My Early Life

It is hard to believe that, in a life rich with writings and crowned with the 1953 Nobel Prize for Literature, Churchill wrote so little autobiography. In a year in which he has been so present cinematically (two feature films—Churchill and Darkest Hour, an off-screen but strong presence in Dunkirk, and a significant role in the first series of The Crown), it seems appropriate to have a brief look at his sole autobiographical volume, My Early Life, which is also the only one of his books ever developed into a film, 1972’s Young Winston (see p. 10).

Churchill did write numerous autobiographical over the years—including, of course, the story of his escape from the Boers—that were published in periodicals such as , the and . Seeking to gain additional income from the earliest of these, Churchill proposed in 1930 to use them in creating his first book since, four volumes of which had then been completed.