-year-old colt, Colonist II. It was to be the first of several thoroughbreds in his small stud. They were registered in Lord Randolph's colours - pink with chocolate sleeves and cap. (These have been adopted as the colours of Churchill College.) Churchill was made a member of the Jockey Club in 1950, and greatly relished the distinction. Among Winston's closest friends were Professor Lindemann and the "the three B's" (none popular with Clementine), Birkenhead, Beaverbook, Bracken. The Churchills entertained widely, including among their guests Charlie Chaplin, Albert Einstein and Lawrence of Arabia.

Churchill regularly holidayed with rich friends in the Mediterranean, spending several cruises in the late 1950s as the guest of Greek millionaire shipowner, Aristotle Onassis. Editorial note Much of the information presented here was originally compiled by Josephine Sykes, Monica Halpin and Victor Brown. It was edited by Allen Packwood. Biography of Sir Winston Churchill British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) Updated November 12, 2015. Who Was Winston Churchill? Winston Churchill was a legendary orator, a prolific writer, an earnest artist, and a long-term British statesman. Yet Churchill, who twice served the as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, is best remembered as the tenacious and forthright war leader that led his country against the seemingly undefeatable Nazis during World War II . Dates: November 30, 1874 -- January 24, 1965 Also Known As: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill The Young Winston Churchill Winston Churchill was born in 1874 at his grandfather's home, Blenheim Palace in Marlborough, England.

His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a member of the British Parliament and his mother, Jennie Jerome, was an American heiress. continue reading below our video Profile of Sir Winston Churchill Six years after Winston's birth, his brother Jack was born. Since Churchill's parents traveled extensively and led busy social lives, Churchill spent most of his younger years with his nanny, Elizabeth Everest. It was Mrs. Everest that nurtured Churchill and cared for him during his many childhood illnesses. Churchill stayed in touch with her until her death in 1895. At age eight, Churchill was sent off to boarding school. He was never an excellent student but he was well liked and known as a bit of a troublemaker. In 1887, 12-year-old Churchill was accepted to the prestigious Harrow school, where he began studying military tactics. After graduating from Harrow, Churchill was accepted into the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in 1893. In December 1894, Churchill graduated near the top of his class and was given a commission as a cavalry officer. Churchill, the Soldier and War Correspondent After seven months of basic training, Churchill was given his first leave.

Instead of going home to relax, Churchill wanted to see action; so he traveled to Cuba to watch Spanish troops put down a rebellion. Churchill didn't go just as an interested soldier, he made plans to be a war correspondent for London's The Daily Graphic. It was the beginning of a long writing career. When his leave was up, Churchill traveled with his regiment to India. Churchill also saw action in India when fighting Afghan tribes. This time, again not just a soldier, Churchill wrote letters to London's The Daily Telegraph. From these experiences, Churchill also wrote his first book, The Story of the Malakand Field Force (1898). Churchill then joined Lord Kitchener's expedition in the Sudan while also writing for The Morning Post. After seeing a lot of action in the Sudan, Churchill used his experiences to write The River War (1899). Again wanting to be at the scene of the action, Churchill managed in 1899 to become the war correspondent for The Morning Post during the Boer War in South Africa . Not only was Churchill shot at, he was captured. After spending nearly a month as a prisoner of war, Churchill managed to escape and miraculously made it to safety.

He also turned these experiences into a book - London to Ladysmith via Pretoria (1900). Becoming a Politician While fighting in all these wars, Churchill had decided that he wanted to help make policy, not just follow it. So when 25-year-old Churchill returned to England as both a famous author and a war hero, he was able to successfully run for election as a member of Parliament (MP). This was the start of Churchill's very long political career. Churchill quickly became known for being outspoken and full of energy. He gave speeches against tariffs and in support of social changes for the poor. It soon became clear that he did not hold the beliefs of the Conservative Party, so he switched to the Liberal Party in 1904. In 1905, the Liberal Party won the national election and Churchill was asked to become the Under-Secretary of State at the Colonial Office. Churchill's dedication and efficiency earned him an excellent reputation and he was quickly promoted. In 1908, he was made President of the Board of Trade (a Cabinet position) and in 1910, Churchill was made Home Secretary (a more important Cabinet position).

