|
WINSTON CHURCHILL
1874 - 1965
Churchill was a tough
British Premier who could be as stubborn as
a bulldog (see picture.) Probably a useful personality
trait when you're facing nut numero uno
Adolf Hitler. But why not
start at the beginning.
Young Winston's parents were busy
people. Churchill's nanny, Mrs Everest (see below), was the one who took
good care of wee Winnie.
MRS EVEREST
Churchill was sent to
the
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
You used to be able to check Churchill's group picture and
cadet register from 1894 on their website but apparently the site
has some problems. Moving on...
Then some action. After
joining the 4th Hussars, Churchill went to Cuba. Then India. Then
South Africa. He decided it was time to become a politician and
arranged matters accordingly.
The disaster of the
Dardanelles Campaign prompted him to resign from office in November
1915. He packed his knapsack and became a soldier in France. But not
for long. In June 1916 he came back as a private member of
Parliament.
In May 1940 Churchill
became Prime Minister of Britain and remained in this position until
1945. He was busy meeting with Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Joseph
Stalin in order figure out what would work best against the Nazis.
Interestingly, some
Brits of the older generation don't like him. They say he was a war
monger and could have stopped the war sooner. What to believe, what
to believe ...
Churchill became Prime
Minister once more 1951 - 1955.
WINSTON CHURCHILL
Click on image to enlarge
Winston smoked cigars like
crazy and became quite old in spite of it. Don't tell your kids.
What else?
Churchill
liked painting. Was he any good as a painter? Here's a
review of his exhibition in the New York Times. Judge for
yourself.
And this is a list of
Churchill's speeches.
CHURCHILL FACTS
Churchill was captured during the
Boer War (South Africa 1899
- 1902), escaped, and was wanted “dead or alive” for the
bounty of £25.
He supported the development of the tank.
His own intelligence center at home was often far ahead of the
government’s.
Churchill, Roosevelt, and
Stalin were the Big Three that
shaped Europe after
World War II.
BRIEF CHURCHILL BIOGRAPHY
1874 November 30 - Birth at
Blenheim Palace, England
1888 Harrow School
1893 Royal Military College at Sandhurst
1895 War correspondent/soldier, Cuba, India, Sudan, South
Africa
1900 Enters Parliament in England
1906 Under Secretary of State for the Colonies
1908 President of the Board of Trade
1910 Home Secretary
1911 First Lord of the Admiralty
1915 Resigns after Dardanelles campaign
1915 Soldier in France
1917 Minister of Munitions
1919 Secretary of State for War and Air
1921 Head of Colonial Office
1924 Chancellor of the Exchequer
1929 Outside the government, continued to hold a Parliament
seat
1939 First Lord of the Admiralty
1940 Prime Minister until 1945
1951 Prime Minister until 1955, resigned due to ill health
1965 January 24 - Death in London
Winston
Churchill Timeline
Book REVIEW
Winston Churchill (Penguin Lives)
By John Keegan, who was for many years Senior Lecturer in
Military History at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.
Since 1986 he has been Defense Editor of the Daily Telegraph.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He received
an OBE in the Gulf War honors list and was knighted in 2000.
2002. 181 pages. Easy-to-read biography. Clear. Not too long.
No keyword index in the back of the book.
Sandhurst, where the author lectured, was the Academy
Churchill entered in 1893. The author seemed to have managed,
however, an open minded approach.
Thumbs up.
Churchill
By Celia Sandys, who is the granddaughter of Sir Winston
Churchill. Her mother was Churchill’s eldest daughter. She has
lectured in Canada, Japan, Britain and America.
2003. 160 pages. Not the conventional sort of biography.
Entertaining and easy to read.
Extra features: brief chronology, Churchill family tree,
accompanied by VHS and DVD
Thumbs up.
Churchill (Life & Times) (Life and Times)
By Sebastian Haffner, who emigrated to London from Berlin in
the 1930s and was a vocal critic of the Nazi regime, writing
influential articles in the Observer. After the war, he became
Germany’s pre-eminent political commentator.
German 1996, English 2003. 182 pages. Not afraid of a more
critical view point. This can be refreshing and
thought-provoking after reading a row of biographies that
might have let Churchill off too easy.
Thumbs up.
|
