Winston Churchill gives his famous v-sign as he opens the new headquarters of 615 (County of Surrey) Squadron of the RAAF (Royal Auxiliary Air Force) at Croydon, 1948. (Photo by Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Winston Churchill

Britain’s wartime prime minister Winston Churchill (1874–1965), who led the country to victory in the Second World War, is considered one of the defining figures of the 20th century. Churchill served as Conservative prime minister twice – from 1940 to 1945 (before being defeated in the 1945 general election by the Labour leader Clement Attlee) and from 1951 to 1955

Rotten boroughs cartoon

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Few war leaders have been more profoundly steeped in history than Winston Churchill, who drew inspiration from his ancestor – and one of Britain's most celebrated generals – the Duke of Marlborough (left). (Images by Getty Images/Bridgeman

Sending history into battle: the lessons that war leaders have tried to learn from the past. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A visit to the Churchill War Rooms, London. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

10 Downing Street, the residence of the prime minister of the United Kingdom. (Photo by Getty Images)

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Winston Churchill making the famed ‘V’ for Victory sign. (Image by Bettmann/Getty Images)

Second World War

Winston Churchill facts: 9 things you might not know about the WW2 prime minister

Letters from World War Two leaders. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Blenheim Palace in a c1880 print from ‘A Series of Picturesque Views of Seats of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland’, edited by Reverend FO Morris, Volume I, William Mackenzie, London. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

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1949: Clementine with husband Winston Churchill at Epsom racecourse for the Derby. (Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

6 surprising facts about Clementine Churchill

Winston Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty in WWI. (Photo by Bettmann/Getty Images)

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Winston Churchill. (Photo by Getty Images)

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The president of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt and his staff gathered together in New York to find a solution to the economic crisis. 1935. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

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Winston Churchill, Josef Stalin and Franklin Roosevelt exchanged almost 700 messages during the Second World War. (Illustration by Hugh Cowling for BBC History Magazine)

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Sir Winston Churchill leaves his London home for Chartwell, Kent. (Photo by PA-Images)

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The Special Operations Executive: Churchill's secret army. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Winston Churchill, 1941. (Photo by War Archive/Alamy Stock Photo)

History heroBarbara Taylor Bradford chooses Winston Churchill (1874–1965). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Winston Churchill leaves a cabinet meeting

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Churchill on film: the challenges of portraying a Second World War icon. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Sky covered by smoke from the first H-Bomb explosion at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific, 1 April 1954. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

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Churchill's army: the wartime leader’s military track record examined. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

British soldiers arrive to take part in the battle of France, 1940. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Books interview with Daniel Todman: "Everything that happened in 1940 isn't somehow down to Winston Churchill". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Winston Churchill with a bulldog mascot as he leaves the Wanstead Conservative Club in his Woodford, Essex constituency on general election day, 23 February 1950. (Photo by Central Press/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

Second World War

Q&AWhat is the significance of the British Bulldog?

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Second World War

12 things you should know about Churchill’s Second World War tunnels under the White Cliffs of Dover

British statesman and writer Winston Churchill, aged 26. Photograph by Elliott & Fry. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

Books interview with Boris Johnson: "Churchill was a tremendous bully in some ways, but we needed a bully"

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Second World War

Churchill’s wartime speeches are overrated, claims academic