Winston Churchill

            Winston Spencer Churchill - Personality Characteristics.
             It is impossible to understand the Second World War without understanding Winston Churchill, the bold British Prime Minister who showed himself to be one of the greatest statesmen any nation has ever known. No informed person could well deny that Winston S. Churchill was probably the most spectacular showman in the history of British politics, and he was surely one of Britain's great masters of patriotic and honorific rhetoric. His courage, decisiveness, political experience, and enormous vitality enabled him to lead his country through the war, one of the most desperate struggles in British history.
             Winston Churchill's public life extended from the reign of Queen Victoria in the late 19th century to the Cold War. During this long political career, Churchill held every important cabinet office in the British government, except foreign minister. Churchill was also known for the many books on British history and politics he wrote throughout his lifetime. His command of the English language not only made him a great orator but earned him the Nobel Prize for literature in 1953.
             He was a precocious student and, like his father, had a remarkable memory, but he was also stubborn. Churchill had little interest in learning Latin, Greek, or mathematics. By his own account, he considered himself such a dunce that he "could learn only English." However, he said, "I learned it thoroughly." From early childhood Churchill was fascinated by soldiers and warfare, and he often played with the large collection of lead soldiers in his nursery. His later years at Harrow were spent preparing to enter the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, from which he graduated with honors. Early in 1895 his father died; Churchill was only 20 years old. A few weeks later Churchill was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 4th Queen's Own Hussars, a regiment of the British army.