Who’s Winston Churchill: Among the talented and enthusiastic politician,non-academic historian,article writer and an artist from Britain.These were blessed with five children named Diana, R, Sarah, olph, Marigold and Mary. Interesting Details: Winston also offered in armed service as an army.He was gratuated from Royal Army College. Early Existence (Childhood): Born and elevated in Woodstock,England from dad Randolph Churchill and mom Jennie Jerome.He died due to stroke.He was thus much keen on Havana cigars which he smoked for rest of his existence. Personal Existence: Churchill was wedded to her longtime girlfriend Clementine Hozier.He was the Primary Minister of UK for two times. Accomplishment: Nobel prize,Medaille militaire,Order of Liberation,Battle medal,Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal, British Battle Medal, many more, Triumph Medal and Africa Celebrity.
| # | Fact |
|---|
| 1 |
In a secret memorandum on 28 March 1945 Churchill admitted Dresden was bombed only in order to terrorize the city's civilian population. The city itself had no military significance. |
| 2 |
He helped cover up the Katyn massacre by the Soviets in Poland. |
| 3 |
May have provoked Adolf Hitler into launching the Blitz by deliberately bombing German cities from May 1940. After the Dunkirk evacuation and the subsequent Fall of France there were many people in the UK who wanted to end the war. |
| 4 |
Ordered the construction of Finsbury Park Mosque in London in 1940, in recognition of all the Muslim servicemen who were fighting against the Axis Powers. The Viceroy of British India had declared the country was at war with Germany before the Indian parliament could even debate the matter. |
| 5 |
Advocated using poison gas against civilians. |
| 6 |
There was due to be a General Election in 1940, but it was suspended due to World War II. It is likely that Churchill would have lost an election at any time during the war. |
| 7 |
Ordered the destruction of the French navy at Mers-el-Kebir on the cast of French Algiers on 3 July 1940. 1,297 French sailors were killed and 350 wounded. |
| 8 |
He was largely responsible for the failure of the Norwegian Campaign in April-May 1940, which brought down Neville Chamberlain. Ironically Churchill replaced Chamberlain as Prime Minister on 10 May. |
| 9 |
An unpublished article from 1937 attributed to Churchill led to accusations of anti-Semitism, although some historians maintain the article was written by others. |
| 10 |
In 1947 he advocated a decapitating nuclear strike on the Soviet Union to Republican Senator Styles Bridges. |
| 11 |
As Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for Air, Churchill was responsible for air strikes on civilians in Russia, Iraq and Afghanistan. |
| 12 |
The destruction of Dresden in February 1945 led to calls for Churchill to be tried for war crimes. |
| 13 |
He was reported to have regretted World War II, particularly the destruction of the British Empire and the Soviet occupation of eastern Europe, remarking, "We have slaughtered the wrong pig". However it is unconfirmed whether he really made this remark. |
| 14 |
His Conservative Party received fewer votes than the Labour Party in the 1951 General Election. |
| 15 |
He was accused of deliberately starving up to four million people to death in the Bengal Famine of 1943. The famine was likened to a genocide. |
| 16 |
Churchill made almost no reference in his radio broadcasts to Jews being killed by Axis forces during the invasion of the Soviet Union. |
| 17 |
Despite his later reputation as an opponent of appeasement, Churchill did not begin to regularly speak out against Nazi Germany until May 1938. |
| 18 |
As First Lord of the Admiralty he was responsible for the bombing raids on German cities carried out by the Royal Naval Air Service from 22 September 1914, four months before the first Zeppelin raid on the UK. |
| 19 |
US President Lyndon Johnson did not attend Churchill's funeral, officially due to a heavy cold. Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower did attend. |
| 20 |
Suffered a mild heart attack in December 1941, and a bout of pneumonia in December 1943. |
| 21 |
During World War I the decision to use passenger ships like RMS Lusitania to transport munitions for the war effort proved highly controversial. |
| 22 |
His first action as Prime Minister was to overrun neutral Iceland on 10 May 1940, to prevent the country from being used as a launching base for an invasion of the UK. |
| 23 |
As First Lord of the Admiralty he was responsible for imposing naval blockades on Germany from 1914-1919 and 1939-1945. Both were illegal under international law. |
| 24 |
He was a major proponent of aerial bombing in World War I, the North Russia Intervention, the Third Anglo-Afghan War and the 1920 Iraqi Revolt. |
| 25 |
During his wartime premiership the UK ceased to be a superpower due to the economic cost of World War II and Lend Lease. The Atlantic Charter promised self-determination to all the colonies of the British Empire. |
| 26 |
