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Winston Churchill Day: Five facts about Churchill

By Solomon Fowowe
09 April 2018   |   3:50 pm
On 9th April 1963, United States President, John F. Kennedy made former Prime Minister Winston Churchill the first honorary citizen of the United State of America. Churchill led Britain to victory in the Second World War and is considered a hero in defending liberal democracy. On the Winston Churchill day, here are five facts about…

PHOTO: AFP

On 9th April 1963, United States President, John F. Kennedy made former Prime Minister Winston Churchill the first honorary citizen of the United State of America. Churchill led Britain to victory in the Second World War and is considered a hero in defending liberal democracy. On the Winston Churchill day, here are five facts about the British bull-dog.

Chuchill was half-American

Churchill’s mother, Jeanette Jerome, was born in 1854 in New York. She married Lord Randolph Churchill, the third son of the seventh Duke of Marlborough and they had two children together: Winston in 1874 and Jack in 1880. Lord Randolph Churchill was a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Winston Churchill was the first person to be made an honorary citizen of the United States on 9th April, 1963 which gave rise to the Winston Churchill Day.

He was a prolific writer.

Churchill wrote two fictional books including Savrola but majority of his works were non-fictional detailing his experiences in India, Sudan and South Africa as an army official. He wrote numerous volumes on both the World War I and World War II.

Churchill received a Nobel Prize for Literature

Though he’d have preferred winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Winston Churchill was awarded The Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953 for “his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values”. He was nominated for the Peace Prize in 1950 but he lost to Ralph Bunche. He is the only British Prime Minister to have won the Nobel Prize in Literature since its inception in 1901.

Winston Churchill was an accomplished artist

Winston Churchill created more than 500 paintings over a 48 year period with paintbrush and easel. It is said that he painted to battle depression. Though he started painting in his 40’s, he would go on to become a prolific artist with some of his works are in the National Trust Collections.

Winston Churchill topped music charts

Winston Churchill twice entered the music charts, both coming after his death. The first, ‘The Voice Of’ came out in 1965- the year he died. ‘The Voice Of’ was a collection of his most famous speeches. He then charted again in 2010, entering the album chart for a second time with a record ‘Reach For The Skies‘, backed by The Central Band of the Royal Air Force marking the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

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