January 1, 1970

Churchill was a very recognisable figure and his likeness is evident in statues and busts throughout the world. Perhaps the most famous statue of Churchill is the official one commissioned by the British government, now in Parliament Square, Westminster, by Ivor Roberts-Jones (unveiled by Churchill’s widow, Lady Churchill, on 1 November 1973). The statue was incorporated into the opening of the 2012 Olympic Games in London in a filmed sequence that involved ‘James Bond’ (Daniel Craig) and The Queen flying over London in a helicopter, with Churchill’s statue waving at them! And it’s this statue that, in 2000, received Mohican hairstyle courtesy of a piece of turf placed on it by May Day protestors.

Replicas of the statue stand in Oslo, Norway, in Canberra, Australia (at the Australian National University) and in Halifax and Toronto in Canada. Another was unveiled in 1999 in Winston Churchill Square (Nám?stí W. Churchilla) in Prague, outside the University of Economics.

Oscar Nemon (1906-1985) also created many famous busts and statues of Churchill and you can see his bronzes all over the world.

For more on Nemon’s relationship with Churchill, click here.

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A brief BBC film clip discusses Nemon’s famous Churchill bronze in the House of Commons and describes how touching Churchill’s foot was regarded by politicians to bring them luck as they entered the Chamber.

Bronze resin and resin casts of Nemon’s busts of Churchill are for sale through the Estate of Nemon and at the Churchill Museum, Chartwell, Blenheim Palace and Bletchley Park.

A cast of one of Nemon’s busts of Churchill was recently unveiled at the US Capitol before the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, and Churchill’s grandson. The work – a rare Estate casting of a historic Churchill bust sculpted from life by Oscar Nemon – was donated to the Capitol by The Churchill Centre and funded by Laurence Geller. Only two other copies are in existence – in the Churchill War Rooms in London and in the Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Moscow.

There are two other notable busts of Churchill in Washington DC both by British artist Sir Jacob Epstein; one at the White House and the other at the British Embassy. The former is located just outside the Treaty Room (now used as the President’s study) on the second floor of the White House residence. This bust was donated to the White House in 1965 by a group of Churchill’s wartime American friends lead by Averell Harriman. The Embassy bust was previously on loan to Pres. George W. Bush and displayed in the Oval Office during his Presidency (2001 – 2009).

Other statues and busts in the US, Canada and France include: