Born at the Ball
The life of the son of a lord and grandson of a duke from the illustrious Spencer family began on November 30, 1874… in the ladies’ dressing room of the family castle near Woodstock. The future two-time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom entered this world at the grand estate of the Marlborough aristocrats – Blenheim Palace. The birth occurred during a ball organized by Winston Churchill’s grandparents.
Jenny Churchill – Winston Churchill’s mother
The daughter-in-law of the duke and duchess, Jenny Churchill, was eight months pregnant and did not anticipate the sudden turn of events when she decided to attend the ball with family members and invited guests. However, labor pains began unexpectedly, and soon a new British citizen announced his arrival from the ladies’ room, destined to become a prominent global politician, soldier, journalist, writer, artist, honorary member of the British Academy, and Nobel Prize laureate in literature.
Jenny Churchill with her two sons Jack (left) and Winston (right) in 1889
The Penultimate in Behavior
The son of a well-known politician, a Conservative MP and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the daughter of a wealthy American businessman grew up under the watchful eye of a loving mother and was unfamiliar with the concept of “discipline.” At St. George’s preparatory school, the eight-year-old student often faced punishment due to his unruly nature, and at school in Brighton, Churchill ranked twelfth out of thirteen for behavior. He also did not excel academically, which is why, instead of sending him to Eton College, where several generations of Marlborough men were educated, his father sent him to Harrow. Graduates of the local “army class” were prepared for military careers, with an emphasis on sports and the study of history. Churchill passed his final exams and became the school’s fencing champion in 1892.
Churchill in the parade uniform of the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars in Aldershot in 1895
An Opponent of Routine
Churchill was admitted to the cavalry course on his third attempt: during the entrance exams at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst, he ranked 92nd out of 102 (his stumbling block was a written Latin exam). He found himself in the more prestigious infantry class after more successful candidates declined admission. As a second lieutenant, Churchill joined the Royal Hussars, where he realized that military routine was not for him. His maternal connections helped Winston engage in more interesting pursuits during his actual military service – creativity. In 1895, Churchill became a war correspondent in Cuba, covering the local insurgents’ rebellion against the Spanish for a newspaper. His articles from the front lines on the sunny island earned him accolades, literary fame, and a couple of lifelong habits: smoking strong cigars and taking afternoon naps.
A Tolerant Braveheart
During his service with the expeditionary corps, Churchill was in India, where he witnessed the suppression of a rebellion by mountain tribes. Displaying personal bravery, he confessed in a letter to his mother that he valued the reputation of a brave man most in military service. However, at the core of his risks was bravado rather than necessity. In a letter to his grandmother, the duchess, Winston criticized the brutality of both sides and the senselessness of the campaign: “The representatives of the local tribes torture the wounded and desecrate the bodies of the dead. And our soldiers also never leave captured opponents alive, finishing off even the wounded. Field hospitals and convoys with the sick become special targets for the enemy, and we destroy water reservoirs (the only sources of drinking water in summer) and annihilate them with new weapons that have a horrific destructive effect. This is costly, immoral, questionable in terms of military expediency, and politically shortsighted.”
Churchill during the Anglo-Boer War
The Great Gentleman
In his next military report on the last cavalry charge of the British Army during the battle at Omdurman, Churchill criticized the commander of the troops, Kitchener, accusing him of mistreating prisoners and the wounded, as well as disrespecting local customs and desecrating a warrior’s grave. “This is a case where a great general cannot be called a great gentleman,” Churchill remarked, drawing mixed reactions from the public. While supporting the main thrust of his critique, the British considered the civil stance of the journalist incompatible with the duties of a junior officer. Regardless, Churchill entered politics after escaping captivity during another military assignment in South Africa, arriving with the popularity of a monarchist-imperialist with traits of a liberal and humanitarian.
Churchill and German Kaiser Wilhelm II, 1906
Reactionary or Reformer?
Participants in the protests against which he deployed troops would not label Churchill a supporter of social reforms. As Home Secretary, the 36-year-old Churchill, in 1911, called upon 50,000 soldiers to quell strikers and mass riots, lamenting that Lloyd George’s mediation resolved the conflict bloodlessly: “It would have been better to give them a good thrashing!” According to close friend Charles Masterman, Churchill was excited by the prospect of restoring order “with bullets,” and he eagerly devised troop movement plans on maps. In his country and colonies, the statesman repeatedly gave cause to be seen as an enemy of the working class. His anti-socialist rhetoric and reaction to the riots in the Rhondda Valley drew condemnation from the “left.” Many contemporaries characterized Churchill as a reactionary, a proponent of militarism, and a defender of the interests of the upper classes. However, in opposing the general strike, Churchill supported trade unions, viewing them as an “alternative” to socialism. Paradoxically, it was Churchill, born “with a silver spoon in his mouth,” who initiated the minimum wage law in 1908, easing the lives of English workers for the first time with wage standards and limits on working hours.
