20 Questions about Winston Churchill Quiz

Answer: American

Both his parents led very busy lives, and young Winston was primarily raised by devoted nanny Mrs. Everest (he called her "Woomany" or "Old Woom"). By all accounts she was a kind and good woman, and is sometimes referred to as "the nanny who saved western civilization." Years later, addressing the U.S. Congress, Churchill said, "By the way, I cannot help reflecting that if my father had been American and my mother British, instead of the other way around, I might have got here on my own."

Answer: Sandhurst

All three wrong answers are military academies located in the US. Some of his lead soldier collection is displayed at Sandhurst, which is in the English county of Berkshire.

Answer: Clementine

They were married 57 years. In his letters to her, he called her "Clemmie". Her advice to him on social and political matters often influenced what he said and did.

Answer: Chartwell

All three wrong answers are the homes of former U.S. presidents. Churchill bought Chartwell, located two miles south of Westerham, Kent, England, for £5,000 in 1922. He fell in love with the place when he first saw it (not so much for the house, but for the views of the Kent countryside), and put in a purchase offer without Clementine's prior approval. Chartwell would be WC's home until his death in 1965. It is presently under the administration of the National Trust, and is now open to the public.

Historical note:
Monticello was the home of Thomas Jefferson (third U.S. president). Montpelier was the home of James Madison (fourth U.S. president). Sagamore Hill was the home of Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt (26th U.S. president).

Answer: Second Boer War

This war was during 1899-1902 between the British Empire and the Dutch settlers (Boers) of the area north-east of what is now South Africa (the First Boer War was 1880-1881). Churchill went there as a war correspondent for the Morning Post newspaper, and jumped at the chance to take a train into the action.

He was captured by the Boers, and even though he was a fairly insignificant 25-year-old civilian, he was from an influential family and the Boers thought he could be a good bargaining chip. However, he escaped and made his way back to the British lines.

This escape was widely publicized back in England and helped launch his political career.

Answer: Pronounced "S" as "Sh"

He was afraid his speech impediment would hinder his political career, but it has become almost an endearing quality of his speeches. Winston's father, Lord Randolph Churchill, also had a speech impediment.

Answer: Neville Chamberlain

The widely-known photograph of Neville Chamberlain shows him just after he returned from the Munich Conference in 1938 (in which he agreed no military intervention if Hitler annexed part of Czechoslovakia), waving the document and proclaiming it meant "peace in our time."

Historical note:
As difficult as it may be to believe, both Chamberlain and Hitler were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1939 (although nobody won that year). After Hitler invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, even Chamberlain's supporters realized his appeasement foreign policy was wrong and WC replaced him as Prime Minister (although Chamberlain did remain Prime Minister for the first eight months of WWII).

Answer: Prince of Wales

All three wrong answers are U.S. ships. WC met FDR aboard the British KGV Class Battleship HMS Prince of Wales off Newfoundland in August 1941. The U.S. was not involved in the fighting at that point, and Churchill very much wanted American involvement. As a result, Churchill was more susceptible than usual to some FDR arm-twisting over provisions of the Atlantic Charter that resulted from this meeting. One of the provisions of the Charter (that WC agreed to only reluctantly) recognized, "the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live" and that Britain's colonial empire would be dismantled after the war.

Historical note:
Newfoundland was a British territory at the time. It joined Canada in 1949.

Answer: Stalin

The "Big Three" were leaders of the three main Allied powers. The three wrong answers were leaders of the three main Axis powers. After FDR died in 1945, he was replaced in the Allies' meetings by new U.S. president Harry Truman. When WC lost an election in July 1945, he was replaced by new British Prime Minister Clement Atlee. Stalin was the only original member still there at the end of the war.

Historical note:
Other major allied powers included France, Canada, China, Australia, India (then a British colony) and Poland. About 40 other countries also helped the Allies to a lesser degree. Other major axis powers included Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. About 10 other countries also helped the Axis to a lesser degree. Several countries were officially neutral, but helped the Axis (for example, Spain and Switzerland). After the war, numerous Nazis led secret lives in Argentina (in fairness, during the war some Argentina volunteers fought for the Allies).

Answer: Airmen defending the UK in the Battle of Britain

Although WC is best remembered for using these words in a speech given at the House of Commons on 20 August 1940, he first used that famous sentence (approximately) a few days earlier (on August 16) upon his exit from the Battle of Britain Bunker at RAF Uxbridge, when visiting the No. 11 Group RAF Operations Room during a day of battle.

Answer: 2-7 days

Sources differ on the date, but everything I found was in the range of 2-7 days. Churchill wanted to go over earlier, but King George VI nixed that idea, feeling he was too valuable to the war effort to risk being killed. He finally came over on HMS Kelvin on a day cruise, landing at Arromanches, and had lunch on the beach with British General Bernard Montgomery. When he learned some German troops near the beach were being fired on, he talked the Kelvin's Admiral Vian into firing a few rounds. He was disappointed the Germans did not return fire.

Answer: Poodle

He actually owned two poodles over the years, and both were named Rufus. According to Anthony Montague Browne, Churchill's private secretary in his later years, "It [the second Rufus] was a nice dog, but had breath like a flamethrower." Although WC is often associated with the bulldog, this was due more to his demeanor and his dogged determination during WWII. He never owned a bulldog.

Answer: Painting

He completed over 500 paintings in his lifetime. Some of his paintings were printed by Hallmark Greeting cards. Others now command very high prices. For example, his painting "The Tower of Katoubia Mosque" was recently expected to bring a record $2,950,000 (£1,828,000). The previous record was set in July 2007, when his painting "Chartwell Landscape with Sheep" sold for $1,500,000 (£1,000,000).

Answer: Spencer

Churchill frequently signed his paintings with the initials "WSC." Arguably, the best-known person in the Spencer family (at least recently) was Princess Diana (first wife of Prince Charles and mother of Princes William and Harry). Her maiden name was Diana Spencer.

Answer: His bouts of depression

Today, WC might be diagnosed as being bipolar (manic depressive). English writer Samuel Johnson used the term "black dog" in 1783 to describe his bouts of depression.

Answer: An agreement between Churchill and Stalin specifying their post-war influence in various eastern European counties

Churchill knew that Roosevelt would not approve this agreement and kept it secret from him.

Answer: All of those listed

In his speech titled "The Sinews of Peace" (given at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, USA on 5 March 1946), WC said, "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent."

Answer: Literature

He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1953. WC was a prolific writer of non-fiction, including a biography of his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, a four-volume biography of his ancestor, the Duke of Marlborough, a four-volume history of the First World War (titled "The World Crisis"), a six-volume memoir of WWII (titled "The Second World War") and a four-volume history titled "History of the English-speaking Peoples."

Answer: JFK

WC was named an Honorary U.S. Citizen in 1963. He died in January 1965 after a series of strokes. JFK was assassinated in November 1963.

Historical note:
French citizen Marquis de Lafayette, a major general in the Continental Army under George Washington, was the first named (in 1783 by one state, in 1834 by two states, and then confirmed in 2002 by a joint Congressional Resolution).

Answer: Meeting

He said this on the eve of his 75th birthday. He died on 24 January 1965 at age 90. His longevity surprised many people, given his frequent use of cigars and alcohol.