What are some interesting and/or little known facts about Winston Churchhill?

Question

Just out of curiosity..

Sorry, I spelled Churchill wrong.

Answer 1

Winston Churchill Trivia and Little Known but Interesting Facts:

Time Magazine's "Man of the Year" (1940 & 1949)

His mother, Jennie Jerome, was born in Brooklyn, New York City (on Amity Street to be exact) of a mother who was one-quarter Iroquois Indian. She was one of the few tattooed women in high society - a snake coiled around her left wrist.

Nancy Astor once said to Churchill, "If I was your wife I'd poison your coffee!" He replied, "If I was your husband I'd drink it."

"Battling Bessie Braddock", fiery Labour MP from Liverpool once said to Churchill, "Winston, you're drunk!" To which he replied, "Bessie, you're ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober."

The atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, "Fat Man", was christened by US General Leslie Groves with Churchill in mind. The Hiroshima bomb, "Little Boy", was originally called "Thin Man", in honour of Roosevelt.

He is buried in a modest churchyard in Bladon, not far from his birthplace at Blenheim Palace. Chartwell, his country house, is open to the public. Much of his painting was done there.

The first American combat ship named after a foreigner, the guided-missile cruiser USS Winston S. Churchill, was launched on 17 April 1999.

In 1963, by Act of Congress, he was bestowed with honorary U.S. citizenship, the first recipient since Lafayette. He was too infirm to travel to Washington DC to receive the honor in person.

He was awarded the Order of the Garter in 1953, becoming Sir Winston. Both he and his Foreign Secretary Sir Anthony Eden had declined this honor in 1945, feeling it inappropriate following the landslide General Election defeat.

Married at St. Margaret's, Westminster, England. Clementine was a decade younger than him.

That Hamilton Woman (1941) is reported to have been his favorite movie.

Awarded the 1953 Nobel Prize in literature, he was allegedly disappointed that it wasn't the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to prevent the Cold War between the East and West from deteriorating into nuclear conflict.

Said to have refused to allow his successor to nominate him for a peerage after his final resignation as Prime Minister in 1955, ostensibly to allow his son to contest a seat in the House of Commons.

His favourite drink was champagne, his favourite brand Pol Roger.

Was a member of The Tuna Club in southern California, the oldest fishing club in the United States. Its members at one time also included Theodore Roosevelt, George S. Patton, Charles Chaplin, and Bing Crosby.

Daughter was actress Sarah Churchill.

Pictured on a 5¢ US commemorative postage stamp issued in his honor, 13 May 1965.

Pictured on a 5¢ Canadian commemorative postage stamp issued in his honor 12 August 1965.

Early in his life, he briefly worked as a greeting card designer for Hallmark.

He was born in a Lady's bedroom during a party at Blenheim Palace.

Children: Diana Churchill, born 11 July 1909; Randolph Churchill (Randolph Frederick Edward), born 28 May 1911; Sarah Churchill, born 7 October 1914; Marigold Frances Churchill, born 15 November 1918; and Mary Churchill (Lady Mary Soames), born 15 September 1922.

First gained fame in England as a war correspondent during the Boer War in 1899-1900. During covering the conflict (as what amounted to an "embedded" journalist long before the term was coined) he was captured by Boer guerrillas and was taken as a prisoner of war. Along with a few other prisoners, Churchill hatched a bold scheme to escape. The success of this plan catapulted him to fame and helped him along on his political career.

Came in first place in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. [2004]

His father Lord Randolph Churchill died on 24 January 1895, exactly 70 years to the day before Winston himself passed away.

He was already 65 years of age when he became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1940. He suffered a mild heart attack in Washington in December 1941, a few days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and was very ill with bronchitis around Christmas 1943. In 1949, as Leader of the Opposition, he suffered his first stroke while vacating in France; in June 1953, three weeks after the Coronation, he had a severe stroke which would have ended his second premiership had not Foreign Secretary Sir Anthony Eden been hospitalized in America following three unsuccessful gall bladder operations. Following another stroke in April 1955, Churchill's health remained reasonably good until a fall from his bed at the Hotel Paris in 1962. Thereafter there was no subsequent recovery, although he remained a Member of Parliament until the 1964 General Election, finally standing down a month before his 90th birthday.