Winston Churchill during the protests, 1911
Victor of Two Wars
As First Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill oversaw one of the largest modernizations in the history of the British Navy, transitioning military vessels from coal to liquid fuel, and as head of the land military transport commission, he personally developed the first tanks and created armored forces. As Minister of War and Minister of Aviation during World War I, he initiated a doctrine of keeping England out of international conflicts for the next decade after the war, while as Prime Minister during World War II, he was determined to fight to victory, rejecting any possibility of a truce with Nazi Germany. It was during this period that his famous words emerged: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.” From 1940 to 1945, 84% of Britons supported their leader. After the victory, Churchill became the initiator of the “Cold War” with the USSR and the generator of the idea of uniting former enemies – Germany, France, and Britain – into the “United States of Europe.”
Winston Churchill before the crowd in Whitehall on Victory Day over Germany, May 8, 1945
Observers repeatedly accused Churchill of prioritizing personal ambitions over political principles. He began his parliamentary career with biting rhetoric and audacious behavior, and his penchant for controversy earned him many enemies in the political elite. Yet even his detractors respected him for his honesty and loyalty to his loved ones. However, Winston’s character traits and natural temperament did not lend themselves to patience, restraint, or the ability to conceal his feelings. Unlike his political colleagues, Churchill was not skilled in intrigue; he was sincere and straightforward. Without limiting himself to party affiliation, he romanticized the British Empire with its institution of monarchy and viewed colonization as a blessing for the subjugated peoples under the protection of their conquerors. The popular politician saw Britain’s mission as preventing “great barbaric nations” from posing a threat to the “civilized world.”
Churchill with Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, and Princess Anne, 1953
Higher Values
For his advocacy of the highest human values through his brilliant oratory and exceptional skill in writing historical and biographical works, Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, “winning” the 1953 competition for the award against another contender – Ernest Hemingway. Churchill’s literary legacy includes seven books, including a novel. The loving husband and father of five children (his youngest daughter lived only two years) returned to his creative pursuits during breaks from state affairs. In his leisure time at his estate, the politician painted, creating over five hundred paintings over half a century. Winston Churchill was an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Arts and described his experience in the theoretical work “Painting as a Pleasant Diversion.”
Churchill with his children Randolph and Diana
The Alcoholic Genius
Another passion of the charismatic politician was to down a bottle of elite champagne in the morning with foie gras (it is estimated that during his lifetime, Winston consumed 42,000 bottles of sparkling wine), and in the evening, he enjoyed uncorking his favorite Armenian cognac under a Cuban cigar. During the “Prohibition” era in the U.S. in 1932, Churchill was granted a doctor’s permit for unlimited alcohol consumption in the country. “Alcohol has given me much more than it has taken,” he loved to repeat, this “alcohol phenomenon” who lived to 90 in friendship with his bad habits.
A Friendship Built on Bricks
Another of Winston Churchill’s hobbies was quite unusual: the esteemed politician spent time laying brick walls in his yard. He claimed it was the only activity that calmed him. When the famous actor Charlie Chaplin visited the politician, he was very surprised to learn that Churchill had built all the brick structures on his estate by hand and wanted to take a master class from the host. Churchill agreed, taking a promise from his guest to keep the secret of his bricklaying. Whether the renowned comedian applied this knowledge in practice is unknown, but this episode marked the beginning of a long-lasting friendship between him and the British politician.
Churchill meeting movie star Charlie Chaplin in Los Angeles, 1929
The Final Plan
Churchill passed away from another stroke on January 24, 1965. The funeral ceremony, codenamed “I hope not,” followed a pre-written script, to which the “guest of honor” himself contributed. The largest state funeral in British history was attended by the Queen. During the service, the chimes of the parliamentary clock Big Ben were halted, and 90 gun salutes were fired in honor of the deceased’s years. After a three-day public farewell in London, at Churchill’s request, the coffin was transported to the home of the knight and buried in the family cemetery near Blenheim Palace in Bladon. The last operation of this creative mastermind also left a lasting memory.