Summary

1. As a child
2. Military career before 1914
3. Political figure
4. His contribution in WWI and WWII
5. Personal life. Going back to his “black dog”
1. As a child
• Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was born at
Blenheim Palace, the seat of his grandfather the
7th Duke of Marlborough, on 30 November
1874.

• At 13 he scraped into the lowest class at

Harrow. His father, believing that his son was
academically unsuited for politics or law, had
him placed in the army class.
2. Military career before 1914
• 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.

• 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.
• Churchill obtained his commission as a cavalry
officer in the 4th (Queen’s Own) Hussars in
February 1895.

• Also employed as a war reporter, he spent his

21st birthday in Cuba, acquiring two lifelong
habits – siestas and Havana cigars.

• The following year Churchill sailed with his

regiment for India and in 1898 fought in Sudan.
• On 15 November, he was on an armoured train in Natal when it
was ambushed. He was captured and imprisoned in Pretoria.

• On 12 December, when the guards' backs were turned, he took

his opportunity to escape and clambered over a prison wall into
the night.

• He jumped on a passing train, hiding among sacks, before

alighting and enlisting the help of a Transvaal Collieries
manager.

• Churchill arrived in Durban a hero. Back in Britain, stories of his

exploits made him famous.
3.Political figure

• Churchill's new-found fame allowed him to further his

political ambitions. At the 1900 General Election he
became MP for Oldham.

• Churchill delivered his first speech in Parliament in 1901

• Churchill was unafraid to disagree with his party chiefs.

Together with his friend, Lord Hugh Cecil, he organised
a group of young Tory MPs who specialised in harassing
their own party leaders – the 'Hughligans'.
• From May 1903 Churchill found himself further at odds
with much of his own Conservative Party when he
objected to proposed tariff reforms.

• Self-confident and supremely assured of his own views,

he took a stand against influential politician Joseph
Chamberlain. He left the Conservative Party and took a
seat on the Liberal benches, flying the flag for free trade.

• In 1908 he became the youngest cabinet minister since

1866 and the social reforms he pioneered with David
Lloyd-George laid the foundations of the welfare state.
4. Contribution in WWI and WWII

• His political career was thriving. In 1911 he became First Lord of the
Admiralty and oversaw rapid expansion in the naval arms race with
Germany.

• In June 1914, Europe was brought to the brink of war. As war drew
closer, Churchill was determined that Britain must play her part.

• Churchill was heavily criticised for presiding over a number of British

naval failures in the early months of the war. High profile losses put
Churchill firmly in the spotlight. 

•  It was a disaster. Losses were heavy and Churchill forced to resign in
disgrace.
• Churchill became an increasingly marginalised voice as
his views were out of step with the time.

• His opposition to giving Britain's Indian Empire greater

powers of self-governance – exacerbated by his
support for King Edward VIII in the 1936 abdication
crisis – left him sidelined by both Baldwin and then
Neville Chamberlain.

• His dire warnings about the rise of Hitler and the Nazis
went unheeded
• Hitler invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. By the 3rd, Britain was once
again at war with Germany.

• Churchill was immediately recalled from his political exile, again

becoming First Lord of the Admiralty. By May 1940, Britain and her allies
were losing the war.

• Chamberlain bowed to pressure and resigned as Prime Minister. When

Lord Halifax refused the role, Churchill was the only credible alternative
to lead.

• He also took the post of Minster of Defence and responsibility for the
war effort.
• Standing alone, Churchill's speeches stirred Britain to continue
fighting until the US and USSR joined the war in 1941.

• As the war progressed, Churchill sought to delay the invasion of

Nazi-occupied France for as long as possible, fearful of a second
Gallipoli.

• Since pressure from the US and USSR grew, the date was set. On 6
June 1944, US, British and Canadian forces invaded Nazi-occupied
France. D-Day had arrived. At midday, Churchill was able to report
the success of the landings to the House of Commons
• On 7 May 1945, Germany surrendered.
Though Japan would continue fighting until
September, the Allies had won. Churchill had
led the nation to victory.

• But in the July General Election the

Conservatives led by Churchill were roundly
defeated by Labour.
• On 26 October 1951, little more than four weeks shy of his 77th birthday,
Churchill led the Conservatives to electoral victory once again.

• He was, however, an ailing force. In 1953 Churchill was left partially

paralysed after suffering a stroke which government officials and the press
colluded in concealing.

• He had repeatedly pressed for discussions with the USSR but, even after
Stalin's death, failed to convince the US of the need for a common approach.

• Churchill authorised Britain's nuclear weapons programme in 1954 and his

final major speech to the House of Commons in 1955 tackled the threat of
nuclear destruction.
5. Personal life. Going back to his “black dog”

• Churchill first met Clementine Hozier, at a ball in 1904.

• Socially awkward and then in love with another woman, he made

a poor impression. Despite his successful career, he had proposed
to three women and been rejected by. 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.
• Throughout his life Churchill had fought against depression, his 'black dog'.
After his resignation on 5 April 1955, it was a battle he began to lose.

• He remained an MP until 1964 but for those last nine years never again
spoke in the House of Commons. He spent much of his time at his home,
Chartwell, or on holiday in the French Riviera.

• As one daughter, Sarah, fell into alcoholism another, Diana, committed

suicide. His relationship with his son, Randolph, was turbulent.

• Churchill's physical health was also failing, and he suffered a series of

further strokes. Planning began for his own state funeral – termed
Operation Hope Not.
• On 24 January 1965, 70 years to the day since the death of
his father, Churchill died. He was 90 years old.

• World leaders and dignitaries gathered for his funeral service

on 30 January. Huge silent crowds lined the streets to pay
their respects as his coffin travelled slowly through central
London to St Paul's Cathedral.

• Churchill was laid to rest in Oxfordshire, close to his family's

ancestral seat at Blenheim Palace, where he had been born
90 years before.