In October 1911, Churchill was made First Lord of the Admiralty, which meant he was in charge of the British navy. Churchill, worried about Germany's growing military strength, spent the next three years working diligently to strengthen the British navy. Family Churchill was a very busy man. He was nearly continuously writing books, articles, and speeches as well as holding important government positions. However, he made time for romance when he met Clementine Hozier in March 1908. The two were engaged on August 11 of that same year and married just a month later on September 12, 1908. Winston and Clementine had five children together and remained married until Winston's death at age 90. Churchill and World War I At first, when the war began in 1914, Churchill was praised for the work he had done behind the scenes to prepare Britain for war. However, things quickly started to go badly for Churchill. Churchill had always been energetic, determined, and confident. Couple these traits with the fact that Churchill liked to be part of the action and you have Churchill trying to have his hands in all military matters, not only those dealing with the navy.

Many felt that Churchill overstepped his position. Then came the Dardanelles campaign. It was meant to be a combined naval and infantry attack on the Dardanelles in Turkey, but when things went badly for the British, Churchill was blamed for the whole thing. Since both the public and officials turned against Churchill after the Dardanelles disaster, Churchill was swiftly moved out of government. Prev Winston Churchill Blog Winston Churchill As prime minister, the Right Honorable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill successfully led Britain through World War II . He described the achievement as his "walk with destiny" ï¿½ a destiny for which he believed he had spent all his life in preparation. He was one of the great statesmen of world history. Often satirized as a bulldog, Churchillï¿½s far-sightedness, toughness, tenacity, courage and will to win despite the odds, enlisted support at home and abroad. Winston Churchill was an accomplished speaker, author, painter, soldier and war reporter. The mere sight of him, with the characteristic Cuban cigar in his mouth and two fingers raised in the ï¿½V for victory" sign, encouraged the population.

He was John Bull, a British mythical character and the symbol of the common people, come to life. With a powerful command of the English language, he wrote histories and biographies. At 78, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Churchill served his country from 1895 to 1964. Churchill`s youth and education Winston was born the son of an eminent Tory politician, at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England, on November 30, 1874. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill (1849-1895), was a leader in the Conservative party, and his mother was Lady Jennie Jerome Churchill (1854-1921), an American heiress. Mrs. Churchill was beautiful and charming. Winston was the elder of his brother, John, by six years. Winston adored his mother, but as a busy wife and hostess, she had little time for him. He regarded his father with fear and awe. Winston was high-spirited and had a stubborn streak, which annoyed everyone. His childhood was unhappy, he was chubby and did poorly in school; he talked with a lisp and stuttered.

His father, a brilliant scholar, found him to be a disappointment, and also had little time for him. At age 12, Winston entered Harrow school, a private secondary boarding school. He was the lowest boy in the lowest class. However, Winston began to blossom at Harrow. He discovered a love of literature and writing, which he would enjoy all the days of his life. Winstonï¿½s father, observing him at play with his toy soldier army, impatiently judged his son to be of limited intelligence. Thus, he decided his boy was suited only for a military career. Winston, after failing the entrance exam twice, entered the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. He soon led his class in tactics and fortifications. Winston graduated eighth in his class, and consequently was appointed a second lieutenant in the Fourth Queen`s Own Hussars cavalry regiment just a month after his father`s death. Early political career By age 21, Churchill wanted to see some action. When posted to a quiet spot, however, he developed skill at polo and found time to study many of the books he had neglected at school. He favored the works of Edward Gibbon and Thomas Macaulay.

On several occasions, Churchill, through his familyï¿½s influence, managed to take leave of his army post for military operations field reporting. On one occasion, in northwestern India, fighting had broken out between the British and Indian tribesmen. He was able to take leave from his regiment and transfer to the area as a paid reporter for two newspapers. He was caught in the bloody hand-to-hand fighting, but returned unscathed. His first book, a novel, was The Story of the Malakand Field Force (1898). After another similar adventure came another book, The River War (1899). While writing his second book, Churchill resigned from the army in 1899. In 1900, he ran for a seat in Parliament on the Conservative ticket, but lost. Later that year he was hired by a London newspaper to report on the Boer War in South Africa. While in transit in South Africa, his train was attacked and he was taken prisoner. He escaped from prison, eluded capture and became a national hero.

