Sir Winston Churchill had many abilities

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Most people know Sir Winston Churchill was a talented landscape artist but do you know his other favorite hobby? I’ll give you a hint: It was about as opposite as you can get but it helps when defining the man.

Winston Churchill was born in November of 1874 in a palace to an aristocratic family. He was afforded all the privileges and expectations from a family with titles and status. His greatest attribute was his clever and always curious mind. Churchill climbed steadily through the ranks in his formative years at both formal and military learning institutions. He found himself a most effective writer and orator. Throughout his life he would prove to be an extraordinary word-smith.

He became a journalist and one of his first assignments was to take his writing talents to South Africa and cover the 1899 Boer War. This would be Churchill’s first taste of conflict in which he craved.

While on a troop train during a reconnaissance mission, the train was attacked. Several British soldiers were killed and many including Churchill taken prisoner. Churchill sought action and attention. One night he scaled a wall alone and escaped, finding himself 300 miles behind enemy lines. Through perseverance and luck, he made it back to his lines and then back to Britain where he had achieved his sought after hero status.

Once back home, he ran for political office and won. He was on his way!

During the Great War, Churchill had risen to become the First Lord of the Admiralty at the age of 40. He was a risk taker and difference maker. The War in 1914 was a meat grinding stalemate in Europe. The ever calculating Churchill proposed a solution—a second front. This campaign turned out to be the greatest disaster of his life—Gallipoli.

The Gallipoli Peninsula is on the North side of the Dardanelles strategically protecting the strait where the Aegean Sea connects with the Black Sea occupied by the Turks. Churchill underestimated the Turkish resolve. After sea and land battles that claimed a quarter million casualties on both sides, the Allies retreated after nine months.

Churchill was the international scapegoat.

In future political races Churchill’s rivals would use “Remember the Darganelles,” as a campaign slogan. Gallipoli was a disaster that would haunt and influence Winston for the rest of his life.

Still, after several years there was probably only one thing that could save Churchill’s career, another global catastrophe, World War II.

After Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain came back to Britain with the Munich Agreement in 1939, promising peace yet guaranteeing war. England turned to a familiar face for leadership when the agreement fell apart, Winston Churchill.

Churchill’s gall and steady guidance through the War is well documented and celebrated by millions not only in Britain but around the world.

I have been to Churchill’s Bunker in London where he would deliver his inspirational words to an embattled nation, consoling his fellow countrymen to “stay calm and carry on.” The Bunker itself is tiny, looking like a block of jail cells. Oh, if those walls could talk!

America’s National Churchill Museum is this country’s testament to this great man and the debt we all owe him—located in Fulton, Missouri, where in 1946 Churchill delivered his famed “Iron Curtain” speech predicting what the world would have to deal with for the next 40 years.

This speech affected my life, in that I had done a few government projects in the past and got a call in December of 1989 to pack my bags. I was off to Czechoslovakia just two days after the Berlin Wall came down. My mission wasn’t covert, it was to assess what Czech products could be exported and accepted by the “West,” immediately.

This was needed to help stabilize a new and sudden independent economy. My superiors were Fed Chairman Paul Volker and Ambassador Bill Walker; they gave me two weeks! Perhaps more on that adventure later, but the point is Churchill’s speech affected millions of people for decades including yours truly.

BRICKLAYING! How about that for a second hobby! He was an amateur bricklayer, even joining Britons Bricklaying Union.

There have been volumes written on Winston Churchill’s life and achievements. This article is meant to stir the curiosity in you. If you can visit the Churchill Museum in Fulton, you will appreciate him even more. It makes for a great day trip. Learn all about a man whom we owe so much, overcame mistakes, and went on to help save the world.

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You can find more of Bob’s work on his website, bobfordshistory.com, and videos on YouTube, TikTok and Clapper. Bob can be reached at robertmford@aol.com