Winston Churchill (30 November 1874 –24 January 1965) was a British politician known chiefly for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II.He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955.A noted statesman and orator,Churchill was also an officer in the British Army,historian,writer,and artist.He is the only British Prime Minister who has ever received the Nobel Prize for Literature.
During his army career,Churchill saw action in India,in the Sudan and the Second Boer War.He gained fame and notoriety as a war correspondent and through contemporary books he wrote describing the campaigns.He also served briefly in the British Army on the Western Front in World War I,commanding the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers.
At the forefront of the political scene for almost fifty years,he held many political and cabinet positions.Before the First World War,he served as President of the Board of Trade,Home Secretary and First Lord of the Admiralty as part of the Asquith Liberal government.During the war he continued as First Lord of the Admiralty until the disastrous Battle of Gallipoli caused his departure from government.He returned as Minister of Munitions,Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for Air.In the interwar years,he served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Conservative government.
After the outbreak of the Second World War,Churchill was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty.Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940,he became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and led Britain to victory against the Axis powers.Churchill was always noted for his speeches,which became a great inspiration to the British people and embattled Allied forces.
After losing the 1945 election,he became Leader of the Opposition.In 1951,he again became Prime Minister before finally retiring in 1955.Upon his death the Queen granted him the honour of a state funeral,which saw one of the largest assemblies of statesmen in the world.
Winston Churchill was also an accomplished artist and took great pleasure in painting,especially after his resignation as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1915.He found a haven in art to overcome the spells of depression—or as he termed it,the "Black Dog"—which he suffered throughout his life.As William Rees-Mogg has stated,"In his own life,he had to suffer the 'black dog' of depression.In his landscapes and still lives there is no sign of depression".He is best known for his impressionist scenes of landscape,many of which were painted while on holiday in the South of France,Egypt or Morocco.He continued his hobby throughout his life and painted hundreds of paintings,many of which are on show in the studio at Chartwell as well as private collections.Most of his paintings are oil-based and feature landscapes,but he also did a number of interior scenes and portraits.
Despite his lifelong fame and upper-class origins Churchill always struggled to keep his income at a level that would fund his extravagant lifestyle.MPs before 1946 received only a nominal salary (and in fact did not receive anything at all until the Parliament Act 1911) so many had secondary professions from which to earn a living.From his first book in 1898 until his second stint as Prime Minister,Churchill's income was almost entirely made from writing books and opinion pieces for newspapers and magazines.The most famous of his newspaper articles are those that appeared in the Evening Standard from 1936 warning of the rise of Hitler and the danger of the policy of appeasement.
Churchill was also a prolific writer of books,writing a novel,two biographies,three volumes of memoirs,and several histories in addition to his many newspaper articles.He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values".Two of his most famous works,published after his first premiereship brought his international fame to new heights,were his six-volume memoir The Second World War and A History of the English-Speaking Peoples; a four-volume history covering the period from Caesar's invasions of Britain (55 BC) to the beginning of the First World War (1914).