Winston Churchill wasnot academically brilliant at school but went on to have a distinguished career as a politician.
Born within the splendors of Blenheim Palace, England in 1874 Winston Spencer Churchill was almost immediately handed over to his nanny, “Woom” who was his only source of childhood happiness. He was loathed by his father, Lord Randolph Churchill and his beautiful mother, Jennie, was to busy with sexual intrigues both in England and on the continent to have much time for the young Winston.
The Young Winston Churchill at School
Winston Churchill’s school career was not brilliant and nothing to be proud of. He rebelled against authority from the beginning becoming a disciplinary problem and then at Harrow held the distinction for being the lowest ranked scholar in the lower form. Due to his terrible track record at school Churchill was unable to go onto either Cambridge or Oxford University and so attended Sandhurst, England’s West point.
Winston Churchill Joins the Fourth Hussars
On February 20th 1895 Winston Churchill was commissioned as a second lieutenant and gazetted to the Fourth Hussars who were preparing to embark to India.
It was during his time in Bangalore that Churchill educated himself and succeeded where his schoolmasters had failed. Churchill read Plato, Aristotle, Gibbon, Macauley and Schopenhauer and spent many hours pouring over thousands of pages of parliamentary debates.
Discovering that he had a natural flare for language Churchill put this talent to use and earned money by writing newspaper and magazine articles as well as books. He also discovered what he wanted to do on returning to England. He wanted to seek a seat in parliament.
Churchill Becomes a National Figure
Churchill knew that before seeking a seat in parliament he must first become famous. He sought out and ruthlessly manipulated his mothers lovers, including the Prince of Wales, and managed to appear wherever the fighting was fiercest.
During the Boer war in South Africa he was captured by the Boers but managed a sensational escape from the prisoner of war camp and made his way over three hundred miles of enemy territory to freedom. This great escape made him a national figure and after returning home he was elected to parliament.
Cabinet Minister at age 33
In the House of Commons he made his mark and by the tender age of thirty-three was a Cabinet Minister and appointed President of the Board of Trade. He joined with the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, in the move to abolish sweated labor which was opposed by the die hard peers sitting in the House of Lords.
It was during 1908 that the team of Churchill and Lloyd George guided through the House of Commons an unprecedented program of liberal legislation which included unemployment compensation, health insurance and pensions for the aged and all of these benefits would be financed by taxes on the rich and the landed gentry. Churchill denounced the aristocracy in speeches and many of his titled relations stopped speaking to him.
Winston Churchill would continue in this mode throughout his political career.
Source - The Last Lion Alone - William Manchester
