During the summer break, the 15-Minute History podcast team are republishing some of their favorite episodes. Both episodes 1 & 2 of the podcasts on Winston Churchill originally aired in late March of 2021

____

Part One Excerpt:

As stated by Andrew Roberts in his book, Churchill: Walking with Destiny, "Before the new MP had even taken his seat, he had fought in four wars, published five books, written 215 newspaper and magazine articles, participated in the greatest cavalry charge in a half a century and made a spectacular escape from prison. ‘At twenty-five, he had fought in more continents than any soldier in his tour save Napoleon,’ a contemporary profile of him was to proclaim, ‘and seen as many campaigns as any living general.’”

Part Two Excerpt:

In Great Britain calls for negotiations with Hitler were on the rise, with some leaders in the House of Commons outright promoting it. Churchill wouldn’t hear of it. “I have thought carefully in these last days whether it was part of my duty to consider entering into negotiations with That Man,” he said in an informal meeting with his Cabinet. “I am convinced that every man of you would rise up and tear me down from my place if I were for one moment to contemplate parley or surrender. If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end only when each of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground.” Churchill would reiterate such sentiments in one of the most famous speeches in his career, given to the House of Commons after the evacuation of Dunkirk on June 6th. “Even though huge tracts of Europe and many old and famous states have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall never surrender.”

Join us for podcast parts 1 &2 on the life of Winston Churchill.

Who moulded Winston Churchill?