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Skia
12-06-2014, 6:54pm
finished the 3 vol set of the biography of Winston Churchill "TheLast Lion" yesterday. Just started Churchills master work "The History of The English speaking people" it's a 4 vol set. So far just on the prelude of vol 1 but I'm already hooked. :seasix:
lspencer534
12-06-2014, 7:18pm
That's Sir William Spencer Churchill, as is my last name. He has to be the most outstanding figure in the 20th century for his resolve and bravery in WWII if nothing else. He successfully led England from 1940-1945 to survive the brutal and never-ending attacks by the Germans on England. Though enormously out-armed and out-numbered, he kept up his courage and the courage of England. As he said:

"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 fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!"

And again:

"This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

I know most of his speeches by heart and certainly all of his humor. May the great man RIP.
Skia
12-06-2014, 7:20pm
Winston Was the greatest statesman of the 20th century and the in the top 10 of recorded history. He was a true leader of the type we will never see again in our lifetimes. :sadangel:
DAB
12-06-2014, 7:24pm
And our president wants to manage the enemy. :rolleyes:
Cybercowboy
12-06-2014, 7:29pm
And our president wants to manage the enemy. :rolleyes:

One of the first things he did was send the White House's bust of Winston Churchill back to England. And then they tried to play it off as a simple mistake. Yah...
tjfontaine
12-06-2014, 7:32pm
One could only imagine if we had his like around today.
Bingo Fuel
12-06-2014, 7:47pm
I liked his style... :cert:

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg163/vashon00/Churchill_Prescription_85_ounces.jpg
lspencer534
12-06-2014, 7:48pm
One could only imagine if we had his like around today.

The World would be a profoundly safer place.
lspencer534
12-06-2014, 7:53pm
I liked his style... :cert:

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg163/vashon00/Churchill_Prescription_85_ounces.jpg

Perhaps now would be a good time to clear up two myths about Churchill: One, he was not an alcoholic. He usually poured himself a drink in the morning, but he nursed it the remainder of the day. He was a patron of the pubs where he stayed until it closed...like most Englishmen did. Two, he was not mentally ill, as psychiatrists have concluded. He lived in a very stressful war-torn World that obviously had its affects on everyone, but he remained cogent throughout his life.
Skia
12-06-2014, 8:55pm
He along with TJ Jackson and RE Lee have been my heroes and personages I have at times tried to emulate their character. I shed many tears as to what our civilization has become and to what we aspire too. :sadangel:
Sea Six
12-07-2014, 4:06am
Winston Was the greatest statesman of the 20th century and the in the top 10 of recorded history. He was a true leader of the type we will never see again in our lifetimes. :sadangel:

Oh, I dunno.

This leader seems to be of Churchill's ilk.




Hillary Clinton Smart Power EXPLAINED - YouTube
LATB
12-07-2014, 7:36am
a true leader of the type we will never see again in our lifetimes.

I hold hope.
Ol Timer
12-07-2014, 3:40pm
I'm reading Wouk's Winds of War, which portrays Churchill as a not so popular figure leading into WWII.

While I realize it's fiction, I am surprised to read this. My impression of Sir Winston is that he was one of the great leaders of all time with dozens, if not hundreds of amazing quotes.

He would have been one of the few historical figures I'd love to have sipped an aged Scotch and smoked a fine cigar with.
lspencer534
12-07-2014, 4:02pm
I'm reading Wouk's Winds of War, which portrays Churchill as a not so popular figure leading into WWII.

While I realize it's fiction, I am surprised to read this. My impression of Sir Winston is that he was one of the great leaders of all time with dozens, if not hundreds of amazing quotes.

He would have been one of the few historical figures I'd love to have sipped an aged Scotch and smoked a fine cigar with.

He did have his haters prior to WWII; in fact, Churchill's judgement was viewed as seriously unreliable. He was already widely blamed for the Dardanelles fiasco of the First World War: not so much the failures in its execution but rather for having proposed such a risky venture without thinking it through properly in the first place.

However, Churchill was unquestionably a national saviour, without whom we would perhaps even now be part of the Nazi empire. He was one of the few politicians who had troubled to read Mein Kampf and understood Hitler's true intentions. He tirelessly warned of the need to stand up to Hitler.
By force of personality he cajoled firstl the King and Parliament, and then the people as a whole, to do just that at enormous cost. The world is a better place for being rid of Hitler and Churchill, whatever his faults, was the leader who led while others succumbed.