Artist, historian, and writer

Main articles: Winston Churchill as historian and Winston Churchill as writer

Churchill was an accomplished amateur artist and took great pleasure in painting, especially after
his resignation as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1915.[566] He found a haven in art to overcome the
spells of depression which some say he suffered throughout his life. William Rees-Mogg wrote
"In his own life, he had to suffer the 'black dog' of depression. In his landscapes and still lifes
there is no sign of depression."[567] Churchill was persuaded and taught to paint by his artist
friend, Paul Maze, whom he met during the First World War. Maze was a great influence on
Churchill's painting and became a lifelong painting companion.[568]
Churchill's best known paintings are impressionist landscapes, many of which were painted while
on holiday in the South of France, Egypt or Morocco.[567] Using the pseudonym "Charles
Morin",[399] he continued his hobby throughout his life and painted hundreds of paintings, many of
which are on show in the studio at Chartwell as well as private collections.[569] Most of his
paintings are oil-based and feature landscapes, but he also did a number of interior scenes and
portraits. In 1925 Lord Duveen, Kenneth Clark, and Oswald Birley selected his Winter
Sunshine as the prize winner in a contest for anonymous amateur artists.[570]:46–47 Due to obvious
time constraints, Churchill attempted only one painting during the Second World War. He
completed the painting from the tower of the Villa Taylor in Marrakesh.[571]

Allies (1995) by Lawrence Holofcener, a sculptural group depicting Franklin D. Roosevelt and Churchill
in New Bond Street, London

During 1934, for example, Churchill was commissioned by Collier's, the News of the World,
the Daily Mail—and, added that year, the Sunday Dispatch, for which the newspaper's editor,
William Blackwood, employed Adam Marshall Diston to rework Churchill's old material (Churchill
himself would write one new piece in every four published by the Dispatch).[572] Later in the year,
when Churchill had less time to write, at the recommendation of Blackwood he employed Diston
directly as his ghostwriter.[572] Diston wrote, for example, Churchill's remaining Collier's articles for
the year, being paid £15 from the £350 commission Churchill received for each
article.[572] Blackwood considered Diston a 'splendid journalist' and his first article written for
Churchill went to print without change—this, according to David Lough, 'was the start of a
partnership that would flourish for the rest of the decade'.[572] By the end of the following year,
Diston had already prepared most of Churchill's 'The Great Men I Have Known' series for
the News of the World in Britain and Collier's in the US, due to appear from January 1936.
Sir Emsley Carr, the British newspaper's chairman, enjoyed them so much he immediately
signed up Churchill for a series in 1937.[572] The News of the World would pay nearly £400
(£12,000 today) an article.[573] Another of Churchill's ghostwriters was his Private
Secretary Edward Marsh (who would at times receive up to 10 per cent of Churchill's
commission).[573][574]
Churchill was a prolific writer, often under the pen name "Winston S. Churchill", which he used to
avoid confusion with the American novelist of the same name.[575] His output included a novel, two
biographies, three volumes of memoirs, and several histories. He was awarded the Nobel Prize
for Literature in 1953 "for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for
brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values".[576] Two of his most famous works, published
after his first premiership brought his international fame to new heights, were his six-volume
memoir The Second World War and A History of the English-Speaking Peoples; a four-volume
history covering the period from Caesar's invasions of Britain (55 BC) to the beginning of the
First World War (1914).[577] A number of volumes of Churchill's speeches were also published. the
first of which, Into Battle, was published in the United States under the title Blood, Sweat and
Tears, and was included in Life Magazine's list of the 100 outstanding books of 1924–1944.[578]
Churchill was an amateur bricklayer, constructing buildings and garden walls at his country home
at Chartwell,[399] where he also bred butterflies.[579] As part of this hobby Churchill joined
the Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers,[580] but was expelled due to his revived
membership in the Conservative Party.[399]