X-Nico

89 unusual facts about Winston Churchill


Anne O'Hare McCormick

Prior to the outbreak of World War II, McCormick obtained interviews with Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, German leader Adolf Hitler, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill, President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt, Popes Pius XI and XII, and other world leaders.

Attack in the Pacific

Winston Churchill as Himself (at Cairo Conference) (archive footage)

Australian federal election, 1940

The Coalition's advertisements asked Australians to "Cast Your Vote for Unity and an All-in War Effort / Back the Government that's Backing Churchill", with a large picture of the British Prime Minister.

Balmer Lawn

The hotel has hosted many famous guests throughout history including King George V, Russian Royalty, J.J. Sainsbury, Winston Churchill and U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Baltimore Municipal Airport

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill departed from "Baltimore Municipal Airport" on a 1942 British Overseas Airways Company (BOAC) flight (today it is "British Airways") after visiting President Franklin D. Roosevelt in what was at first, a secret trip to the White House in Washington, D.C. for Allied consultations shortly after America entered the War following the Japanese bombing at Pearl Harbor, on Sunday, December 7, 1941.

Beth Chapman

In 1988, she married James Chapman, with whom she has two sons, Winston Taylor Chapman (named in honor of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill) and William Thatcher Chapman (named in honor of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher).

Bretton Woods system

The Atlantic Charter, drafted during U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's August 1941 meeting with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on a ship in the North Atlantic, was the most notable precursor to the Bretton Woods Conference.

Brighton hotel bombing

One of her biographers wrote that Thatcher's "coolness, in the immediate aftermath of the attack and in the hours after it, won universal admiration. Her defiance was another Churchillian moment in her premiership which seemed to encapsulate both her own steely character and the British public's stoical refusal to submit to terrorism".

Brother Brat

When this cartoon aired on Cartoon Network and TNT, the part where Baby Butch impersonates Winston Churchill was cut (though Baby Butch's mother's use of the word "Japs" was not edited).

Bullet Joe Simpson

During the war he served with the 43rd Cameron Highlanders and his unit held part of the British front alongside a battalion commanded by Major Winston Churchill.

Campaign for Democratic Socialism

Gaitskell had promised that there would be no new taxes under his administration should be become Prime Minister, not wanting to tamper with the prosperity that had emerged in Britain under the Conservative governments of Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, and Harold Macmillan.

Cecily Bonville, 7th Baroness Harington

Cecily Bonville had many notable descendants, including Lady Jane Grey, Lady Catherine Grey, Elizabeth FitzGerald, Countess of Lincoln, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, Elizabeth Vernon, Frances Howard, Countess of Somerset, Sir Winston Churchill, as well as those who are living today which include Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Sarah, Duchess of York.

Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry

Through his daughter Lady Frances, Lord Londonderry was the great-grandfather of Winston Churchill.

Churchill Cup

The tournament was named after British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Clara Clarita

In her memoirs, Jerome's daughter Jennie (later Lady Randolph Churchill and the mother of Sir Winston Churchill) recalled the "dismay" on her mother's face when she first saw the ship's extravagant velvet and silver fittings, installed as a result of the free rein extended by Jerome to the upholsterer.

Coins of the Canadian dollar

In the interest of promoting the war effort, the famous V sign from Winston Churchill was adopted.

Collar the Lot!

It was at this time that Winston Churchill, so the cabinet minutes record, issued the order: "Collar the Lot!"

Commander Steel

-- Has this been retconned? -->British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

DJ Culture

According to the singer Neil Tennant, the song concerned the insincerity of how President George H. W. Bush's speeches at the time of the First Gulf War utilised Winston Churchill's wartime rhetoric, in a manner similar to how artists sample music from other artists.

Dominick Browne, 1st Baron Oranmore and Browne

His sister Henrietta (1789–1862) married Henry, Viscount Dillon and was ancestral to Clementine (the wife of Winston Churchill) and to the Mitford sisters.

Dudley Field Malone

As Malone bore a strong resemblance to Winston Churchill, he was called on to play Churchill in the film adaptation of Joseph E. Davies's book Mission to Moscow (1943).

Edward Mylius

The King, with the advice of home secretary Winston Churchill, issued proceedings against Mylius for criminal libel and said he was prepared to go into the box to disprove the allegations.

