Sir Winston Churchill:

British statesman with enormous wit and humour

By Premasara Epasinghe

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was a man of many parts. He was a warrior, crafty strategist, shrewd politician, a great orator, debater, strict disciplinarian, painter, great national leader patriot and Nobel Prize winner for Literature. He was mainly responsible for saving the British civilisation.

He was the war-time Prime Minister of Britain (1940-1945). He was again the Prime Minister from 1951 to 1955. Churchill was one of the great statesmen of the 20th century. He changed the entire course of world history by motivating, fighting against the most ruthless German Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. The seven years (1938-1945) of the holocaust by Hitler, exterminated millions of Jews. The event was reported in world history as a “crime without equal.” He committed the most heinous crimes on humanity.

Sir Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill was born on November 30, 1874 in Blenheim Palace, to Marlborough family. His father was Lord Randolp Henry Spencer Churchill (1849-1895), a British statesman, Secretary of State of India (1885-1886), Chancellor of Exchequer (1886), a gifted speaker and a member of the Conservative Party.

Evening star

Churchill's parents employed Elizabeth Everest a nanny to look after him. She looked after him for nearly 18 years. Once, Winston said, “I love my mother immensely. I kept her at a distance. She was pretty and beautiful; and she shone like an evening star.”

He studied at Harrow, one of the leading public schools in England. He was an average student. Later, he joined Sandhurst Military School.

After passing out as a young cadet Churchill's first assignment in the Army was in South Africa. He served in two wars: Afrikaners (Boers) and the Britishers in South Africa. He served as a reporter. He was imprisoned. After a few months however, he escaped.

In 1900, Churchill was elected as a Conservative Member of Parliament. He inherited politics from his illustrious father. Churchill was a born leader. During the tenure of Herbert Asquith (1852-1928), he served as the first Lord of Admiralty. He expanded the British Navy in preparation for the World War I (1914-1918). In Lloyd George's (1863-1945), Cabinet, Churchill served as the State Secretary of War (1918-1921), Colonial Secretary (1921-1922) and Chancellor of the Exchequer (1923-1929).

Inspiring leadership

In May 1940, Churchill succeeded Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister. His inspiring leadership and his relationship with America and Soviet Union, won him world fame. Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin were three men who shaped the modern Europe. They were known as the “Big Three.”

Churchill possessed enormous wit and boundless humour. His speeches and sayings have passed into history. Sometimes, many of his aphorisms, puns and jokes were made often at his own or others’ expense. Once, Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin were staying in a hotel in Yalta.

Polio victim, Roosevelt, going on his wheel chair, without tapping the door of Churchill's room, kicked and opened it, to see Churchill with his pants down.

It was so embarrassing that Roosevelt apologised profusely.

“Winston, I am really sorry.” Promptly came Churchill's reply.

“Come in. The Prime Minister of England has nothing to hide from the United States of America.”

Cup of coffee

One day, in the Howe of Commons, a Labour woman parliamentarian growled at the Conservative Prime Minister Churchill.

“Hon. Speaker, if this man is my husband, I will add some arsenic to his morning cup of coffee.” Churchill, cool as ever replied. “Hon. Speaker, I will be too glad to drink the cup of coffee rather than living with the member.” On another occasion, he had a crack at a Communist.

Wooing a crocodile

“Trying to maintain good relationship with a Communist is like wooing a crocodile. One does not know, whether to tickle it under the chin or beat it over the head. When a crocodile opens its mouth, you cannot tell whether he is trying to smile or preparing to swallow you or eat up.” Once a journalist questioned Churchill whether he was ready to meet his Maker.

He said, “Young man, I am ever ready to meet my Maker. I do not know whether my Maker is prepared for the “Great Ordeal of meeting me.”

Churchill was well known for uttering short poems or sayings in an amusing way. One of his famous epigrams was:

In war, resolution,
In defeat, defiance,
In victory, magnanimity,
In peace, goodwill.
Once a Home Guard asked Churchill,
“Sir, what do we do if Germans landed?”
Promptly came the reply.

“Hit them on the head with broken bottles. It is all we have.”

On June 18, 1940, Churchill made a brilliant speech in the House of Commons which motivated the nation:

“Hon. Speaker, upon the battle depend the survival of Christian Civilisation. Upon it, depends our own British life and the long continuity of our institutions and Europe. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows, he will have to break us in this island or lose the war.

If we can stand up to him (Hitler), all Europe may be freed and life of the world may move forward into the broad and sunlit uplands. But, if we fail, then the whole world including the USA and all that we have known and cared for will sink into the abyss of a new dark era, made more sinister and perhaps more prolonged by the lights of the perverted science.”

Churchill was one of the Great Motivators that the world has seen. He once uplifted the moral of the nation.

“The battle is about to begin. The whole fury and the might soon be turned on us. Let us therefore, embrace ourselves, that if the British Empire and Commonwealth last for 1,000 years, men will say, this is their finest hour.”

Politics

Politics is a funny game. In the 1946 Parliamentary Elections, the Saviour of Great Britain, Churchill, who fought against Nazi, dictator Adolf Hitler, lost his seat.

Ten days before the elections Churchill underwent surgery for appendicitis. When a reporter asked him about his defeat Churchill said:

“Gentleman, I lost my appendix as well as my parliament seat.”

For the great services he rendered Queen Elizabeth II bestowed him with a Knighthood. On September 12, 1902, Churchill married Clementine Hozier. She was a great inspiration to him.

Churchill died on January 24, 1965. He was laid to rest at Bladon, Oxfordshire, less than a mile, from where he was born.