January 1, 1970

Follow the links below to listen to the recordings Churchill made of these iconic speeches. Most of these key speeches of 1940, with the exception of 18 June’s speech, were given in the House of Commons and not simultaneously broadcast to the nation (the Chamber wasn’t at that time wired for sound) but most were reported on the BBC and quoted in the press. Churchill recorded them for posterity after the war.

On the right you can see two versions of his ‘finest hour’ speech, which show how he used the layout of the text to help him deliver the speech.

The top image shows his speech notes laid out ‘psalm style’ – like a poem – to aid the actual speech delivery; the bottom image shows the marked-up typescript of his first draft of the same speech.

See more on Churchill’s powerful oratory, in a virtual exhibition hosted by the Churchill Archive here.