Winston Churchill: Part 1 - The Man Himself

"Yes, mother, I am quite dapper"
says Winston, aged 7.

Winston Churchill was a politician that in no possible circumstance could exist today. His bravery and constant desire to be close to the line of fire would have his bodyguards shaking in their boots; his strong views would cause the party in which he belonged panic (let alone the fact that he switched from the Conservatives to the Liberals and then back again, which by all means should be political suicide enough); and his quick but often abrasive wit would surely get him in trouble time and time again, causing what would now be a massive political scandal on a bi-weekly basis. My personal favourite quote has Churchill being accused of being a little under the influence. "Winston, you are drunk", she said. He replies, "Madam, you are ugly, and I will be sober in the morning." (Note - a number of his quotes have changed albeit slightly over the years, so you may have heard it slightly differently.) It has to be the best political "burn" since the countless quips of the Spartans. In all fairness to the presumedly ugly woman, he probably was drunk at the time as he had a propensity to be drinking and smoking at every waking hour, adding to his mystique in that one wonders how he survived past thirty with his lifestyle and habits. So in a nutshell - he's as quick with his words as he is rushing into a fight. Somewhere along the way he would find the time to win the Nobel Prize in literature. But that's the understanding of wartime Churchill - let's start with how he got there.

The Churchill family home. I bet they film Downton Abbey
here.

Churchill wasn't a product of a rough neighbourhood that led him to be so astoundingly courageous in the many wars in which he participated. In fact, quite the opposite - he was born into wealth and class, and darn near became the Duke of Marlborough (I assume that's prestigious). His father was a renowned politician, and his family dynasty includes one of Britain's great military heroes that fought with the French - and seeing as how no one likes the French, that must have helped a lot. That doesn't mean he had an easy life, though. His father Randolph was as bristly in personality as colossal Victorian era British moustaches are in feel, always disapproving of Winston and being astonishingly open of his disappointment in his son. He just wasn't what one would call a loving father; in one letter to his Winston, he instructs him to refrain from calling him such an affectionate term as Papa and to use the more formal word, father.

Sheesh.

Winston frequently sought the approval from his father he so sorely lacked. He followed in his footsteps, becoming a wealthy reporter in South Africa (just like his father) and became a politician that was skilled in the art of rabble-rousing (switching parties, just like Randolph). What is strange is Winston seemed like a pretty good kid, and if anything it was Randolph that fell short. He died when Winston just hit his twenties from syphilis, which, just as it does now, has certain connotations that ruined his political career and caused him a great deal of shame. Winston felt Randolph deserved better, and sought to restore the family name. (Spoiler - he succeeds.)

Churchill in full military regalia. Amazingly,
he has retained his ability to stay dapper.

Around the time of his father's death, Winston began his lengthy and prestigious military career. Starting in Cuba at age twenty as a British officer and front lines reporter, he then moved on to India, Sudan and the Boer War, before the big two. During these battles Churchill seemed to almost have a suicidal level of daring, charging into battle and taking a strange level of enjoyment in bullets whizzing past his head time and time again. In his life, he would be shot at on four separate continents, which seems like something only a handful of people could say, let alone arguably the most famous Prime Minister in British history. He revelled in war, feeling a great deal of excitement - somehow. This plays well into his later years, frequently requesting to be closer to the front lines and occasionally succeeding in doing so in spite of being in positions where he could very reasonably stay on the sidelines without anyone batting an eye.

In the coming blogs, we'll see Churchill fight the Germans, become a Prime Minister, then fight Nazi Germans, and provide so many great quotations that you could fill an entire junior high classroom with his motivational statements alone. You might want to omit the times he commented on people "working like blacks" or the time he declared he had "no interest in the quarrels of the yellow peoples" and instead focus on things like "attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference."