X-Nico

75 unusual facts about Winston Churchill


31st Fighter Wing

One of the highlights of the group’s time in North Africa was the selection of the 308th Fighter Squadron to provide combat air patrols for the arrival of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the Casablanca conference in Morocco.

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.

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.

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.

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".

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.

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.

Churchill-class submarine

The lead ship was named after the former Prime Minister and First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill.

Churchill, Victoria

The town was named in honour of former British leader Sir Winston Churchill.

Clara Clarita

Clara Clarita was a fast screw steamer originally built as a luxury steam yacht for New York financier Leonard Jerome (grandfather of British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill).

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

Commission for Relief in Belgium

Many influential British policymakers, notably Lord Kitchener and Winston Churchill, felt that Germany needed to either feed the Belgians themselves or deal with the resulting starvation riots right behind their lines, and that international help to relieve that pressure was helping the Germans and thereby lengthening the war.

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.

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).

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.

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.

Female Agents

She is recruited by the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a secret spy and sabotage service initiated by Winston Churchill.

Fred C. Stinson

He returned to private practise in Toronto and was one of the organizers of the Churchill Society for the Advancement of Parliamentary Democracy.

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.

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.

Gomersal

Sir Winston Churchill, then Prime Minister, slept at Cleckheaton Spen sidings overnight in a special train with a heavy security cordon in 1952 during election campaigning.

GURPS Wild Cards

Data and characters are drawn from Wild Cards volumes I-V, including a history of the Wild Cards world, the Wild Card virus, over 50 super-characters, variant historical characters (e.g., Castro, Churchill, Gandhi, Franco, et al.), a description of Jokertown, the major Wild Card organizations, and the various aliens (the Takisians, the Swam, the Network group).

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.

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.

Ignatius Spencer

George was the youngest of seven children whose descendents would include Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales.

Israel's Department Store

They were allegedly flying as a decoy so that another plane, which carried Prime Minister Winston Churchill, could land safely.

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 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.

Kliment Voroshilov

In an embarrassing incident at the 1943 Tehran Conference, during a ceremony to receive the "Sword of Stalingrad" from Winston Churchill, he took the sword from Stalin but then allowed the sword to fall from its scabbard onto his toes in the presence of the Big Three wartime leaders.

Laurier House

Many distinguished guests from abroad were received at this house, such as King George VI, Sir Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and others.

Llanelli Riots of 1911

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

Marquess of Reading

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

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.

Miles Henry Davis

He purchased his stock for the program from Miles Davis, who imported his strain from Sir Winston Churchill's farm in England.

Momčilo Ninčić

The chapter on the tragedy of Mihailović casts a new light on Winston Churchill's wartime role in Yugoslav affairs and the decisive roles played by British officers acting as individuals.

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.

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.

Order of St. Patrick

Prime Minister Winston Churchill suggested reviving the Order in 1943 to recognise the services of General The Hon.

Paddy Mayne

Following Churchill's call to form a "butcher and bolt" raiding force following the evacuation of Dunkirk, Mayne volunteered for the newly formed No. 11 (Scottish) Commando.

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).

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.

Pinecrest, Florida

Parrot Jungle was founded in 1936 by Franz and Louise Scherr on property located at Red Road and Southwest 111 Street and over the years became a world famous tourist attraction whose visitors included Sir Winston Churchill.

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.

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.

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.

Soviet space program

“The USSR was famously described by Winston Churchill as ‘a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma’ and nothing signified this more than the search for the

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 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.

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.

VFA-15

The Valions were aboard the Ranger when it escorted the RMS Queen Mary, with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill aboard, to the Quebec Conference in August 1943.

Wendy Russell Reves

A first cousin of the conductor Sir Georg Solti and a literary agent for and close friend of Winston Churchill, Emery Reves described his wife as "a woman with a brilliant mind and imagination, tempered by much common sense. She is a woman who never bored me".

Western Desert Campaign

According to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the approximately 215,000 Italians in Libya faced approximately 35,000 British in Egypt.

