Sir Winston

[biggles]

I thought I could start a discussion about Sir Winston Churchill. I would like to have some more information about his life outside the world war. I also found this GREAT website where you can read all his famous speeches word by word!

http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1

Check it out! It's great!

[DarkCanuck]

good find, ill have to check up on that. I read a pretty good book, thats related to churchill called churchhills generals. it was rather interesting, but not an easy read.

good job!

[Sgt So and So]

I suggest reading all of his books (have them right next to me:) ) which are:
The Birth of Britain,
A History of the English Speaking Peoples,
The Gathering Storm,
The Grand Alliance,
The Hinge of Fate,
Closing the Ring,
Triumph and Tragedy, and
Their Finest Hour.
It's like a Tolkien series- except about World War Two!:D
Apparently he was quite a talented writer as well as a great Prime Minister. Go figure.

[NicholasJohnson]

Have you read his book My Early Life, about his time in Africa?

[biggles]

Did he write his own books?

[Blame Canada]

I can also recommend Martin Gilbert's "Churchill - a life"...

[biggles]

Does anyone know when he was "raised to the nobility"? (is that it? my Swedish-English dictionary said so,) anyway, if you didn't understand what I was saying: When did they do the thing that gave him the title SIR Winston Churchill?

[BillSpargo]

Does anyone know when he was "raised to the nobility"? (is that it? my Swedish-English dictionary said so,) anyway, if you didn't understand what I was saying: When did they do the thing that gave him the title SIR Winston Churchill?

He was a descendant of the famous Duke of Marlborough, and if I remember correctly his older brother was the current Duke. But my memory is unreliable so don't that that for granted.:(

If anyone would like to read David Irving's free biographies on Churchill I could provide the link. However he is a controversial author and historian so I'll see what you think. I might have already posted a link on here but my memory's failing me again.:D

[enigma]

i would also like his 6 books about the war,

however after the war, after labours victory he then brought the conseratives back into power and iirc people say he had past his time, this new world so to speak was way over his head. In the end, either he stepped down or it was the end of his term iirc he went to live on the French Rivera, gambling and living the highlife with his wife.

[OliverMarshall]

He was a descendant of the famous Duke of Marlborough, and if I remember correctly his older brother was the current Duke. But my memory is unreliable so don't that that for granted.:(



He was, the Duke of Marlborough was John Churchill and his father, the Duke of Marlborough's, was called Winston Churchill.

Also there have been a few movies made about him, the Gathering Storm is one and there was one which shows him from him as a boy till WWI i think

[enigma]

ive seen the Gathering Storm, been a long time since though.

an intresting fact, even though Mr Churchill was basically exiled during the 30s he was still sent classified information what the secert Service and other information of the German goverment at the time and iirc was constetlly warning the house of commons of the upcoming war yet they didnt listen to him and bogged him off as old fart warmonger. How wrong they were ....

[biggles]

And Churchill was the one of the ones that understood how important weapon the Tanks was right?

[enigma]

yea it would seem he was:

In 1911, Churchill became First Lord of the Admiralty, a post he would hold into the First World War. He gave impetus to military reform efforts, including development of naval aviation, tanks, and the switch in fuel from coal to oil, a massive engineering task, also reliant on securing Mesopotamia's oil rights
.....
The development of the battle tank was financed from naval research funds via the Landships Committee, and, although a decade later development of the battle tank would be seen as a stroke of genius, at the time it was seen as misappropriation of funds. The tank was deployed too early and in too few numbers, much to Churchill's annoyance. He wanted a fleet of tanks used to surprise the Germans under cover of smoke, and to open a large section of the trenches by crushing barbed wire and creating a breakthrough sector.
source wiki

I also remember reading somewhere that he had tried to get armoured tractors (not sure if this the tank or another weapon), into mass production.

[biggles]

He got a lot of critics after the Galopoli landings, right? I think that's the mae of the place....

[enigma]

yea he got a lot of stick for Gallipoli and had to resign iirc as it was his show that one.
When he resigned he went, although still a member of parliment, and fought on the western front for a few months!
-----

Much eariler on ....

He was a Subaltern of the IV (Queen's Own) Hussars Cavalry regiment, and was always looking for a fight.

he went into his first battle (went to watch the Spanish fight the Cuban rebels) at the age of 21 (1895) and to his delight was shot at! :eek: :confused:
1897 he tried to get into the Greco-Turkish War but it ended before he could get anywhere there so carried onto england instead.

then went and fought on the North West Frontire (india)

When back in England wrote his his first book, The Story of the Malakand Field Force, about the 6 week campaign in India.

When offically stationed in India but on a long leave in England he bugged Lord Kitchener to let him take part in the reqonquest of Sudan. Coz he wouldnt let him he pulled aload of strings and obtained a posting in the 21st Lancers.
what ever the pural is for this, but it somehow fits here :veni vidi vici

He took part in the last meaniful cavarly charge of the British army (battle of Omdurman) athough he did not see action at umboto gorge :D
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/43/WSCSAfri.gif/180px-WSCSAfri.gif
pic from around that time, was taken in south africa.

1898 started work on the two-volume The River War, published the next year.

89 he left the army, and became a politican. When the boer war broke out that year he went down to south africa as a war corropondant.

While there, he was on an armoured train which was abushed by the boer's ... there he fought an action with the army, helped clear the train and get wounded away but was then captured.
he escaped, travelled 300 miles to Delagoa Bay where he was hid by an English mine owner. Instead of returning home he went and rejoined the troops in south africa.
While reporting the war, gained a commision with the South African Light Horse Regiment, fought at Spion Kop and was one of the first troops into Pretoria.
He and the the Duke of Marlborough (his couisn) got infront of the column and headed into the city and gained the surrender of 52 boer guards.

Then went and wrote
London to Ladysmith via Pretoria and Ian Hamilton's March - 1900 on the boer war
My Early Life - 1903

folowing which he went into parliment.

Not a bad few years eh?
4 wars and 4 books lol.


Seems he also made sure allied troops got invloved with the Russian civil war, fighting alongside the white russians.
(also note, the future field marshal alexander was into command of a freikorp - the Baltic Landwehr in Lativa... also agaisnt the Red Russians)

Afterwhich it seems he stopped fighting wars and reporting them and started fighting full time politicans.





God Bless that man!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Winston_Churchill.jpg
What a Hero!

http://www.freewebs.com/savage_beasts/british_bulldog_1.jpg

[biggles]

Yeah! Nice pic of the bulldog, he could really bit back, you MUSt have heard this one:Lady Astor-"Winston, If I were your wife I'd put poison in your coffee."
Winston-"Nacy, if I were your husband, I'd drink it."

WHAT AN ANSWER!!! God that bloke was a true hero! Just say that to an ol' Lady that was used to be treated with respect!

[biggles]

Heh! I found this pic on Google and my first thought wa "what the.....?!!?!"
It seems that the man who done this is under arrest.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/740000/images/_740524_statue300.jpg




Shame though, doing that to the ol' mans statue...

[enigma]

:mad:

[biggles]

Yes,some people has no respect to the ones who earns it the most. I swear that most of the people in my class dosen't know who Churchill is...