January 1, 1970

Churchill was MP for a constituency in Essex (Epping, from 1924–45; later called Woodford, 1945–65). Believing that the country needed to ‘increase our resources of higher education’ as it moved into the 1960s, in 1964 he helped establish the University of Essex, UK. As one of the founding donors, he gave not only money to the University but also dozens of his books to its Library. The University is now ranked one of the top ten in the UK for research.

Its three campuses include the acclaimed East 15 Acting School in Loughton (within Churchill’s former Essex constituency).