Elections in England and Wales, 1949

Tory leader Winston Churchill told a rally at the Royal Albert Hall that the County Council contests had seen great Conservative victories and there was a prospect of more to come.

Federalist flag

It is unknown who authored the flag, though it is speculated that the man most likely to have proposed it was Duncan Sandys, British Conservative and the son-in-law of Winston Churchill, who was responsible for developing the British European Movement.

France Antelme

He was back in France in May that year, carrying messages from the British prime minister, Winston Churchill to former French prime ministers Édouard Herriot and Paul Reynaud, inviting them to come to England.

Garda, Veneto

Many famous people have stayed at the Brenzoni Villa, including Tsar Alexander, the King of Naples, Winston Churchill, Laurence Olivier, King Juan Carlos and the British royal family.

General Aircraft Hotspur

When the British airborne establishment was formed in 1940 by order of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, it was decided that gliders would be used to transport airborne troops into battle.

Generalissimus of the Soviet Union

However, according to Stalin biographer Robert Service, Stalin regretted allowing himself the ostentatious military title, and asked Winston Churchill to continue to refer to him as a marshal instead.

Georg Arnold-Graboné

Sir Winston Churchill encouraged Eisenhower to take up painting as a hobby.

Glyn Angell

He also provided the voice of the young Winston Churchill in the BBC-produced documentaries In the Footsteps of Churchill among a variety of televisual credits throughout radio and television.

Hankey Bannister

In the 20th Century; Hankey Bannister became a favourite with war-time Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and British writer Evelyn Waugh.

Henry Phipps, Jr.

In 1905 daughter Amy (1876–1959) married Frederick Edward Guest, the grandson of the seventh Duke of Marlborough and Winston Churchill's first cousin.

History of Malakand

The Administration has raised a levy force for the control of law and order situation which is the re-incarnation of the Malakand Field Force during the British regime in which Winston Churchill served as a captain.

History of Newfoundland and Labrador

In 1940 Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed to an exchange of American destroyers for access to British naval bases in the Atlantic, including Newfoundland.

Human rights in the United Kingdom

The initiative in producing a legally binding human rights agreement had already been taken by the International Council of the European Movement, an organisation whose cause had been championed by Winston Churchill and Harold Macmillan, and whose international juridical section (counting Lauterpacht and Maxwell Fyfe amongst its members) had produced a draft convention.

Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill

The Churchill, its décor, facilities and in-house outlets reference Sir Winston Churchill and the local area's history.

Irish Republican Army – Abwehr collaboration in World War II

From the IRA's point of view, this was a means to an end- they had no love for the policies of Éamon de Valera, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, or Joseph Stalin.

J. C. C. Davidson, 1st Viscount Davidson

In this post he was forced to deal with cuts in naval expenditure proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Winston Churchill, especially regarding the construction of new cruisers.

James E. Robinson

Robinson is a sixth cousin once removed of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and is an ancestor (maternal great grandfather) of President George W. Bush.

James Lonsdale-Bryans

When Winston Churchill succeeded Chamberlain as Prime Minister, Lord Halifax remained as Foreign Secretary until, in January 1941, he was sent to Washington as British Ambassador.

Labor Standards Act of 1947

As the Second World War was nearing its end, on 26 July 1945, Allied leaders Winston Churchill, Harry S Truman, and Chiang Kai-Shek issued the Potsdam Declaration, which demanded Japan's unconditional surrender.

Lac-Édouard, Quebec

The Triton Fish and Game Club, today the Seigneurie du Triton is the most prestigious club hunting and fishing in Quebec and received illustrious members in particular Winston Churchill (Prime Minister of the England) and American presidents such as Theodore Roosevelt and Harry Truman, as well as family members of Rockefeller and Molson.

Lancelot Royle

He rejoined the Royal Artillery, but was asked by the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill to be co-chairman of the Macharg/Royle Treasury Committee and then to take on the Chairmanship of NAAFI.

Llanelli Riots of 1911

The involvement of the army was approved by the then Home Secretary Winston Churchill.

Loch Ryan

The loch was used by Winston Churchill when he departed from Stranraer in a Boeing Flying boat on 25 June 1942 when making his second visit of the war to the USA.

