Great People of the Past: W. Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was born to a noble family in 1874. His upbringing and education were mainly his governess’s concern. At the age of eight he was sent to St. George’s School, Ascot, Berkshire; then he was transferred to Brunswick School in Hove, near Brighton; and then to Harrow School from 17 April 1888.
After Churchill left Harrow in 1893, he applied to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He had to take exams thrice, before he managed to get a place there. Churchill didn’t like Maths and chose cavalry (not infantry) because the grade requirements were lower there. Churchill was commissioned as a Cornet in the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars on 20 February 1895.
At that time he started to develop an interest in war correspondence. He wanted to be a part of real military action. His first writings were a success and earned him additional income.
He travelled to Cuba in 1895, to India in 1896, to Egypt in 1898. He observed and took part in local military actions.
He acquired a reputation of an excellent military reporter.
In October 1911, Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. He advanced new ideas in the military sphere, for example he was in favour of using aeroplanes in combat. He was ahead of time with his ideas.
Churchill belonged first to the Conservative party, then to the Liberal party and rejoined the Conservatives again saying ‘anyone can rat, but it takes a certain ingenuity to re-rat’.
In 1940 Winston Churchill obtained the position of Prime-Minister (till 1945). He appointed himself Minister of Defence. Thus he became the most powerful Prime Minister in British History. He was reelected Prime Minister in 1951 (to 1955). Churchill died in 1964.
Sir Winston Churchill never possessed good health, but all that he did he did ‘maximally’. Who can imagine him without his traditional pipe? It became an inalienable part of his image. Churchill’s speeches were very bright, witty and they always produced the desired effect on public.
The first half of the XX century was the time of great politicians and great thinkers, that went down in world history. Sir Winston Churchill belongs to this group. Recordings of his speeches are available on the Internet and I strongly advise you to listen to them as to specimens of perfect English and implementation of bright ideas.
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