Upon his return to England that same year, at the age of 21, he was received as a hero by Oldham, the community that had rejected his first political foray. He ran and was elected to Parliament on the Conservative Party ticket. In 1904, Churchill crossed the floor to the Liberals, changing parties over the issue of Tariff Reform. Moving through several increasingly important government jobs, he first entered the Cabinet as president of the board of trade, then home secretary by 1910. Churchill family life Churchill met Clementine Hozier in the spring of 1908 and married her on September 12, 1908. Churchill wrote, ï¿½My most brilliant achievement was my ability to persuade my wife to marry me." The happy couple became parents of one boy and three girls. One of the girls, Marigold, died at age three. During war years, Churchill`s marriage was to be the source of his inner strength, his life raft in stormy seas. Other sources of satisfaction included writing newspaper articles, and later in life, he wrote several books and painted landscapes quite successfully. World War I In 1911, Prime Minister Herbert H.

Asquith appointed Churchill First Lord of the Admiralty. The P.M. wanted a strong leader of the navy who understood that the imminent danger of German aggression could bring war to England. After the outbreak of the war in Europe , Britain entered the conflict in 1914, and the navy was ready. Churchill had reorganized and modernized the navy, and developed anti-submarine tactics. Churchillï¿½s attack on the Dardanelles and the Gallipoli Peninsula failed miserably. Considering himself to be a failure, he resigned from the admiralty. In July 1915, he joined the British army in France as a major, then as lt. colonel in charge of a battalion. In 1917, the new prime minister, David Lloyd George, appointed Churchill to the post of Minister of Munitions. Having previously promoted development of the battlefield tank, Churchill now organized full-scale production. The year 1918 brought appointment to the position of secretary of state for war, (1918ï¿½21), then as colonial secretary (1921ï¿½22), he helped negotiate the treaty that set up the Irish Free State.

Having switched from Conservative to Liberal in 1904, Churchill returned to the Conservative party 20 years later. After two defeats at the polls he returned to the House of Commons as a Conservative, and became chancellor of the exchequer (a position Churchillï¿½s father had held 40 years earlier) in Stanley Baldwin`s Conservative government from 1924 to 1929. As an advocate of laissez-faire economics, he was strongly criticized by John Maynard Keynes . Churchill was not a financial innovator; he basically followed conventional advice from his colleagues. Nevertheless, his decision to return the country to the prewar gold standard increased unemployment and was a cause of the general strike of 1926. He advocated aggressive action to end the strike, thus earning the lasting distrust of the labor movement. War interrupted World War I ended in 1918 in an exhausted armistice with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles . The treaty, reviled by the Germans, was eventually to be disregarded by Adolf Hitler when he secretly began to rearm and rebuild the German Army in 1933.

Churchill left Parliament in 1929 after a Conservative Party election loss, not to return to a cabinet position until 1939. Parenting, painting and writing filled Churchillï¿½s time between 1929 and 1939. He kept well informed during the 1930s, writing and speaking out against the German threat, only to be labeled a warmonger. The gathering clouds of war over Europe were not generally perceived. Churchill had an uphill battle in Parliament, attempting to provide illumination on Adolf Hitlerï¿½s activities and intentions. World War II Germany attacked Poland on September 1, 1939. England and France declared war on Germany on September 3. World War II was under way. As soon as the war began, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain reappointed Churchill to First Lord of the Admiralty, the same position he had filled during World War I. The Chamberlain government failed eight months later. On May 10, 1940, King George VI asked Churchill to form a new government. That same day, Germany invaded Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Churchill became Prime Minister of Great Britain at age 66.