He considered withdrawing all British troops from India in 1942 in response to the "Quit India" movement. |
| 27 |
He repeatedly rejected offers from Adolf Hitler to end World War II, most notably in July 1940 after the Fall of France and in May 1941 before the start of the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union. |
| 28 |
He publicly praised the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's invasions of Poland on 17 September 1939 and of the Baltic states on 14 June 1940. After World War II ended it was confirmed that the joint German-Soviet invasion had been secretly agreed in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact on 23 August 1939. |
| 29 |
He was a vocal supporter of destroying Germany as an economic and industrial power before and during World War II. |
| 30 |
At the end of World War II he tried to publicly disassociate himself from the blitzing of German cities, due to the immense controversy following the destruction of Dresden. Churchill had began bombing German cities on 11 May 1940, four months before Adolf Hitler retaliated by ordering the London Blitz in response. |
| 31 |
Pictured on a set of three postage stamps issued by the Isle of Guernsey 22 January 2015. Stamps were in a single souvenir sheet; each stamp had a denomination of £1. |
| 32 |
On 11 May 1940, the day after he became Prime Minister, Churchill ordered the RAF to begin bombing German cities. The first raid took place that evening at Monchengladbach. |
| 33 |
Befriended Consuelo Vanderbilt, who became the Duchess of Marlborough upon her marriage to his cousin, Charles. Consuelo's great-grandfather, Cornelius Vanderbilt, was a business partner of Winston's maternal grandfather, Leonard Jerome. |
| 34 |
As a representative for the UK government, he helped draft the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which created the Irish Free State and ended the Anglo-Irish War. He heavily armed the Irish National Army against the anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army during the Irish Civil War. |
| 35 |
Pictured on one of a set of eight British commemorative postage stamps honoring Prime Ministers, issued 14 October 2014. Other prime ministers featured in the set were William Pitt the Younger, Charles Grey, Robert Peel, William Gladstone, Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson, and Margaret Thatcher. Price of the Churchill, Attlee, Wilson, and Thatcher stamps on day of issue was 97p each. |
| 36 |
By a decree of 18 June 1958 (anniversary of the famous BBC broadcasted speech to France in 1940), he was named "Compagnon de la Libération", the prestigious Order initiated by Charles de Gaulle during World War II. |
| 37 |
Is descended from John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, through the female line. Due to this, for many years the family's name was actually Spencer. Churchill was added back to the family name to emphasize their descent from Lord Churchill. In fact, Winston's full name includes the Spencer family name as well. Through the Spencer side of the family, Churchill is also related to Earl Charles Spencer and Princess Diana. |
| 38 |
Risked his career by trying to find a way for the Duke of Windsor to remain on the throne after marrying the Duchess of Windsor. This strained relations so badly between him and the future King George VI, that George originally did not want Churchill to be Prime Minister, and would prefer instead to have E.F.L. Wood. Churchill by that point had a majority of Parliament supporting him, though, and so he became Prime Minister. He earned the King's respect through his leadership during World War II. |
| 39 |
Grandfather of Winston Churchill, Celia Sandys, Arabella Churchill, and Nicholas Soames. |
| 40 |
Father-in-law of Pamela Harriman during her marriage to Randolph; Vic Oliver and Anthony Beauchamp during their marriages to Sarah; and Christopher Soames during his marriage to Mary. |
| 41 |
He was portrayed by Ian McNeice in the original production of the play "Never So Good", by Howard Brenton , which premiered at the National Theatre, London, UK in March 2008. |
| 42 |
While a young student at Harrow, he and some friends blew up a wooden shed using homemade gunpowder. |
| 43 |
When traveling abroad during World War II, he would travel under the alias "Col. Walden" for security reasons. |
| 44 |
May have had Alzheimer's disease in later life. Although the Churchill Museum maintains his reduced mental capacity was the result of multiple minor strokes since 1949, his symptoms were consistent with the illness. |
| 45 |
All members of the Churchill family had animal nicknames. Wife Clementine was "Cat", son Randolph was "Rabbit", daughter Mary was "Mouse", to name a few. |
| 46 |
His relationship with his wife was strained by the fact that she rose early every morning and he slept late. As a result they usually left notes and small letters to each other to maintain the intimacy. |
| 47 |
