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WINSTON CHURCHILL British Prime Minister Born in 1874 - Died in 1965

Winston Churchill was born in Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England to Lord Randolph Churchill and Lady Jennie Churchill, who was an American.

Winston wrote about his mother in his book "My Early Life". He said she "always seemed like a fairy princess... She shone for me like the Evening Star. I loved her dearly - but at a distance" She was always too busy with her social life to be bothered with her child.

At age eight his parents enrolled him in St. George's, a boarding school at Ascot. He wrote to them that he was happy there, but actually he hated it and did not do well at all. His teachers thought he was "a very naughty boy", and he was frequently punished. He ranked last in his class and was considered lazy.

His headmaster said of him, "He is a constant trouble to everybody and is always in some scrape or other. He cannot be trusted to behave himself anywhere."

Churchill at School 1884

At age ten his parents removed him from St. George's and he went to a Brighton school run by the Thomson sisters. He was much happier there, but still did poorly in his classes. He wrote letters to his parents, but they rarely answered them. He visited them at home during the Christmas holidays, and his mother made a trip in February to visit him at his school. When he was eleven he became very ill with pneumonia. His parents, when they heard the news and thought he might die, finally went to see their son. Otherwise they didn't visit him, even when they happened to be in the same town as the school.

The highlight of his school year was the visit of his nanny, Mrs. Everest, whom he called "Wooms". She had been hired to care for him when he was only a few weeks old and had been his faithful supporter through the years. His younger brother Jack also came with her for the visit.

Winston's parents turned deaf ears to his pleas for them to come to visit him. Many times they would not even answer his letters.

He entered school at Harrow. He still did not do well, but his teachers saw his potential. By age fourteen he was doing very well in history and literature.

One day after looking at the way Winston had his toy soldiers lined up, his father asked him if he would like to go into the Army, and Winston said, "Yes". He felt so good because he thought his father saw him as a military genius. He later learned Lord Randolph thought his son was not intelligent enough to become a lawyer, and the Army was just an alternative.

When Winston was fifteen his mother promised him a gun and a pony if he would quit smoking. He quit for a short time. We know when he was an adult he developed a taste for Cuban cigars after a visit to Cuba. The cigar, along with the "V for Victory" hand sign, became his trademark.

The year he turned twenty-one was a difficult year for Winston. His father, Lord Randolph died, and that summer his beloved governess, Mrs. Everest, also passed away. He had spent his whole life trying unsuccessfully to please his father. His faithful governess had always given her unconditional love and support. How ironic!

He joined the Army and during his enlistment he spent time in Cuba, India, and in Egypt. He read a lot, educated himself, and then began writing. He would go to war and when he went home he would write a book about it.

When he was twenty-four he decided to leave the Army and pursue a writing career. He traveled to South Africa as a war correspondent. The Boers derailed the train on which he was riding. After helping those who had been wounded, Churchill was taken captive. He managed to escape by climbing out a latrine window. He made it to Pretoria, South Africa, stowed away on a train, and then was aided in his escape by John Howard, who was the coal mine manager. When he finally arrived home, he learned he had become world-famous overnight. This helped him to launch his political career.

In 1900 the voters elected him to Parliament, an office he would occupy the greater part of his life.

Between World War I and World War II (Two) Churchill began painting and became well-known as an artist.

When he was thirty-four years old he married Clementine Hozier. He later said his most brilliant achievement was persuading his wife to marry him. He said he "lived happily ever afterwards". They had four children; three daughters, Diana, Sarah, and Mary, and one son, Randolph.

Churchill and FDR 1941

Churchill was one of the few men who recognized the threat Germany posed to the world. He was in a position as lord of the admiralty to build up the British navy. People called him a warmonger, but the fleet was ready when it was needed. When the Germans invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, it became clear that Churchill's warnings about the threat had been right on target.

On May 10, 1940, when he was sixty-six years old he became prime minister of Great Britain. He said, " I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial".

He declared, " Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, 'This was their finest hour'".

In 1953 Queen Elizabeth knighted him and he became "Sir Winston Churchill", a member of the highest order of British knighthood.

That same year he also won the Nobel peace prize for literature.

During World War II he had many meetings with Franklin Delano Roosevelt as they mapped out a strategy to win the war against the Axis Powers. Joseph Stalin joined them at Yalta, and they became known as "The Big Three". See FDR Resources.

In 1963 The United States Congress voted to make Winston Churchill an honorary citizen of the United States.

He died two years later at the age of ninety after suffering a stroke.

A frequent question: "Who wrote this biography and when was it written?" Look on this Reference Citations Chart.

Work a Jigsaw Puzzle Online Crossword Puzzle Online Word Search Online Word Scramble Color Picture Online Take the Test Online Online Jeopardy Online Biography "Who Am I?"