Later he wrote about that time, ï¿½I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been in preparation for this hour and this trial." Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin held one thing in common: Each believed his destiny lay in great service to his country. Churchill was endowed with prodigious inner strength, depth of thought and far-sighted wisdom. He also loved his wife deeply and gained much of his inner strength from his marriage, his writing and painting. In an address to the House of Commons on June 4, 1940, Churchill averred that even though all of Europe might fall ... ï¿½we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end ... we shall fight in the seas and oceans ... we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender..." Churchillï¿½s greatest strength was the will to maintain Britain as a great power and a great democracy.

Battle of Britain A day after Franceï¿½s surrender to Germany on June 22, 1940, Churchill addressed the House of Commons, declaring: ï¿½Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, ï¿½This was their finest hour.ï¿½" During August to October 1940, an air war was waged in the skies over England. Preparing for an invasion of England, Germany attacked British coastal defenses, radar stations, and shipping. On August 24 the attacks began to include Royal Air Force installations and aircraft factories, in an effort to gain control of the skies over southern England. Failing to destroy the RAF, the Germans began the night bombing, or Blitz, of London. Heavy night bombings of English cities continued into October, when the attacks reverted to coastal installations. The Germans gradually gave up hope of invading England. Though heavily outnumbered, the RAF put up a gallant defense. Radar , used for the first time in battle and played an important role.

Strategic meetings with FDR During the war, Churchill promised nothing more than "blood, toil, tears and sweat." He mobilized and inspired courage in an entire nation. Throughout the war he worked tirelessly, and built good relations with President Roosevelt while at the same time maintaining an alliance with Josef Stalin and the Soviet Union. FDR spelled out Anglo-American war goals in concert with Winston Churchill (August 1941) in the Atlantic Charter . The charter rejected territorial aspirations, promoted autonomous government and progressive international trade agreements. It also vowed permanent security against aggression and freedom from privation. Churchill had mastered military tactics and fortifications early on, complementing FDR`s skills. Churchill and Roosevelt exchanged more than 1700 messages and met nine times before FDR`s death in 1945. At Casablanca in January 1943, Roosevelt and Churchill insisted that Germany unconditionally surrender to preclude a future armed comeback. The Quï¿½bec Conference in August 1943 plotted the invasion of Normandy. At Moscow in October 1943, a postwar world security organization was agreed upon in principle by the Allied foreign ministers.

Military strategy and the prospect of a postwar Germany were discussed at Cairo (November-December 1943) and Quï¿½bec (September 1944). At Yalta (February 1945), Roosevelt, Churchill, and Joseph Stalin discussed their course of action for the postwar world. Domestic politics Churchillï¿½s domestic politics, however, were less successful and popular. He was regarded with suspicion by some for his tendency to change parties at regular intervals. Many trade union members and other sectors of the working class also disliked him. After World War II, even though he was seen as a great leader, Churchill was not considered to be the man who could establish a better Britain during peacetime. Suspicions and doubts about him were exacerbated by his delayed action on the Beveridge Report, which outlined plans for a national health service. Losing power in the 1945 post-war election, he remained a vital leader of the opposition, voicing apprehensions about the Iron Curtain and encouraging European and Atlantic unity, finally conceived as NATO . A final stint as prime minister came at the age of 77, and Churchill continued to contribute into even older age.

He was rewarded with a string of decorations, including an honorary U.S. citizenship and accolades listing him among the greatest living Englishmen. Sir Winston Churchill died at the age of 90 with his wife and other family members at his bedside. His remains lay in state in Westminster Hall for three days ï¿½ an honour not accorded any English statesman since Gladstone in 1898. The funeral followed at St Paul`s cathedral. The link below accesses a lecture given by Margaret Thatcher , British Prime Minister at Fulton, Missouri in 1996. Where Churchill delivered his famous 1946 Iron Curtain speech. Who was Churchill? | Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Who was Churchill? Who was Churchill? Sir Winston Churchill is known for his bulldog spirit, for his love of cigars, brandy and Pol Roger champagne, his somewhat eccentric dress sense, and his famous V for Victory salute. However, he was also a man with an incredible zest and curiosity for life. He played polo in India at the highest level, he learnt to fly, and he strongly supported technological advancement such as the development of the tank and military aviation.

