Brendon Piers - Winston Churchill: a brief life

PIERS BRENDON

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Epub ISBN 9781446484920

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Published by Pimlico 2001

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Copyright Piers Brendon 1984, 2001

Piers Brendon has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

First published in Great Britain by
Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd 1984
Pimlico edition 2001

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0712667733

To

BARDY and DAN MILLARD

with love

It may seem odd, says Piers Brendon, to write a brief life about someone who enjoyed such a long life. But so many heavy books have been devoted to Winston Churchill that the man is in danger of being buried beneath his monuments. This biography resurrects him in brilliant form. It offers the general reader what is amazingly not otherwise available a vivid, complete but miniature portrait of Churchill, set against the background of his career.

From soldier and war correspondent in Queen Victorias reign, First Lord of the Admiralty in 1914, Chancellor of the Exchequer in Baldwins cabinet to the man who led his country to victory in the Second World War Churchills career was a saga of heroism and adventure unparalleled in modern times. The outline is well known, but Piers Brendon enriches his story with a wealth of unfamiliar detail. Churchill himself emerges as one of the most colourful and fascinating characters in this or any other age. He was a vibrant being with talents amounting to genius and faults amounting to infirmities, an often loveable, sometimes unlovely, but always great man.

Piers Brendon is the author of many books, including a biography of Eisenhower, the bestselling Eminent Edwardians and, most recently, his hugely acclaimed panorama of the 1930s, The Dark Valley. He also writes for television and contributes frequently to the national press. He is a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge, and Keeper of the Churchill Archives Centre.

I WOULD LIKE to express my warmest thanks to all who have helped me with this book. I have received considerable assistance from the staff at the British Library, the Cambridge University Library and the Churchill College Library. I have also benefited enormously from the criticisms of those who have read the book in manuscript and made helpful suggestions, especially Alison Samuel, Jane Wood and Tom Rosenthal. Tom and Nancy Sharpe gave me generous aid and comfort. Andrew Best worked extremely hard on my behalf and made invaluable comments. I am particularly grateful to him and to Nick Furbank who, as only a master of his craft could, assisted me out of countless verbal traps and semantic pitfalls. My wife not only scrutinized my words; she encouraged and sustained me throughout, as did my children.

Extracts from The World Crisis, My Early Life and Great Contemporaries, by Winston S. Churchill and originally published by Odhams Press Limited, have been reproduced by kind permission of the Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited. Churchills own words from Winston S. Churchill: A Biography edited by Martin Gilbert, have been quoted by kind permission of William Heinemann Limited.

Lord Randolph Churchill

Lord Randolph Churchill

Jennie Lady Randolph Churchill

Winston Churchill aged seven

Lady Churchill with her two sons

Churchill at Harrow

Churchill in Hussars uniform

Churchill in India

Churchill, prisoner of the Boers

Churchill in Durban

The young politician

Betrothed couple

Churchills at Territorial Army camp

Churchill with the Kaiser

Churchill attends German Army manoeuvres

Churchill in flying gear

Churchill at Sidney Street

Churchill and Fisher

Churchill and Lloyd George

Churchill and Sinclair in France

Churchill playing polo

Chartwell

Churchill and Birkenhead

Churchill, bricklayer

Churchills last Budget Day

Churchill on his way to Buckingham Palace

Churchill and Clementine on their way to No. 10

Churchill and Clementine inspecting bomb damage

On the same occasion, picking their way through fire hoses

Churchill with tommy gun

Churchill feeding the lions

Churchill and Beaverbrook

Churchill and Smuts

Churchill and Montgomery

Churchill and Eisenhower

Churchill sails to France

Churchill in liberated Caen

Churchill with Montgomery after D-Day

Churchill and De Gaulle

Yalta

Churchill at the Wesel Bridge

Churchill with the Royal Family VE Day

Churchill in tears at The Hague

Churchill with Bernard Baruch

Churchill painting at Chartwell

Churchill and Clementine in a coach on their way to the Coronation

Churchill in his Coronation uniform

Churchill in Garter robes

Churchill at his desk

Churchill with Onassis

Churchill on his 89th birthday

The State funeral

The photographs in this book are reproduced by kind permission of the following: Associated Press Limited, 26; BBC Hulton Picture Library, 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 27, 28, 29, 46, 47, 48, 49; British Film Institute, 30; Broadwater Collection, 13; Central Press Photos Limited, 16, 22, 31, 44, 50, 51; Churchill College, Cambridge, 43; Colorific Photo Library Limited, 45; Frost Picture Library, 42; Imperial War Museum, 4, 9, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40; Keystone Press Agency Limited, 3, 32, 35, 41, 52; National Portrait Gallery, 23, 25; The Press Association Limited, 17.