Luis Giannattasio

In 1965 Giannattasio died in office shortly after attending in official capacity the funeral in London, England, of Winston Churchill.

Margaret Suckley

Surviving letters include affectionate personal remarks, as well as reports and reflections about the progress of the war and meetings with figures such as with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference.

Maria Sergeyeva

Despite her reputation as a Russian nationalist, she considers herself a fan of Margaret Thatcher, Winston Churchill, and others she describes as "independent thinkers".

Melnik, Bulgaria

The local wine from the varietal Broad Leave Melnik Vine was reportedly a favourite of Winston Churchill's.

Merchant Shipping Act 1906

It was part of a number of acts introduced by David Lloyd George, and later Winston Churchill, as President of the Board of Trade, to improve conditions for workers.

Mui Tsai

In 1922 after press campaigns in Britain, Winston Churchill, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, pledged that the Mui Tsai system in Hong Kong would be abolished within one year.

Murat Shrine

In its early days it featured Broadway plays and even a 1932 speech by Winston Churchill.

Nananu-i-Cake

Because of Harold's position of Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party under Sir Winston Churchill and his social and political standing, several high-profile dignitaries visited and stayed on the island.

No. 9r

Work on the ship continued during the first months of the war until more concerns were expressed at the Admiralty; and on 12 March 1915 Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, cancelled the order for the ship.

Nobel Museum

The museum boasts exhibitions featuring celebrities such as Marie Curie, Nelson Mandela, and Winston Churchill, to name but a few.

Ol Donyo Sabuk

The other prominent person who had stayed in the house was the wartime British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.

Pedrail wheel

largely at Winston Churchill's urging, agreed to sponsor experiments and tests of armoured tractors as a type of "land ship".

Penley

The hospital was founded following a decree from Sir Winston Churchill after World War II, to care for Polish ex-servicemen who fought alongside the Allies in World War II, as well as their families, who settled in the area.

Peter Barkworth

Later TV included the part of Stanley Baldwin in Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981), and the serials The Price (1985) and Late Starter (also 1985) in both of which he played angst-filled, middle-aged, middle class characters beset by marital problems in the context respectively of a kidnapping and the early retirement of an academic.

Phil M. Donnelly

Highlights of his first term as governor included overseeing the implementation of a new Missouri state constitution in 1946, creation of the Missouri Department of Revenue, and welcoming international statesman Winston Churchill to Fulton, Missouri for the famous Iron Curtain speech at Westminster College.

Pope Pius XII Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

According to Winston Churchill, not known as a Marian devotee, one can almost say, before El Alamein, we did not have a single victory, and after not a single defeat.

Prestonfield House

The estate was converted for use as hotel in the 1960s, and has since played host to Sandie Shaw, Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, Sean Connery, Elton John, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Oliver Reed.

RAF Twinwood Farm

Axis Museum - recreation of a German bunker, Russian and German artillery and weapons, and a display about Winston Churchill and the British Royal Family

Renner Springs, Northern Territory

The rock, on the east of the old highway, looks vaguely like a profile of Winston Churchill.

Rugby by-election, 1942

Brown telegraphed Prime Minister Winston Churchill drawing attention to the reports asking if Churchill proposed to send a letter commending Holbrook to the electors of Rugby.

Scrambler

One of those, used (among other duties) for telephone conversations between Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt was intercepted and unscrambled by the Germans.

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos

Their success brought the attention of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who incorporated the unit into the British Army, and given the title of "Commandos".

Ship Harbour, Newfoundland and Labrador

Adjacent to Argentia, the waters off Ship Harbour are best known as the site of Atlantic Conference between Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 14, 1941.

Sontag Hotel

Several famous people also stayed at Sontag hotel while they paid a visit to Korea such as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American writer Mark Twain.

Steel Curtain

The nickname "Steel Curtain", a play on the phrase "Iron Curtain" popularized by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, originated in a 1971 contest sponsored by Pittsburgh radio station WTAE to name the defense.

Supermarine Swift

The Swift had been ordered into "super-priority" production, a policy created by Sir Winston Churchill who had become Prime Minister in 1951 at a time of particular tension between NATO and the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War; the Korean War had begun in 1950.

