Winston Churchill was born 150 years ago on 30 November 1874. The Royal Mail has issued 8 stamps to celebrate this anniversary. Each bears one of the famous quotes from the great writer and lover of the English Language.
A few years after Churchill resigned as prime minister in 1955, our English master thankfully chose, (above some tired classics), his autobiography, ‘My Early Life,’ for us to study for ‘O’ Level English Literature. It read like a ‘Boys Own’ adventure with stories of; soldiering for The British Empire, the Boar War as a journalist and escaping from a P.O.W. camp. He’d crammed a lot into his first 25 years. In our mid-teens we wondered what our first 25 years would bring. (Well, there was a disappointing start, when I failed English Literature.) Studying this book changed my view of him from a defunct prime minister to a swashbuckling hero who had problems at school like us 1960s kids.
When I visited his impressive home, Chartwell in Kent, I admired the extensive boundary walls that he had built. He laid so many bricks that he became an accomplished bricklayer and was allowed to join their union. Having found time to watch massive quantities of bricks being laid during my career in the construction industry, I appreciated his hard-won skill.
Appearing in puppet form on ‘Spitting Images,’ is a nod to his enduring popularity and would probably have amused him. Now the show is over and the puppets have been auctioned off, Churchills fetched £1000.
The man himself was no puppet. He was self-confident, powerful, and assertive, traits that made him unpopular with many. He certainly put his stamp on history and in a recent BBC poll was voted ‘The Greatest Briton of all Time.’
He lives on in the form of a puppet in Paul Jackson’s WW2 puppet show – follow the link.
Copyright © Ken Tracey 2024
Ken Tracey 
Interesting fact about the famous man! Hard to imagine him laying bricks….I wonder if he took the cigar out before bending over? Well researched Mr Tracey! Val Greatorex
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