Now available on BBC Radio 4, “Churchill’s Passions: – five 15 minute essays written and narrated by Andrew Roberts from his new book Churchill: Walking with Destiny.
Episode 1: Churchill’s motivation and sense of destiny.
Here Churchill sets out his trenchant view on the very characteristics of the House of Commons and on the planned rebuilding of the Chamber, destroyed by an enemy bomb on the night of 10 May 1941.
Receiving the Freedom of the City of London.
On 13 May Allied Forces completed their Northern African Campaigns, achieving total victory. Churchill commented in The Hinge of Fate: ‘The sense of victory was in the air. The whole of North Africa was cleared of the enemy. A quarter of a million prisoners were cooped in our cages. Everyone was very proud and delighted. There is no doubt that people like winning very much.’ On 16 May the Royal Air Force, in a brilliant raid deep into Germany, destroyed the Möhne and Eder dams, causing widespread flooding and destruction to the Ruhr Valley. It was under these auspicious circumstances that Churchill addressed the US Congress for the second time. Read More >
On 15 February, General Percival, Commander-in-Chief of British and Dominion troops in Singapore, surrendered unconditionally to the Japanese.