Almost missed proposing to Clementine Ogilvy. He had promised to take her for a walk around the Blenheim Palace grounds, then overslept. His cousin Charles took Clementine for a carriage ride to prevent her from leaving, and sent a servant to roust Churchill out of bed. |
| 48 |
When Churchill was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1924, his robes of office were the same ones his father had used a generation earlier. |
| 49 |
His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, allegedly died of syphilis. |
| 50 |
Greta Garbo attended his funeral, as an extremely rare 1965 photograph proves. |
| 51 |
He was awarded the O.M. (Order of Merit) and C.H. (Companion of Honour), and created a Knight of the Garter (KG), but allegedly declined a dukedom. |
| 52 |
His mother, Jennie Jerome, was born in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn. Her father, Leonard Jerome, was a financier and business partner of Cornelius Vanderbilt. Jennie and Lord Randolph Churchill, son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough, were introduced by the future King Edward VII (reportedly, one of her lovers; she and his consort, Queen Alexandra, became good friends) in August 1873. Engaged 3 days after meeting, the wedding was delayed for months while the Duke and Jerome hammered out financial terms. Jennie and Lord Randolph were married on April 15, 1874 at the British Embassy in Paris. Five years after Randolph's death, Jennie married George Cornwallis-West, a captain in the Scots Guards, who was 26 days older than Winston. As was the custom of the day, Jennie played a limited role in her sons' upbringing. Winston worshiped his mother, but she rarely visited him at school, despite his numerous letters begging her to. After he became an adult, they forged a strong friendship to the point where he regarded her as more of a big sister than his mother. Well-respected and influential in the highest circles, Jennie was instrumental in launching Winston's career. Contrary to popular belief, she did not have a tattoo of a snake around her left wrist. She has been played by Anne Bancroft, Hilde Krahl, Georgie Glen, and by Lee Remick. |
| 53 |
Early in his writing career, he was often mistaken for American novelist Winston Churchill. Churchill wrote to his counterpart, and told him he was thereafter going to sign all his published works 'Winston Spencer Churchill' to avoid confusion. The two actually met in Boston in 1899, and became fast friends. |
| 54 |
Proposed marriage to Ethel Barrymore. She refused him, but they remained friends. |
| 55 |
He was already 65 years of age when he became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1940. He suffered a mild heart attack in Washington in December 1941, a few days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and was very ill with bronchitis around Christmas 1943. In 1949, as Leader of the Opposition, he suffered his first stroke while vacating in France; in June 1953, three weeks after the Coronation, he had a severe stroke which would have ended his second premiership had not Foreign Secretary Sir Anthony Eden been hospitalized in America following three unsuccessful gall bladder operations. Following another stroke in April 1955, Churchill's health remained reasonably good until a fall from his bed at the Hotel Paris in 1962. Thereafter there was no subsequent recovery, although he remained a Member of Parliament until the 1964 General Election, finally standing down a month before his 90th birthday. |
| 56 |
His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, died on 24 January 1895, exactly 70 years to the day before Winston himself passed away. |
| 57 |
Came in first place in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. This followed a telephone vote campaign by the Churchill Society. [2004] |
| 58 |
First gained fame in England as a war correspondent during the Boer War in 1899-1900. While covering the conflict (as what amounted to an "embedded" journalist, long before the term was coined) he was captured by Boer guerrillas and taken as a prisoner of war. Along with a few other prisoners, Churchill hatched a bold scheme to escape. The success of this plan catapulted him to fame and helped him along on his political career. |
| 59 |
Father of Diana Churchill; Randolph Churchill; Sarah Churchill; Marigold Frances Churchill (15 November 1918 - 23 August 1921) and Lady Mary Soames). |
| 60 |
Time Magazine's "Man of the Year" (1940 & 1949) |
| 61 |
Born prematurely in a bedroom during a party at Blenheim Palace. Answering speculation that Winston was conceived before her marriage, Lady Randolph later said, "Although present on the occasion, I have no clear recollection of the events leading up to it.". |
| 62 |
Early in his life, he briefly worked as a greeting card designer for Hallmark. |
| 63 |
Pictured on a 5¢ Canadian commemorative postage stamp issued in his honour 12 August 1965. |
| 64 |
Pictured on a 5¢ USA commemorative postage stamp issued in his honor, 13 May 1965. |
| 65 |