Although today he is probably best known for his considerable achievements during the Second World War, he was also a prolific painter, a great traveller and a talented writer. He designed the grounds and gardens of Chartwell, his beloved family home in Kent, and in later life he bred racehorses. The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust is founded in this spirit, to enable UK Citizens from all walks of life to acquire knowledge and experience overseas, for their own and wider community benefit. The early years Born at Blenheim Palace on 30 November 1874, Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was the elder son of Lord Randolph Churchill and the American beauty, Jennie Jerome. He was a descendant of the illustrious John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough. A somewhat wilful and rebellious child, he was educated at Harrow and Sandhurst before being commissioned into the army as a cavalry officer in the Fourth Hussars. He was determined to use his military career as a springboard for public life, and sought action in Cuba, the Indian North-West Frontier and the Sudan. His exploits formed the basis for lucrative newspaper articles and books.

In 1899 he failed in his first attempt to enter the House of Commons and took off to South Africa as a war correspondent during the Boer conflict. His capture and subsequent dramatic escape made him a household name, leading to his election as Conservative MP for Oldham in 1900. The social reformer Churchill's early political career was both meteoric and controversial. He broke with the Conservative Party over his support for Free Trade, crossing the floor of the Commons and joining the Liberal Party. Once the Liberals had won power, he rose quickly becoming President of the Board of Trade in 1908, where he became a leading social reformer, introducing trade protection, labour exchange and unemployment insurance legislation. He then became Home Secretary in 1910 and First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911. In September 1908 he married Clementine Hozier. They were to have five children, four of whom survived into adulthood. The First World War The beginning of the First World War found Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty, in charge of the largest fighting fleet in the world.

Appalled at the prospect of British soldiers being stuck in bloody, static warfare on the Western Front, where trenches had been dug from the English Channel to the Swiss border, Churchill promoted a plan to break the stalemate by attacking Turkey through the Dardanelles Straits. This led to the disastrous and badly led Gallipoli landings, for which he was blamed and removed from office as the scapegoat, the first major setback in his career. His immediate response was to take solace in painting, and then to resign from the Government to command an infantry battalion in the trenches on the Western Front. By the end of the war he was back in Government as David Lloyd George's Minister for Munitions. Between the wars In peacetime, Churchill became Secretary of State for War and then the Colonies, and was involved in reshaping the Middle East in the wake of the end of the Ottoman Empire, and in Ireland gaining independence. In 1924 he rejoined the Conservative Party, and to his great surprise was made Chancellor of the Exchequer. By 1930 however he was out of office, and out of step with mainstream politics over his opposition to Indian self-government.

The Second World War He had long warned of the threat posed by communism and the Soviet Union, but from 1933 onwards he began to highlight the new threat posed by fascism and Hitler's Germany.His warnings initially went unheeded, but in the aftermath of the Munich Crisis of 1938, his predictions were seen to be coming true. When World War II broke out, Churchill was brought back into the government as first Lord of the Admiralty. He became Prime Minister of a National Government on 10 May 1940, the day that Hitler launched his invasion of France, Belgium and Low Countries. He was aged 65. Churchill's key contribution was, by his oratory and bulldog pugnacity, to inspire the nation and its political and military establishment, with the courage, self-belief and dynamism that enabled Britain to soldier on alone, even though throughout Europe all organised resistance to Nazi rule had come to an end. The challenges that he and the nation faced were enormous, not least during the days of the Battle of Britain and the Blitz, when the might of the Luftwaffe was unleashed against the United Kingdom.

He called upon the country to make this "their finest hour" and memorably summed up the role of the Royal Air Force with the words, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few". He held the nation's nerve through the initial defeats in Europe, the Middle East, the Far East and at sea, and worked tirelessly to construct and maintain a 'Grand Alliance' against Hitler, negotiating with Stalin and developing a special relationship with President Roosevelt and the United States. Gradually the tide was turned, Europe was invaded through Italy and France, and the Japanese forced back in the Far East. Victory had been his aim as Prime Minister, and Victory in Europe (VE Day) was finally achieved after five long years of bitter fighting in May 1945. Churchill's place in history was assured and he was feted and honoured wherever he went. Post war and a second term as Prime Minister Churchill cannot have expected to lose the general election of 1945, but having done so he refused to retire. In 1946 at Fulton, Missouri, he warned of the 'Iron Curtain' and the new threat posed by Soviet expansionism.

