The International Churchill Society’s forty-third conference will be held from October 15 to 17, 2026. This year, we recognize the 250th Anniversary of America and commemora...
In the 1950s, Churchill devoted more and more time to reading the classics of literature. In 1953, he had been reading Trollope, the Brontes, Hardy and Scot, when he heard in October that he was to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. This wasn’t, as some assume, for his work on (the final and sixth volume was to be published in November 1953)but in recognition of his life-long commitment to – and mastery of – the written and spoken word. He was disappointed that it was not the Peace Prize. He was in Bermuda when the prizes were to be presented by the King of Sweden in Stockholm – there was no question which event took precedence – and Clementine accepted the award on his behalf.
The Next Generation Leaders Panel Debate at the launch of the panel reports from the Global Leadership Programme. The launch took place at the Churchill War Rooms in London on [&he...
Phase One of the Global Leadership Programme culminated with the publication of sixteen panel reports by international experts. The reports span geopolitics, business and finance, the sciences, society and faith, and explore the challenges facing leaders today and the skills needed for effective leadership in the modern world. The reports were launched and debated in front of an audience at the iconic Churchill War Rooms in London. Watch videos of the panel debates below and read coverage across the British media.
In June 1962, Churchill broke his hip during a fall in his bedroom at the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo and was transferred to the Middlesex Hospital (he told Montague Browne ‘I want to die in England’ and was flown back in a scrambled RAF jet). He stayed in hospital for two months. He returned, not to Chartwell, but to 28 Hyde Park Gate where changes had been made to accommodate his diminished mobility. Although he still enjoyed his wine and food, trips out to dine with The Other Club members (the dining club he had founded with Lloyd George and others) at the Savoy were becoming rarer. The ‘old warrior’ was no longer able to battle the onset of old age. His letters to Clementine during their periods apart became fewer and less confident, showing his slow decline. Reluctantly, Churchill finally announced his retirement from politics in 1963. This took effect at the general election the following year.
In 1940, Churchill was worried that the Chambers might be bombed while the Houses were ‘sitting’ and between 1940 and 1941, both Houses of Parliament took place in Church House in Westminster.
At the birthday celebrations at Westminster Hall in November 1954, Churchill was presented with a portrait by Graham Sutherland, commissioned by past and present members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. It was Sutherland’s practice to prepare detailed sketches, almost completely finished works, often close-ups of the heads of his sitters. Apparently Churchill had asked Sutherland at the outset, ‘How are you going to paint me? As a cherub, or the Bulldog?’ Sutherland is said to have replied: ‘It depends on what you show me, sir.’ He later told Beaverbrook that ‘Consistently ... he showed me the Bull Dog’. Churchill loathed the finished portrait (he later said it was ‘malignant’), perhaps because it conveyed all too accurately the frailties of old age, although when presented with it on his birthday, he carefully described it as ‘a remarkable example of modern art’. It was later, controversially, destroyed on the orders of Clementine. Churchill made his last major speech in the House of Commons on 1 March 1955 – a carefully prepared, and passionate, speech, in which he suggested that the power of nuclear weapons might lead to peace through deterrence. For a full transcript of his final speech, ‘Never Despair’, click .
International Churchill Society the preeminent member organization dedicated to preserving the historic legacy of The Rt. Hon. Sir Winston Churchill.
Get the Churchill Bulletin delivered to your inbox once a month.
Join the International Churchill Society today! Membership starts at just $29/year.
