IN BRITISH history one person stands head and shoulders above the rest.
It’s neither Shakespeare nor Queen Victoria. Not the Queen, not Princess Di, not even Isaac Newton or Charles Darwin.
It’s Winston Churchill, a man of small stature with a towering greatness; a writer, orator and leader who as Prime Minister led Britain to victory in the Second World War. In nation-wide polls, he is regularly named the greatest Briton of all time.
Churchill is also an iconic figure for many non-English, especially French speakers.
Politically, he would sit on the political spectrum knee-to-knee with Donald Trump and is still widely detested by many on the political left. He had many failures, some terrible and spectacular, which perhaps gave him the grit and determination for his greatest success.
As an English leader and orator in a time of war – we shall fight on the beaches, we shall never surrender – he has been given the eponymous accolade, joining an illustrious club that includes Shakespearean, Kafkaesque, Machiavellian to name a few.
A Churchillian leader is one who is uncompromising, focused, determined and able to electrify great swathes of the population with their words.
President John F. Kennedy said of Churchill: “He mobilised the English language and sent it into battle.” (The president was quoting Edward R. Murrow of CBS News).
