Winston Churchill-Statesman, Politician and Leader

I was born in the fifties, just over six years after World War Two ended. My Dad had served in the British Infantry from 1939 until he was demobbed in 1947.The war had seen my Dad travel abroad to places he had never visited before and would never visit again. Burma and India were amongst the countries. As a war veteran, in the fifties Dad was proud of his war record, despite being troubled.

One thing that I remember vividly is how he admired Winston Churchill or as he fondly called this elder statesman,Winnie.

Winston Churchill was a Conservative, Tory, Politician but because of his leadership during the dark days of World War Two he was admired by people from all walks of life.

Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace in 1874 and died in 1965. His full name and title is Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill. His father was Englishman, Lord Randolph Churchill and his mother was an American Heiress, called Jennie Jerome.

Churchill had a privileged childhood and was educated at Harrow. He finished his education at the military college Sandhurst. By 1895 Churchill had achieved a cavalry commission and was soon serving in India. Perhaps this is part of the reason that so many ex soldiers from the second world war respected Churchill. After all he had experienced military life. Not to the extent of the foot soldiers possibly but enough to be more than just a small show. He saw active service from 1895 to 1899.

Churchill made a name for himself as a war correspondent and covered such conflicts as the Boer War, Captured by the Boers his escape led to his fame and entry into British Parliament, in the House of Commons. By the time he was 26 he had five books published and was becoming a well kniown name. Writing was to provide the extra income needed to maintain his lifestyle.

It was politics though that was to be his forte.

Having served as a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1899 till 1904 Churchill moved to the Liberal Party. Their politics of the day sat better with him than the right wing Conservatives. Churchill held various political offices until divisions and changes in the Liberals led to him returning to the Conservatives. He was elected as MP for Epping in 1924.

Confidence in Conservative Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain began to disappear, especially after his infamous Peace In Our Times escapade. On 19th May 1940 Chamberlain resigned and Winston Churchill became the new Prime Minister. A coalition government was formed which included various politicians from a cross section of the political spectrum.

Churchill's leadership and political career was not plain sailing throughout the war. He had his peaks and troughs, as they say. By 1945 Churchill was the leader of the opposition as Labour took power.

From the 40s Churchill suffered health problems and had more than one Stroke. This information was largely kept from the general public. Churchill admitted to suffering from bouts of depression at times and called these his "Fight With The Black Dog"

One of Churchill's great strengths as a leader, through the war years, was his ability to serve up stirring speeches. His final period of Prime Minister began in 1955. Now, having seen what devastation modern atom bombs could inflict on nations his speeches were more about peace and agreement.

Sir Winston Churchill died in January 1965 and by order of Queen Elizabeth II, was laid in State. This meant that his body laid in Westminster Abbey , in State, for three days. Such an honour is usually reserved for Royals. Churchill was then given a state funeral in St Paul's Cathedral. I well remember the daily newspapers of the day carrying the story.

English television back then only showed black and white images but these suited the day's events. Churchill was almost 91 when he died and was very much of a bygone era. To those of my parent's generation he was a man deserving of respect and admiration.

His trademark V for Victory sign, seen so much during the war years, of course doubled up as the peace sign. It also however, appeared to be telling Herr Hitler exactly where to go and thankfully he did.