Winston Spencer Churchill remains the preeminent giant of the 20th century. A soldier, journalist, statesman, orator, and historian, Churchill continues to capture our attention some 70 years after his death. Churchill grew up in the shadow of his distant and often cruel father, Randolph Spencer Churchill, whom he admired and emulated throughout his long and productive life. Sent to live at Harrow, an elite boarding school from age 5 onwards (a common practice among Victorian-era aristocrats), Churchill once remarked that “famous men are usually the product of an unhappy childhood”. Churchill’s parents rarely visited him at Harrow, and letters from his father contained more rebukes and criticism than warmth. “The stern compression of circumstances”, Churchill wrote, “the twinges of adversity, the spur of slights and taunts in early years, are needed to evoke that ruthless fixity of purpose and tenacious mother-wit without which great actions are seldom accomplished”. Churchill’s mother, the American-born socialite Jeanette, was, to her son, “like the evening star… I loved her dearly but at a distance”. Churchill believed that greatness awaited him all his life, telling a childhood friend that he would one day be called upon to save his country. A graduate of Sandhurst, Churchill fought on four continents before his 25
Churchill's Greatness
Churchill's Greatness
Churchill's Greatness
Winston Spencer Churchill remains the preeminent giant of the 20th century. A soldier, journalist, statesman, orator, and historian, Churchill continues to capture our attention some 70 years after his death. Churchill grew up in the shadow of his distant and often cruel father, Randolph Spencer Churchill, whom he admired and emulated throughout his long and productive life. Sent to live at Harrow, an elite boarding school from age 5 onwards (a common practice among Victorian-era aristocrats), Churchill once remarked that “famous men are usually the product of an unhappy childhood”. Churchill’s parents rarely visited him at Harrow, and letters from his father contained more rebukes and criticism than warmth. “The stern compression of circumstances”, Churchill wrote, “the twinges of adversity, the spur of slights and taunts in early years, are needed to evoke that ruthless fixity of purpose and tenacious mother-wit without which great actions are seldom accomplished”. Churchill’s mother, the American-born socialite Jeanette, was, to her son, “like the evening star… I loved her dearly but at a distance”. Churchill believed that greatness awaited him all his life, telling a childhood friend that he would one day be called upon to save his country. A graduate of Sandhurst, Churchill fought on four continents before his 25