The Essential Churchill

Churchill was by no means a spontaneous orator, and it was claimed by one of his acolytes that for every minute of a speech he had prepared for an hour. Whether true or not, this suggests an incredibly serious approach to speech-making and its high priority for the great statesman. Perhaps part of his success lay in his utterly self-confident character and strange unconsciousness of the adverse reaction that he could and often did create among friend and foe alike. Churchill was one of only two Prime Ministers to be named a professional writer, and throughout his life his writing and words were not only instrumental in inspiring great loyalty and affection among a wide spectrum of people, but also a means of financing his extravagant lifestyle. What remains at the forefront of the minds of most is the energy which he afforded the prosecutions of the Second World War, and his unerring ear for what to say and how to say it.