Winston Churchill

By Nigel Blundell

Winston Churchill was an extraordinary person - a politician, a statesman, a man of letters and a soldier but it was for his wartime leadership during the Second World War that he is chiefly remembered. In a study of his life, certain bizarre character traits become discernible. He had excessive energy and required little sleep. His mind would either flit from one idea to another with bewildering speed or focus obsessively on one particular goal. He was impulsive, and his attention was easily drawn to irrelevant or unimportant matters. He enjoyed taking risks almost to the point of self-destruction. He lacked inhibition and was eccentric in the extreme. Yet at other times, when he was afflicted with what he called his 'Black Dog', he became depressed, irritable, aggressive, and preoccupied with death and thoughts of suicide. By closely and painstakingly examining the statements of Churchill's doctor, of Winston himself, his family, his friends and acquaintances, Dr. Norman, as a medical man, has been able to ascertain the true nature of Winston's disorder. The diagnosis having been made, it is now possible for the very first time, and this will remain secret until the book is published, to understand the man himself and what made him 'tick'.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jun 13, 2011
• ISBN: 9781844689002

Nigel Blundell

NIGEL BLUNDELL is a journalist who has worked in Australia, the United States and Britain. He spent twenty-five years in Fleet Street before becoming a contributor to national newspapers. He is author of more than 50 factual books, including best-sellers on celebrity and crime.

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www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

Introduction

Winston Churchill, whose life we tell here in pictures, was the most heroic figure of his age. His indomitable spirit, boundless energy, mercurial nature and his longevity allowed him, effectively, to lead several lives within one uniquely eventful lifetime – as adventurer, soldier, statesman, journalist, historian, artist and war leader.

The many facets of his career were matched by enigmatic qualities that have fascinated observers in the half-century since his passing. For, to those who knew him best, Churchill was two contrasting characters rolled into one amazing human being...

He was vain, pompous, remote, arrogant, self-indulgent, stubborn, power-hungry and had a blind faith in his own ability. He was also courageous, dedicated, determined, democratic, forward-thinking, compassionate, loving and the saviour of his nation.

Do these facets reveal themselves in the photographs of Churchill through the ninety years of his life? Find out through the following pages, as we trace the career of one of the most amazing figures in British history.

Winston's father… Lord Randolph Churchill, youngest son of the Duke of Marlborough, was a descendant of John Churchill, the first duke and one of the greatest military heroes in English history. Lord Randolph, although becoming a parliamentarian, failed to live up to his family promise. He suffered financial problems which remained chronic until his death in 1895.

Winston's mother… Lord Randolph met American heiress Jennie Jerome in 1873 at a ball aboard a cruiser at Cowes. Jennie's father disliked him and labelled him ‘a weak, foppish character’ but it took Randolph only three days to propose marriage. They wed in 1874 – less than nine months before Winston's birth.

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill's arrival in the world was ironically typical of his entrances in later life. He was born prematurely, noisily and with a great deal of inconvenience to all those around him. In fact, the baby Winston was two months early and the birth fraught with danger. Infant mortality was extremely high in Victorian times and, being a Sunday, the child had to be delivered by a country doctor. The boy was very small but robustly healthy. He exercised his lungs to great effect.

His birthplace, on November 30, 1874, was Blenheim Palace. This magnificent Oxfordshire edifice designed by Sir John Vanbrugh for Winston's ancestor John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough, was given to him by Queen Anne in appreciation of his great victory over the French and Bavarian armies in the battle of Blenheim in 1704. Blenheim Palace was not Winston's parents’ home, however, but that of his grandfather, the 7th Duke of Marlborough. Nor did his parents stand to inherit it. As younger son of a duke, Winston's father, Randolph, had been forced to settle for a much more modest house in London. That became the baby Winston's home.

Less than nine months before Winston's birth, Lord Randolph had married the beautiful American heiress Jeanette (Jennie) Jerome in the chapel of the British Embassy in Paris in April 1874. It was rumoured that her first-born had been conceived out of wedlock but it is equally possible that Winston arrived prematurely. Jennie, daughter of the fabulously wealthy Wall Street magnate Leonard Jerome, brought much-needed hard cash into the Churchill family. She also brought a sensitive nature that undoubtedly made her the strongest influence in her son's young life. Yet even that maternal bond could not be taken for granted and the young Winston suffered a somewhat lonely and unhappy childhood.

Baby Winston was largely ignored by his father, a pattern that was not an oddity in Victorian households, where fathers almost never visited the nursery. It was the relationship with his mother that was more peculiar. She undoubtedly loved her firstborn son yet often appeared to treat him with indifference. Winston later wrote of her: ‘She shone for me like the Evening Star. I loved her dearly but at a distance.’ Even by the standards of the Victorian upper class, she was a distant parent. As soon as a wet nurse could be found for little Winston, he was largely kept out of his mother's sight. The nurse, Mrs Elizabeth Everest, became the much loved firmament in his young life. She continued to look after him through childhood and it was Mrs Everest, not his parents, who mainly provided the love and attention he craved.

Winston the toddler with his mother Jennie. Despite their apparent closeness, he was often neglected as a child and was cared for by a devoted nanny. He was to say of his mother: ‘She shone for me like the evening star. I loved her dearly – but at a distance.’

Winston in seafaring garb at the age of seven, revealing all the selfassuredness that he showed in later life.

It was particularly traumatic for the small boy to leave his nurse and be dispatched to school. There were many times when Winston would cry himself to sleep and wish he was back home with Mrs Everest. But his unhappiness was due to more than mere home-sickness, for St George's School, in Ascot, Berkshire, ran a particularly harsh regime. Winston showed no