Quoting the funny Winston Churchill - Part 1 :

“When I am abroad I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the Government of my country. I make up for lost time when I am at home.”

“A modest man . . . who has much to be modest about.” (on Clement Atlee)

“I am easily satisfied with the very best.”

“He occasionally stumbled over the truth, but hastily picked himself up and hurried on as if nothing had happened" (on Stanley Baldwin)

“Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”

“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”

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Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can) . . . born 30 November 1874 . . . was an English statesman, soldier, and author. Well-known as an orator and strategist, Churchill was one of the most important leaders in modern British and world history.

A prolific author, Churchill won the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature for his many books on English and world history. He was voted the greatest-ever Briton in the 2002 BBC poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.

Churchill was an officer in the British Army and served in India, Sudan and South Africa. He fought during the Second Boer War and at the Battle of Omdurman. At the forefront of the political scene for almost sixty years Churchill held numerous political and cabinet positions. Before the First World War he served as President of the Board of Trade and Home Secretary during the Liberal governments. In the First World War Churchill served in numerous positions, as First Lord of the Admiralty, Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for Air. He also served in the British Army on the Western Front and commanded the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. During the interwar years he served twice as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

After the outbreak of the Second World War Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain in May 1940 Churchill became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and led the British war effort against the Axis powers. Churchill's speeches were a great inspiration to the embattled Allied forces.

After losing the 1945 election Churchill became the leader of the opposition. In 1951 Churchill again became Prime Minister before finally retiring in 1955. Upon his death, he was granted the honour of a state funeral which saw one of the largest assemblies of statesmen in the world.

A descendant of a famous aristocratic family, Churchill's full surname was Spencer-Churchill. His family was the senior branch of the Spencer family, which added the surname Churchill to its own in the late eighteenth century. They did this to highlight their descent from John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough .

After Churchill left Harrow in 1893, he attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst; he passed the entrance exams on his third and final attempt, due to chance knowledge of the topography of New Zealand. He graduated twentieth out of a class of 130 in December of 1894 and was immediately commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 4th Queen's Own Hussars on February 20, 1895. In 1941, he received the honour of Colonel of the (succeeding) Regiment.

Churchill decided that the military did not suit him, so he entered upon a political career. During 1900 when looking for a vote, he asked a person for his support, to which the man responded: "Vote for you? I’d rather vote for the devil." Churchill replied: "I quite understand, but since that man is not running this time, could I count on your support?"

In 1899, Churchill stood as a Conservative candidate in Oldham in a by-election. He failed to be elected, coming in third (Oldham was at that time a two-seat borough). After a short time he was eligible to stand again. This time, in the 1900 general election, also called "the Khaki election," he was elected; but rather than attending the opening of Parliament, he embarked on a speaking tour throughout Britain and the United States, in the process raising ten thousand pounds for himself. (Members of Parliament were unpaid in those days and Churchill was not rich by the standards of other MPs at that time.) In both these elections, his campaign expenses were paid by his cousin the 9th Duke of Marlborough.

In Parliament, Churchill became associated with a group of Tory dissidents led by Lord Hugh Cecil called the Hughligans, a play of words on "hooligans".

When the Liberals took office, with Henry Campbell-Bannerman as Prime Minister, in December 1905, Churchill became Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies. Serving under the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin, Churchill dealt with the adoption of constitutions for the defeated Boer republics of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony and with the issue of 'Chinese slavery' in South African mines. He also became a prominent spokesman on free trade.

- Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia                Continues in Part 2 > > >

Photo credit: Wikipedia

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