PRINTABLES Winston Churchill Word Search Winston Churchill Crossword Puzzle Winston Churchill - Word Scramble Winston Churchill Study Sheet Worksheet Color a picture of Winston Churchill Print Winston Churchill Test

Winston Churchill from the Churchill Centre. Winston Churchill from Wikipedia The Churchill Papers Winston Churchill from Spartacus schoolnet.co.uk "This was their finest hour" audio clip Winston Churchill Quotes Winston Churchill from 10 Downing Street Winston Churchill, Why We Go to War Winston Churchill from The Time 100 Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill from Answers.com Winston Churchill Timeline School History UK tests and activities Winston Churchill at Buzzle.com "A Churchill Reader" The Wit and Wisdom of Sir Winston Churchill online book "A Roving Commission", Autobiography of Winston Churchill online book Winston Churchill Obituary At biography.com search for Winston Churchill. Scroll the panel for the "Video & Audio Results".

Winston Churchill: Soldier, Statesman, Artist By Severance / Houghton-mifflin Winston Churchill both experienced and influenced the great social and political changes of the first half of the twentieth century. Chruchill was elected to Parliament in 1900; by the time he resigned as Prime Minister of Great Britain, in 1955, he had served under six monarchs and through two world wars. He had changed political parties twice, worked for social reforms, been voted in and out of office, and advocated strong government action to solve problems, even when it was unpopular. This fascinating chronicle of Churchill's life includes many of his own words - demonstrating the resonance and power with which he used the English language. Churchill's speeches and writings embody the foresight, imagination, and charismatic strength that sustained his countrymen as they fought for their nation's survival. His statesmanship, crucial to England and her allies during both war and peacetime, has had a lasting impact on today's world. Carefully researched, deftly written, and lavishly illustrated with photographs, Winston Churchill: Soldier Statesman, Artist is a vivid portrait of a unique twentieth-century leader and the dramatic times in which he lived.

Wit and Wisdom of Winston Churchill: A Treasury of More Than One Thousand Quotations And... By James Humes / Harpercollins An enormously entertaining compendium of witticisms, anecdotes, and trivia about Winston Churchill by a former White House speechwriter.

Winston Churchill By John Perry / Thomas Nelson Master statesman and orator Winston Churchill was in no small way responsible for the WWII Allied victory over the Axis powers. At many times he stood alone leading the fight against Hitler, absolute in his belief that Britain must "with all the strength that God can give us wage war against a monstrous tyranny." From where did he derive his strength and comfort? In this Christian Encounters biography, discover how Churchill's Anglican faith sustained him during some of the darkest hours in human history.

From Word Central's Student Dictionary
by Merriam - Webster
(Pronunciation note: the schwa sound is shown by ə)

governess
Pronunciation: 'gəv-ər-nəs
Function: noun
a woman who teaches and trains a child in a private home

Parliament
Pronunciation: 'pahr-l&-m&nt
Function: noun
a council for discussing government business
the supreme legislative body of various political units
as the British parliament

warmonger
Pronunciation: 'wo(ə)r-"mə[ng]-gər, -"mah[ng]-
Function: noun
one who urges or attempts to stir up war

prime minister
Function: noun
the chief officer of the government in some countries

commonwealth
Function: noun
a political unit (as a nation or state)

knight
Pronunciation: 'nIt
Function: noun
a man honored by a sovereign for merit
and in Great Britain ranking below a baronet

stroke
Function: noun
sudden weakening or loss of consciousness
or the power to feel or move caused by the breaking
or blocking (as by a clot) of a blood vessel in the brain
called also apoplexy

latrine
Pronunciation: lə-'trEn
Function: noun
bathroom, toilet

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Biographies in this Series

Reference citations information for these biographies

Presidents of the United States	George Washington	John Adams	Thomas Jefferson	James Madison	James Monroe	Andrew Jackson
	Abraham Lincoln	Theodore Roosevelt	Franklin D. Roosevelt	John F. Kennedy	Ronald Reagan	Barack Obama
American Patriots	Benjamin Franklin	Francis Scott Key	Deborah Sampson
World Leaders	Constantine	Alexander the Great	Winston Churchill
Inventors	Alexander Graham Bell	Johann Gutenberg	Cyrus McCormick	The Wright Brothers	Henry Ford	Thomas A. Edison
	Sequoyah	Nikola Tesla
Explorers	Christopher Columbus	Meriwether Lewis	Robert Peary	John Muir	Matthew Henson	Sir Edmund Hillary
	Kit Carson	"Johnny Appleseed"
Women who made a difference	Clara Barton	Helen Keller	Florence Nightingale	Joan of Arc	Amelia Earhart	Annie Oakley
	Susan B. Anthony	Elizabeth Keckly	Harriet Tubman	Anne Frank	Eleanor Roosevelt	Madam C.J. Walker
Scientists	George Washington Carver	Sir Isaac Newton	Marie Curie	Louis Pasteur	Albert Einstein	Galileo
	Lise Meitner	Norman Borlaug
Educators	Noah Webster	Booker T. Washington	Aristotle
Physicians	Hippocrates	Walter Reed	Albert Schweitzer
Religious Leaders	Increase Mather
Athletes	Lou Gehrig	Wilma Rudolph	Tiger Woods	Michael Phelps
Civil Rights Leaders	Martin Luther King	Rosa Parks	Sojourner Truth	Frederick Douglass	Mary Ann Shadd Cary	James Forten
	Gandhi	César Chávez
Composers	Beethoven
Authors	Laura Ingalls Wilder	Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)	Ernest Hemingway
Artists	John James Audubon	Gutzon Borglum	Ansel Adams

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