Churchill writing at his desk in the post-war years copyright: Reproduced from the Baroness Spencer Churchill Papers with the permission of Curtis Brown Group Ltd, London, on behalf of the...

They [the dictators] are afraid of words and thoughts: words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home – all the more powerful because forbidden – terrify them.

Originally published in six volumes in the US, with the ensuing English edition making corrections and adding a few maps, The Second World War was Churchill’s account of the War from...

Prime Minister of Sweden, Tage Erlander, sends his ‘most sincere felicitations’ on the occasion of Churchill’s ‘tribute’ copyright: Churchill Archives Centre...

I got into my bones the essential structure of the ordinary British sentence – which is a noble thing ... I would let the clever ones learn Latin as an honour, and Greek as a treat. But the only thing I would whip them for is not knowing English.

The first two volumes of his History of the English Speaking Peoples were published in 1956 and the remaining two volumes over the next two years...

In the Spring of 1899, I became conscious of the fact that there was another Winston Churchill, who also wrote books; apparently he wrote novels, and very good novels, too ... I received from many quarters congratulations on my skill as a writer of fiction. I thought at first that this was due to a belated appreciated of the merits of Savrola.

Churchill, Grosvenor House, London, 2 November, 1949 copyright: Churchill Archives Centre...

Writing a long and substantial book is like having a friend and companion at your side, to whom you can always turn for comfort and amusement.