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Winston Churchill, politician, soldier, and
artist, born 30 November 1874 in Oxfordshire was educated at
Harrow and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He saw service in India and
the Sudan, and acted off-duty as a war correspondent.
He left the
army in 1899 to take up politics, but first travelled to South Africa as a
journalist.
Churchill was
taken prisoner by the Boers, but he made a daring escape and returned to safety
despite having a price on his head.
His stand
against protectionism led him to join the Liberals in 1904, where he set up
labour exchanges and unemployment insurance. He became infamous for deploying
troops in Wales during a miners strike.
Churchill was appointed
First Lord of the Admiralty, and ensured the Royal Navy was ready for the
outbreak of war in 1914. However, he was blamed for the failed Dardanelles
Campaign in 1915, and was demoted in the government. He resigned his post
and went to the Front.
He returned to
the Conservative Party in the 1920s and spent 5 years as Stanley Baldwin's
Chancellor, but again fell out with his party. Unpopular and ostracised for a
decade, his warnings from the backbenches of Fascist imperialism went unheeded.
His influence, it was said, had fallen to zero. However, Chamberlain's policy of
appeasement failed, leading to his resignation and to the vindication of
Churchill's position. George VI then asked Churchill to form a government in
1940. He was 65 years old by that time.
He brought
Britain to victory against Germany on the 8th of May, 1945, and it is probably
the war years he is best remembered for.
Following his
death in 1965, Churchill's body lay in state for 3 days at Westminster Hall
before his state funeral.
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