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 Lloyd George, 3rd Viscount Tenby

His father was a National Liberal politician who served as Home Secretary under Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden.

Words for Battle

After this, Winston Churchill is shown inspecting a parade of soldiers, while Olivier recites a section from his 1940 speech, 'We shall fight on the beaches'.


Appeal of 18 June

Three days later, de Gaulle obtained special permission from Winston Churchill to broadcast a speech via BBC Radio from Broadcasting House over France, despite the British Cabinet's objections that such a broadcast could provoke the Pétain government into a closer allegiance with Germany.

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.

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.

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.

Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin

He used his contacts with Winston Churchill and Robert Vansittart to try to shift British policy away from one of appeasement to one based more on the use of force.

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.

Goffs School

Goffs School consists of six houses, each named after an influential person from history: Brontë, Churchill, Columbus, Curie, Mandela and Monet.

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.

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.

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.

Jacob E. Smart

In this position, he was involved with the planning of the invasion of Europe and participated in the meeting between U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Casablanca, Morocco in 1943.

Lawrence Holofcener

In 1985 at the Chichester Festival Theatre, Laurence Olivier unveiled Holofcener's portrait, "Faces of Olivier", and ten years later to the day on Bond Street in London, Princess Margaret unveiled his portraits of Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt.

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.

Mayals

During that time the Castle hosted many notable guests, including Adelina Patti, Neville Chamberlain, Queen Victoria, Winston Churchill, and King Edward VIII and later on Jon and Carys Richards.

Meyer Friedman

"Type A personalities who succeed do so in spite of their impatience and hostility," he said, listing among the more notable Type Bs Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.

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. 242 Group RAF

At Casablanca, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder persuaded American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and their staffs to establish an air force command structure based on the previously successful coordination of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group, No. 201 (Naval Co-operation) Group, and AHQ Western Desert during the North African Campaign of 1942, primarily in Egypt and Libya.

Non-belligerent

The economic support given by the Americans was through the Lend Lease Program which saw the United States provide the United Kingdom "all possible assistance short of war" in the words of Winston Churchill, but they remained a non-belligerent state in the war until President Roosevelt formally declared war on Japan following the attacks on Pearl harbor.

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).

Preterm birth

Historical figures who were born prematurely include Johannes Kepler (born in 1571 at 7 months gestation), Isaac Newton (born in 1642, small enough to fit into a quart mug, according to his mother), Winston Churchill (born in 1874 at 7 months gestation), and Anna Pavlova (born in 1885 at 7 months gestation).

Quit India Movement

The only outside support came from the Americans, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressured Prime Minister Winston Churchill to give in to Indian demands.

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.

Sheffield Bach Choir

However, the choir also performs farther afield, participating in the Sixth Churchill Memorial Concert at Blenheim Palace in May 1971, performing in York Minster in June 1972 and at the Leeds Music Festival in 1981.

Thomas Haddon

Haddon was duty officer on the night of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. fleet on 7 December; it was he who passed the news on to Downing Street, leading Prime Minister Winston Churchill to immediately contact U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

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.

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.

Vadim Kozin

In 1993, being interviewed by Theo Uittenbogaard in the TV documentary GOLD lost in Siberia, he remembered that he was released from exile temporarily and flown in to Yalta for a few hours, because Winston Churchill, being unaware of Kozin's forced exile, had asked Stalin for the famous singer Vadim Kozin to perform, during a break in the Yalta Conference, held February 4– February 11, 1945.

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.

W. K. C. Guthrie

Returning to Cambridge after the war Guthrie was much in demand in his capacity as Orator, called upon to deliver Latin encomia in honour of such dignitaries as Winston Churchill, Clement Attlee, Jan Smuts, Nehru, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Viscount Slim and General Montgomery.

Wadelai

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

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.

Western Desert Campaign

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

Zunfthaus zur Meisen

In 19th century, Gottfried Keller and Ferdinand Hodler were among the most famous guests of the former «Café zur Meisen», in the 20th century Gustaf V of Sweden, Winston Churchill, Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Jimmy Carter.