Sutherland's Portrait of Winston Churchill

In 1954, Graham Sutherland was commissioned to paint a full-length portrait of Sir Winston Churchill.

The Consumer Goods

Winston Churchill's unfortunate description of Iraq as an "ungrateful volcano" when Iraqis refused to comply with British subjugation after the First World War is the subject of the song of the same name

The History of the Runestaff

Yet other gods from the "tragic millennium" are based on 20th Century British Prime Ministers (Chirshil, the Howling God (Winston Churchill) and Aral Vilsn, the Roaring God (Harold Wilson), Supreme God) or writers: Bjrin Adass, the Singing God (Brian Aldiss); Jeajee Blad, the Groaning God (J. G. Ballard); Jh'Im Slas, the Weeping God (James Sallis).

The Land Ironclads

In an 1 Oct 1916, letter to Wells, Churchill thanked him for the idea, and in a 1925 trial over who invented the tank, Winston Churchill testified under oath that the idea had originated with Wells.

The News Parade of the Year 1942

It is composed of newsreel footage of wartime activity and includes archive footage of Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill and others.

Thomas Richard Owen

While he was based in the Azores, one of his most memorable experiences was deciding, on meteorological grounds, whether it was suitable for Churchill and Roosevelt to hold their famous meeting in the mid-Atlantic.

Trade Boards Act 1909

Winston Churchill MP, put the argument for the legislation as follows.

Treasury tag

Winston Churchill used treasury tags to hold the notes for his speeches together.

Vince Barnett

Among the many victims of his pranks were such luminaries as Winston Churchill, Charles Lindbergh, Henry Ford and the Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen.

Wadelai

Winston Churchill described Wadelai as "newly abandoned to ruin" after a visit in 1907.

Western Desert Campaign

Following the British defeats in Greece and Crete, the Western Desert was a significant avenue for Churchill and the British army to continue the fight against Germany, and therefore was central to the war effort.

Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, paraphrasing Churchill, quipped "Never has so much been surrendered by so many to so few."

Westminster Abbey by-election, 1924

Otho Nicholson was challenged by the very prominent politician Winston Churchill and Labour stalwart Fenner Brockway.

William Bourke Cockran

In 1895, Cockran, a friend of Britain's Churchill family and reputed one-time lover of Jennie Churchill, introduced her 20-year-old son, Winston Churchill, to American high society during Churchill's first trip to New York.

William Gott

In August 1942, Prime Minister Winston Churchill removed General Sir Claude Auchinleck as Commander-in-Chief Middle East and acting General Officer Commanding Eighth Army.

Wilton Park

Wilton Park began on 12 January 1946 as part of an initiative inspired by Sir Winston Churchill, who in 1944 called for Britain to help establish a democracy in Germany after the second world war.

Winston Choo

Choo was given the name "Winston" by his grandfather, who named him after Winston Churchill.

Yıldız Palace

Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle were among the visitors to this part of the palace.


Alfred P. Thorne

His career as an economist began in 1945 when he was recruited by Sir Winston Churchill’s cousin, Oscar A. Spencer, first economic adviser to the Governor of British Guiana, to assist with the country's first economic development plan.

British Army of the Rhine

In August 1920 Winston Churchill told the British Parliament that the BAOR consisted of approximately 13,360, consisting of, Staff, Cavalry, Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, Infantry, Machine Gun Corps, Tanks, and the usual ancillary services.

Earl Beatty

He represented Peckham in the House of Commons as a Conservative from 1931 to 1936 and briefly served as Under-Secretary of State for Air in Winston Churchill's 1945 caretaker government.

Earl of Antrim

Their daughter Lady Frances Anne Vane-Tempest married Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, and was the great-grandmother of Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.

Edward Quinn

Amongst celebrities captured on film by Quinn were Grace Kelly, Brigitte Bardot, Marlon Brando, Sophia Loren, Aristotle Onassis, Maria Callas, Winston Churchill, and Somerset Maugham.

Geoffrey FitzClarence, 5th Earl of Munster

Munster returned to the government in January 1943 when Winston Churchill appointed him Parliamentary Secretary for India and Burma, a post he held until October 1944, and then served as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department until July 1945 when Labour came to power.