Proposed marriage to Ethel Barrymore. She refused him, but they remained friends.

Early in his writing career he was often mistaken for the American novelist whose name was also Winston Churchill. Churchill wrote to his American counterpart, and told him he was thereafter going to sign all his published works 'Winston Spencer Churchill' to avoid confusion. The two actually met in Boston in 1899 and became fast friends.

He was awarded the O.M. (Order of Merit) and C.H. (Companion of Honor) but declined Life-Peerage.

Greta Garbo attended his funeral, an extremely rare 1965 photograph proves this.

His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, died of syphilis.

When Churchill was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1924, his robes of office were the same ones his father had used a generation earlier.

Personal Quotes from Winston Churchill

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed, by so many to so few." (Commenting on the Battle of Britain)

"We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender."

"Although the fate of Poland stares them in the face, there are thoughtless dilettanti or purblind wordlings who sometimes ask us 'What is it that Britain and France are fighting for ?' To this I answer 'If we left off fighting you would soon find out!'" (speech, 30th March 1940)

"Golf is a game whose aim it is to hit a very small ball into an even smaller hole with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose."

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

"I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught."

"When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite."

"Writing a book is an adventure: it begins as an amusement, then it becomes a mistress, then a master, and finally a tyrant."

"Already by 1900 I could boast I had written as many books as Moses."

"We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us."

Democracy is an awful way to run a country, but it's the best system we have.

On the Soviet Union: "It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma."

"What a delightful match. A lovely young Royal lady married to a gallant young airman, safe from the perils and horrors of war." - upon hearing of the love affair between Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on."

"I'm so bored with it all." - on his deathbed.

"It is impossible to obtain a conviction for sodomy from an English jury. Half of them don't believe that it can physically be done, and the other half are doing it."

"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last."

"It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."

"Some regard private enterprise as if it were a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look upon it as a cow that they can milk. Only a handful see it for what it really is - the strong horse that pulls the whole cart."

"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."

"We have our own dream and our own task. We are with Europe, but not of it. We are linked, but not comprised. We are interested and associated, but not absorbed."

"Up with this stupidity I will not put." (His view on never finishing a sentence with a preposition.)

"Some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their party."

"Politics are almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times."

"Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm."

"How I hated this school, and what a life of anxiety I lived there for more than two years. I made very little progress in my lessons, and none at all at games. I counted the days and the hours to the end of every term, when I should return home from this hateful servitude and range my soldiers in line of battle on the nursery floor. The greatest pleasure I had in those days was reading. When I was nine and a half my father gave me Treasure Island, and I remember the delight with which I devoured it. My teachers saw me at once backward and precocious, reading books beyond my years and yet at the bottom of the Form. They were offended. They had large resources of compulsion at their disposal, but I was stubborn. Where my reason, imagination or interest were not engaged, I would not or I could not learn."

"A socialist policy is abhorrent to British ideas on freedom. A socialist state could not afford to suffer opposition - no socialist system can be established without a political police."

"Although present on the occasion, I have no recollection of the events leading up to it." - Responding to an accusation that he was conceived out of wedlock.

"Success is not final; failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts."

"I like a man who grins when he fights."

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity."