In 1951 he returned as Prime Minister for a second term. Failing health forced him to step down in 1955, though he remained a Member of Parliament until 1964. Throughout his life he supplemented his political earnings with royalties from his many books, and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953. In the same year he became a Knight of the Garter, and in 1963 was awarded Honorary US Citizenship. He died in January 1965 at the age of 90, and was accorded a rare state funeral. Find out more To learn more about Churchill: Visit Churchill Central , the definitive website for information about the life and legacy of Sir Winston Churchill. Visit the Churchill War Rooms in London, the war time bunker used by Churchill and his cabinet during the Blitz. Browse the huge collection of papers in the Churchill Archive .

Watch renowned historian Sir David Cannadine talk about 'Churchill the Man' at our 50th Anniversary Fellows' Day held at Blenheim Palace on 27 May 2015: Winston Churchill Memorial Trust 29 Great Smith Street (South Door) London BBC - iWonder - Sir Winston Churchill: The greatest Briton? Sir Winston Churchill: The greatest Briton? 1874-1893 1965The nation's farewell The greatest Briton? On 8 May 1945 Winston Churchill stood on a Whitehall balcony and addressed the excited crowd below. "In all our long history," he said, "we have never seen a greater day than this." Churchill had stood against Hitler and won – the day was his. Half a century on from his death, Churchill is considered by many to be the greatest Briton. But his legacy didn't always look so secure. From trouble at school to errors in office, Churchill's path to greatness was often a rocky one. 1874-1893 Birth and childhood You need to have JavaScript enabled to view this clip. What was Churchill's childhood like? Richard Dimbleby explains.

(Clip from 1965 Churchill obituary broadcast by the BBC). Transcript (PDF 157k) Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace, the seat of his grandfather the 7th Duke of Marlborough, on 30 November 1874. His father, Lord Randolph, was a prominent Conservative politician and his mother the daughter of a New York financier. Young Winston saw neither of them as often as he would have liked. At 13 he scraped into the lowest class at Harrow. Randolph, believing that his son was academically unsuited for politics or law, had him placed in the army class. If you cannot prevent yourself from leading the idle useless unprofitable life you have had during your school days…you will become a…social wastrel. Lord Randolph Churchill Sandhurst You need to have JavaScript enabled to view this clip. Watch childhood friend Sir Shane Leslie describe how Churchill came of age at Sandhurst. (Clip from 1965 Churchill obituary broadcast by the BBC).

Transcript (PDF 150k) Churchill enrolled at Sandhurst as an officer cadet in September 1893, though it took him three attempts to pass the entrance exam. He took to Sandhurst well and his efforts were winning his father’s respect. But before the relationship could blossom Lord Randolph died, aged 45. This had a profound impact on Churchill: it convinced him of the need to make his mark early in life. His first public address came in unexpected surroundings – the Empire Theatre in Leicester Square. Incensed by the newly-erected screens restricting access to the bars, Churchill led fellow cadets to riot before delivering an impromptu speech. Ladies of the Empire, I stand for Liberty! Winston Churchill, 1894, Empire Theatre in Leicester Square 1895-1899 Imperial adventures You need to have JavaScript enabled to view this clip. See Churchill's imperial adventures in the 'high, heady days of Empire'. (Clip from 1965 Churchill obituary broadcast by the BBC). I move that this meeting affirms its unshaken belief in the principles of Free Trade…and…is now more than ever necessary for the well-being of the UK.