Was a member of The Tuna Club in southern California, the oldest fishing club in the United States. Its members at one time also included Theodore Roosevelt, George S. Patton, Charles Chaplin, and Bing Crosby. |
| 66 |
Said to have refused to allow his successor to nominate him for a peerage after his final resignation as Prime Minister in 1955, ostensibly to allow his son to contest a seat in the House of Commons. |
| 67 |
Awarded the 1953 Nobel Prize in literature, he was allegedly disappointed that it wasn't the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to prevent the Cold War between the East and West from deteriorating into nuclear conflict. |
| 68 |
That Hamilton Woman (1941) is reported to have been his favorite movie. |
| 69 |
Married at St. Margaret's, Westminster, England. Clementine was a decade younger than him. |
| 70 |
Nancy Astor once said to Churchill, "If I was your wife I'd poison your coffee!" He replied, "If I was your husband I'd drink it.". |
| 71 |
Credited with this exchange with Bessie Braddock: "Winston, you are drunk, and what's more, you are disgustingly drunk."; "Bessie, my dear, you are ugly, and what's more, you are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober, and you will still be disgustingly ugly.". |
| 72 |
He was created a Knight of the Most Noble Order of Garter on 24 April 1953. The award was not made in any of the usual Honours Lists. Both he and his Foreign Secretary Sir Anthony Eden had declined this honour in 1945, feeling it inappropriate following the landslide General Election defeat. |
| 73 |
In 1963, by Act of Congress, he was granted honorary U.S. citizenship, the first recipient since Lafayette. He was too infirm to travel to Washington, DC, to receive the honour in person, which was collected by his son and grandson. |
| 74 |
The first American combat ship named after a foreigner, the guided-missile cruiser USS Winston S. Churchill, was launched on 17 April 1999. |
| 75 |
He is buried in a modest churchyard in Bladon, not far from his birthplace at Blenheim Palace. Chartwell, his country house, is open to the public. Much of his painting was done there. |
| 76 |
The atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, "Fat Man", was christened by US Gen. Leslie Groves with Churchill in mind. The Hiroshima bomb, "Little Boy", was originally called "Thin Man", in honour of Franklin D. Roosevelt. |
| # | Quote |
|---|
| 1 |
[observation, 1940] An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. |
| 2 |
America knows that fifty-two per cent of Russia's motor industry is in Moscow and could be wiped out by a single bomb. It might mean wiping out three million people, but they would think nothing of that ... They think more of erasing an historical building like the Kremlin. |
| 3 |
If an atomic bomb could be dropped on the Kremlin wiping it out, it would be a very easy problem to handle the balance of Russia, which would be without direction. |
| 4 |
I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes ... [It] would spread a lively terror. |
| 5 |
I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion. |
| 6 |
[on the destruction of Dresden] It seems to me that the moment has come when the question of bombing of German cities simply for the sake of increasing the terror, though under other pretexts, should be reviewed ... I feel the need for more precise concentration upon military objectives such as oil and communications behind the immediate battle-zone, rather than on mere acts of terror and wanton destruction, however impressive. |
| 7 |
The territories of the future are the territories of the mind. |
| 8 |
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. |
| 9 |
[on his Chiefs of Staff, 1944] They may say I lead them up the garden path, but at every stage of the garden they have found delectable fruit and wholesome vegetables. |
| 10 |
[after Munich, 1938] Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonour. They chose dishonour. |
| 11 |
[observation, 1935] When the situation was manageable, it was neglected. Now that it is thoroughly out of hand, we apply the remedies which then might have effected a cure. Nothing new in this story, until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong - these are the features that constitute the endless repetition of history. |
| 12 |
[in Newfoundland, 1941] Meeting Roosevelt was like uncorking your first bottle of champagne. |
| 13 |
[in Montreal, 1929] How splendid is our common inheritance. It was a thrill that, after crossing for several days the great wastes of the Atlantic, I landed in a new world, in a new hemisphere, and found myself at home. |
| 14 |
I have often had to eat my words and, on the whole, I have found them to be a nourishing diet. |
| 15 |
[to an aide who advised, 'We must kiss America on both cheeks'] Yes, but not on all four. |
| 16 |
You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else. |
| 17 |
[on becoming Prime Minister, May 10, 1940] I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. |
| 18 |
