Sir Winston Churchill was a famous English politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during and after WWII. He was the only member of the British Government to be be involved during both World Wars, and the first Prime Minister to win a Nobel Prize. He also was the last commoner to be given a State funeral in Great Britain. In addition to being the Prime Minister, he was an author, soldier, and a journalist. Many say that he was the greatest British leader of the 20th century.
Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born on November 30, 1874, in Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, England. His father was Lord Randolph, a son of the seventh duke and a Tory politician, and his mother, Jenny Jerome, was an American. When he was a boy, he went to the well-known Harrow school. He was not a very gifted student, but he was good at fighting. When he was 19, he joined the British Military. In 1898, he fought in Sudan as a cavalry officer. During the Boer War in south Africa, he traveled there as a newspaper reporter. He was captured by the Boers, but fortunately was able to escape in December of 1899. In 1900, when he was 26, he became a politician of the Conservative party. In 1908, he got married to Clementine Hozier, and they had five children: Diana, Randolph, Sarah, Marigold, and Mary.
In 1910, Churchill was elected Home Secretary, a member of the government that is highly valued. Not a year later, he became First Lord of the Admiralty, and kept that position throughout the First World War. He organized an invasion of Gallipoli, but it failed, so his position was confiscated. He joined the army again, and was sent to fight in France, though he was still a Member of Parliament. In 1917, when he was 43, he was made the Minister of Munitions.
Once again, during WWII, Churchill was made in charge of the Navy. When the Prime Minister resigned because Great Britain was not doing well enough in the war, Churchill was given the job. Some people believed that Britain was not going to win the war, and that they should give up and make peace with Hitler, but Churchill kept on fighting, regardless of this. He was sure that Great Britain had the ability to win. He made many famous speeches that are remembered to this day. Churchill was also good friends with Franklin D. Roosevelt. Churchill persuaded Roosevelt to give supplies to Britain, and help them in war. Roosevelt and Churchill had several meetings with Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union after during WWII, and together they were nicknamed the Big Three.
Churchill was knighted and became Sir Winston in 1953, and won a Nobel Prize in literature. In 1964, he retired from Parliament. It was no surprise when Churchill was once again elected Prime Minister in 1955. At age 90, in 1965 Winston Churchill died from a stroke, with Lady Clementine Churchill and other members of his family at his bedside. He was buried at St. Paul's Cathedral.
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