Born in Blenheim Palace, England. Mother's name was Lady Randolph Churchill who had American lineage. On his father's side he was grandson of the 7th Duke of Marlborough, his ancestry extending into the aristocracy. After passing through famous English public schools such as Harrow, he went on to fulfil his ambition for a life in the army. He fought in various parts of the British Empire until in 1900 when he won the Conservative seat in Oldham in the general election. From here until 1929 he held various offices in British Parliament. The 1930s saw Hitler rise to power and dominate much of Europe. When war was declared between Britain and Germany in 1939, Neville Chamberlain was British Prime Minister. On 10 May 1940 Hitler's forces struck at Holland, Belgium and France. Chamberlain was seen by many as a weak leader and they longed for a more forceful leader with whom Britain could feel safe. On 10 May, Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, was chosen to become Prime Minister (at the age of 65). It could be said that Churchill's fiery energy had never been experienced before in British politics and suddenly it seemed as though Britain could face the Nazi giant. He made a speech on 13 May: "You ask: 'What is our policy?' I will say: 'It is to wage war by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark lamentable catalogue of human crime.' That is our policy. You ask: 'What is our aim?' I can answer in one word: 'Victory! Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.' " The United States entered the war after the bombing of Pearl Harbour. The US's participation was excellent news to Churchill and after success on D-Day and as the Nazi forces were gradually forced back, the war in Europe gradually drew to a close. He was re-elected as Prime Minister in 1951 but because of deteriorating health he left the public scene. He died at Hyde Park Gate, London, on 24 January 1965 at the age of 90. He had succeeded in the uniting of thought and deed. He had succeeded in uniting everyone in the common purpose, inspiring them with fortitude and strength to face whatever hardships that would have to be incurred in the process of first surviving and ultimately winning the war. His daughter Mary wrote to him on his death bed. 'I owe you what every Englishman, woman and child owes you - liberty itself.'

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What are some interesting and/or little known facts about Winston Churchhill?
Just out of curiosity..

Answer 3

Facts About Winston Churchill

Answer 4

I would be inclined to say his many quotes and whitcisms that rivaled Oscar Wilde's.

Her are some examples:

1) I like a man who grins when he fights.

2) Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
3) I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

4) A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.

5) The inherent vice of capitalism is the uneven division of blessings, while the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal division of misery.

6) It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.

7) The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.

8) He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.

9)The problems of victory are more agreeable than the problems of defeat, but they are no less difficult.

10) Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those others that have been tried.

11) Lady Astor to Churchill "Winston, if you were my husband I would flavour your coffee with poison"
Churchill: "Madam, if I were your husband, I should drink it"

12) Bessie Braddock to Churchill "Winston, your drunk!"
Churchill: "Bessie, you're ugly, and tomorrow morning I shall be sober"


Regards,

Michael Kelly

Answer 5

Umm he was in The "Big Three" with Joseph Stalin and Teddy Roosevelt.

His father was Lord Randolph Churchill, a nineteenth century Tory politician.

Churchill left the army in 1899 to take up politics. Before then he first travelled to South Africa as a journalist.

Died in 1965

hope I helped♥

Answer 6

Winston Churchill had a cigar shape named in his honor. He and Franklin D. Roosevelt were both members of the Masonic Fraternity as was Harry S. Truman.

Answer 7

His father died of syphillis.
He loved Blenheim Palace, where he was born and returned there as often as he could all his life.
He was a war journalist (as well as an army officer) during the Spanish American war in Cuba and pulled strings so the army would send him anywhere interesting so he could be paid for articles.
He was a prisoner of the Boers during the Boer war and escaped.
He never said most of the quotes people say he said.

Answer 8

In 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, acting under authorisation granted by an Act of Congress, proclaimed Churchill the first Honorary Citizen of the United States.[38] Churchill was physically incapable of attending the White House ceremony, so his son and grandson accepted the award for him.

Churchill's final years were melancholy. He never resolved the love–hate relationship between himself and his son. Sarah was descending into alcoholism and Diana committed suicide in the autumn of 1964. Churchill himself suffered a number of minor strokes. It was a figure ravaged by age and sorrow who appeared at the window of his London home, 28 Hyde Park Gate, to greet the photographers on his ninetieth birthday in November 1964.

Answer 9

He had a farm where all the animals became pets because he could not bear to send them to market.

Answer 10

Churchill once said: "History will be kind to me for I intend to write it." He did. He was also in the position to destroy the evidence that contradicted the Churchill myth. That included ordering the assassination of people like Prince George of Kent, which is slowly coming to light in the UK.
When the full story is told, his reputation will be in tatters.

Answer 11

Winston's mother was an American.