Gerald Hamilton

Born in Shanghai in the 1880s, but educated at Rugby School in England, he counted among his friends Winston Churchill, Aleister Crowley, Robin Maugham, Tallulah Bankhead and Christopher Isherwood, who wrote of Hamilton's remarkable personality and frequently shady dealings in his literary memoir Christopher and His Kind.

J. Leonard Reinsch

He assisted the White House Press Secretary office in 1945, during the transition from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to President Harry Truman, and advised Winston Churchill on his 1946 "Iron Curtain" speech.

Jack Higgins

Its plot (concerned with a German commando unit sent into England to kidnap Winston Churchill) was fresh and innovative (although the plot is clearly reminiscent of Alberto Cavalcanti's wartime film Went the Day Well?, which itself was directly based on the 1942 Graham Greene short story The Lieutenant Died Last), and the characters had significantly more depth than in his earlier work.

Lapsang souchong

It was Sir Winston Churchill's preferred tea, a habit which he acquired together with cigar smoking early in his military career while in Cuba, and always brought him a reminder of his campaign days of youth.

Marquess of Reading

He notably held ministerial office from 1951 to 1957 in the Conservative administrations of Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden.

Milada Horáková

Many famous people, notably Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill and Eleanor Roosevelt, petitioned for her life, but the sentence was confirmed and she was executed in Pankrác Prison on 27 June 1950 by particularly torturous intentionally slow strangulation, which according to historians took 15 minutes.

Neville Usborne

In October 1913 he was given command of H.M.A.3, an Astra-Torres airship, in which capacity he once had Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, as a passenger.

No. 175 Squadron RAF

The demonstration was a dress rehearsal for a visit by Winston Churchill and General George Marshall, Chief of Staff of the United States Army, which went ahead as planned three days later.

Operation Outward

Winston Churchill then directed that the use of free-flying balloons as weapons against Germany should be investigated.

Pat Heywood

Her film roles include parts in Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?, 10 Rillington Place (where she played Ethel Christie, the wife of serial killer John Christie), Young Winston (as Winston Churchill's nurse), Wish You Were Here (seen as Lynda's aunt Millie).

Percy Hobart

Winston Churchill was notified and he had Hobart re-enlisted into the army in 1941.

Philip Vian

Despite this, Vian received a personal letter of congratulation from Winston Churchill and he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE).

Raymond Oliver

His celebrity clientele ranged from statesmen like Winston Churchill and Andre Malraux, to writers including Albert Camus and Georges Simenon, to the industrialists and financiers Henry Ford and David Rockefeller.

Richard M. Langworth

Richard M. Langworth CBE (born 1941- ) is a Moultonborough, New Hampshire- and Eleuthera, Bahamas-based author of books and magazine articles, specializing in automotive history and Winston S. Churchill.

Round and Round Went the Great Big Wheel

Pike and Walker listen to Hi Gang! which was a popular radio show during wartime, involving a line-up which included Vic Oliver, Winston Churchill's son-in-law.

Susan Hibbert

In 1950 her father Lionel Heald was elected as member of parliament for Chertsey, subsequently serving for two years as Attorney General in Winston Churchill's final administration.

Thami El Glaoui

He visited the European capitals often, while his visitors at Marrakech included Winston Churchill, Colette, Maurice Ravel, Charlie Chaplin.

Tyler Kent

With a position that required him to encode and decode sensitive telegrams, Kent had access to a wide range of secret documents, especially the communications between Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and he began to take many of the more interesting ones home with him.

U Saw

In November 1941, he travelled to London in an unsuccessful attempt to gain a promise from Winston Churchill that Burma be granted Dominion status after the Second World War; at the same time, he made contact with the Japanese to secure his own political future should Japan invade Burma.

Walton Heath Golf Club

Walton Heath has had a long association with royalty and politics, with Edward, Prince of Wales having been the club's first captain in 1935, and former United Kingdom Prime Ministers David Lloyd George, Winston Churchill, Andrew Bonar Law and Arthur Balfour all having been members.

Wilson House, London

Wilson House is named after Charles Wilson, 1st Baron Moran, who was the Dean of St Mary's Hospital Medical School between 1920 and 1945 but became famous for being Sir Winston Churchill's personal physician, and also as the great-uncle of American film actor Owen Wilson.