Winston Churchill, 19 Feb 1904, shortly before defecting to the Liberals 1908 Bentley Archive/Popperfoto Winston Churchill pictured with fiancee Clementine a week before their wedding. Churchill first met Clementine Hozier, who at 19 had recently entered the London social scene, at a ball in 1904. But, socially awkward and then in love with another woman, he made a poor impression. Despite his successful career, when he met her again at a dinner in March 1908 he had proposed to – and been rejected by – three women. But his luck changed. Later that year, sheltering from the rain together in the Temple of Diana overlooking the lake at Blenheim Palace, Churchill proposed. Clementine accepted and they married in Westminster on 12 September 1908, going on to have five children. I do not love and never will love any woman in the world but you.

Winston Churchill, writing to Clementine in 1909 Around this time… Churchill's wife offered to give up baby to close friend - Telegraph Churchill's wife offered to give up baby to close friend By Chris Hastings 12:00AM GMT 25 Mar 2001 WINSTON CHURCHILL'S wife, Clementine, offered to give their fourth child to family friends who had been unable to conceive. The Telegraph has learnt that diaries containing the information have been discovered in military archives after remaining hidden for more than 80 years. The private papers reveal that Clementine Churchill was four months pregnant when she discussed giving her baby to Jean, Lady Hamilton, a close friend who had been desperate for a child of her own. Mrs Churchill was 33 and already a mother of three when she made the offer towards the end of the First World War. The strong friendship between the families had begun in the 1890s when Winston Churchill and Lady Hamilton's husband, Gen Sir Ian Hamilton, fought together on the North West Frontier. For more than 80 years the episode has remained a secret, even to the two families concerned.

It is now public, thanks to the chance discovery of Lady Hamilton's diaries. In the critical entry, dated June 18, 1918, Lady Hamilton outlined the conversation, which took place at her London home near Hyde Park. The diary entry said: "Clemmie asked if I'd like to have her baby; of course I said I would, and asked her when she expected it. She said 'in November' and I offered to have her here for it, as she had been telling me how expensive a nursing home would be - £25 a week for room alone and she said she could not possibly afford it. She said if she had twins I would have one." Related Articles Luxurious way of life left couple in financial straits 25 Mar 2001 The diary entry will shed new light on the enduring and deep friendship of two of Edwardian England's most powerful couples. Winston Churchill and General Hamilton played leading roles in the disastrous Gallipoli campaign in the First World War. The two families grew even closer as they weathered the storm generated by the official inquiry into the 1915 defeat.

Churchill first met Ian Hamilton when they were both fighting on the North West Frontier in 1897. Hamilton was then the senior officer and Churchill a young calvary officer. Their friendship endured from then on. Celia Lee, the wife of John Lee, Gen Hamilton's biographer, discovered the papers and has included them in a new biography of Lady Hamilton. She said: "I think some people will think it was a bizarre thing for Clemmie Churchill to do. You have to understand that these couples were both extremely close." Mrs Lee said: "Clemmie herself loved children and would have understood the pain Jean was experiencing. Jean was an outstanding beauty and an extremely intelligent woman. The one thing she longed for to make her life complete was a child." The two women discussed their proposal in private and there is nothing to suggest that Winston Churchill was even aware of the idea. Lady Hamilton, who was 57 at the time, had tried in vain for years to start a family. The timing of the conversation will, however, be regarded as significant by historians. The Churchills were in severe financial difficulty in 1918 and were battling to save their London home.

They may have feared that another child would be one burden too many. Lady Soames, who is Churchill's only surviving child, is to include Clemmie's offer of the baby in a revised edition of Clementine Churchill, a biography of her mother first published in 1979. She said: "I think we will never know the real story behind the conversation. It is certain, however, that my mother would have been very upset about Lady Hamilton's inability to have children." Lady Soames said: "We also know that my mother was exhausted during this period of her life. In common with many people, she had undertaken a great deal of war work. My mother may have felt at the time that another child was too much of a burden to cope with. My parents were very badly off at this time. She was a born worrier." Clementine gave birth to Marigold in 1918, who was not adopted. She fell ill in August 1921 and died of septicaemia at just three and half years of age. The Hamiltons subsequently adopted two abandoned babies.

Question: Who married Sir Winston Churchill?
Answer: Clementine Hozier