[of England, contemplating the significance of the Wright brothers' 1903 success at Kitty Hawk] You came into big things as an accident of naval power when you were an island. The world had confidence in you. You became the workshop of the world. You populated the island beyond its capacity. Through an accident of air power you will probably cease to exist. |
| 19 |
There are two things that are more difficult than making an after-dinner speech: climbing a wall which is leaning toward you and kissing a girl who is leaning away from you. |
| 20 |
If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future. |
| 21 |
[on father/mother] Where does a family start? It starts with a young man in love with a girl-no superior alternative has yet to be found. |
| 22 |
[on bravery] Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others. |
| 23 |
[when told by Nancy Astor {aka Lady Astor) that if she were his wife she would poison his tea] If I were your husband, I would drink it. |
| 24 |
How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. |
| 25 |
I like a man who grins when he fights. |
| 26 |
Success is not final; failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts. |
| 27 |
[responding to an accusation that he was conceived out of wedlock] Although present on the occasion, I have no recollection of the events leading up to it. |
| 28 |
A socialist policy is abhorrent to British ideas on freedom. A socialist state could not afford to suffer opposition - no socialist system can be established without a political police. |
| 29 |
How I hated this school, and what a life of anxiety I lived there for more than two years. I made very little progress in my lessons, and none at all at games. I counted the days and the hours to the end of every term, when I should return home from this hateful servitude and range my soldiers in line of battle on the nursery floor. The greatest pleasure I had in those days was reading. When I was nine and a half my father gave me 'Treasure Island', and I remember the delight with which I devoured it. My teachers saw me at once backward and precocious, reading books beyond my years and yet at the bottom of the Form. They were offended. They had large resources of compulsion at their disposal, but I was stubborn. Where my reason, imagination or interest were not engaged, I would not or I could not learn. |
| 30 |
Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm. |
| 31 |
Politics are almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times. |
| 32 |
Some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their party. |
| 33 |
[his view on never finishing a sentence with a preposition] Up with this stupidity I will not put. |
| 34 |
We have our own dream and our own task. We are with Europe, but not of it. We are linked, but not comprised. We are interested and associated, but not absorbed. |
| 35 |
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. |
| 36 |
Some regard private enterprise as if it were a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look upon it as a cow that they can milk. Only a handful see it for what it really is - the strong horse that pulls the whole cart. |
| 37 |
Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. |
| 38 |
It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried. |
| 39 |
An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. |
| 40 |
It is impossible to obtain a conviction for sodomy from an English jury. Half of them don't believe that it can physically be done, and the other half are doing it. |
| 41 |
[on his deathbed] I'm so bored with it all. |
| 42 |
A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. |
| 43 |
[upon hearing of the love affair between Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend] What a delightful match. A lovely young royal lady married to a gallant young airman, safe from the perils and horrors of war. |
| 44 |
[on the Soviet Union] It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. |
| 45 |
Democracy is an awful way to run a country, but it's the best system we have. |
| 46 |
We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us. |
| 47 |
Already by 1900 I could boast I had written as many books as Moses. |
| 48 |
Writing a book is an adventure: it begins as an amusement, then it becomes a mistress, then a master, and finally a tyrant. |
| 49 |
When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite. |
| 50 |
I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught. |
| 51 |
History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. |
| 52 |
Golf is a game whose aim it is to hit a very small ball into an even smaller hole with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose. |
| 53 |
[(speech, 30th March 1940)] Although the fate of Poland stares them in the face, there are thoughtless dilettanti or purblind wordlings who sometimes ask us, 'What is it that Britain and France are fighting for?' To this I answer, 'If we left off fighting you would soon find out!' |
| 54 |
We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender. |
| 55 |
[commenting on the Battle of Britain] Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. |
