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00:00:00On the 30th of January 1965, an estimated 350 million people worldwide
00:00:06tuned in their televisions to watch the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill.
00:00:11It was an immense occasion. It was, to that date, the largest state funeral in history.
00:00:18The Queen was in attendance, the Royal Artillery had a 19-gun salute,
00:00:23and at the service, which was in St Paul's Cathedral,
00:00:26there were representatives from 112 nations.
00:00:34I wasn't there, but I do remember it, because I was here, in this garden,
00:00:39probably at about this spot, and this is the garden of the Vicarage
00:00:43on the Isle of Dogs, where I grew up.
00:00:47And I think we must have been watching the occasion on television,
00:00:50because at the appointed moment, my father brought the whole family out into the garden,
00:00:55and, holding my dad's hand, I looked up to the sky as a squadron of RAF fighters flew down the
00:01:02Thames to mark the occasion.
00:01:05It made an enormous impact on me. I was only two years and 11 months old.
00:01:09In fact, it was my first ever memory.
00:01:13After that, I thought for a long time that all funerals would involve a fly-past.
00:01:17It was a great disappointment to me to discover that they didn't.
00:01:20But the greater impact it had on me was that it left me with a fascination for the man,
00:01:25for Winston Churchill, who could command such an immense send-off.
00:01:31And I'm not alone in that, because even now, 50 years later,
00:01:34the name Churchill still means a great deal to a great many people.
00:01:38So I'm off to meet some of them.
00:01:40I'll spend time with the people who knew him best.
00:01:43It was lovely just having to myself, you know, for periods of time,
00:01:48the grandfather, the whole world, thought they owned.
00:01:51I'll sample some of his famous tastes.
00:01:53It makes me feel a lot better.
00:01:55I'll find out what the Germans think of him.
00:02:01As well as discovering just what he means to people on the street.
00:02:05Greatness, Britain Amber.
00:02:07I think of really good speeches.
00:02:09I think he saved the world.
00:02:11I want to look at the impacts he had here and worldwide,
00:02:15and to try and understand his legacy
00:02:17and the way he continues to touch the lives of many people today.
00:02:29And way better to start than the place Churchill called home, Chartwell.
00:02:36Churchill bought Chartwell and its surrounding 80 acres
00:02:39in September 1922 for just £5,000.
00:02:44He used it as a retreat, a place to work, write, paint,
00:02:48and spend time with his beloved family and to entertain friends.
00:02:54If you're going to visit Churchill's house,
00:02:56what better way to do it than in Churchill's car?
00:03:00A Hillman Husky, just like this one,
00:03:03which he got in 1964, the year before he died.
00:03:06In his lifetime, he also had a Land Rover, a Rolls-Royce,
00:03:10and at election time, he drove around in a Daimler
00:03:12with two speakers on the body.
00:03:15But this is the car that he ended up with.
00:03:18It's not flashy, it's not glamorous.
00:03:20It's just a little run-around with lots of room in the back.
00:03:23But it's a great reminder of a side to Churchill
00:03:26that isn't often talked about.
00:03:28Not war hero or statesman, but family man.
00:03:35His granddaughter, Celia Sands,
00:03:37has agreed to meet me at Chartwell
00:03:39to show me around and tell me more about her famous grandfather.
00:03:43Hello, it's very nice to meet you.
00:03:45And you.
00:03:46Do you like my car?
00:03:47Well, it's sort of familiar, but not quite the right colour, is it?
00:03:50Oh, what colour was Winston's?
00:03:51I think it was sort of beige.
00:03:52Oh, was it?
00:03:53Well, it is a fantastic house, isn't it?
00:03:55And the position is amazing, isn't it?
00:03:57Oh, it's wonderful, absolutely wonderful.
00:03:58My grandfather said,
00:03:59a day away from Chartwell is a day wasted.
00:04:03Are we going to go inside?
00:04:04Let's, yeah.
00:04:10So is the house as you remember it from childhood?
00:04:14Mainly not.
00:04:15I mean, some parts are and some parts aren't.
00:04:17But this, when I was a child, was the cinema.
00:04:21So we used to come here to watch films.
00:04:22To have a cinema as a child.
00:04:24What a fantastic thing.
00:04:26After dinner, we would have a film.
00:04:28And you'd come in here and there'd be lovely armchairs, really comfortable.
00:04:33And were there very sort of contemporary films that you were watching?
00:04:36Well, my grandfather's favourites were Charlie Chaplin, Vivian Lee, Gone with the Wind, Lady Hamilton, Henry V, that sort of
00:04:43thing.
00:04:44Having had rather a bleak childhood, without any real family life himself, he treasured it.
00:04:51And what his favourite thing was to look around and see as many of his children and grandchildren there as
00:04:57possible.
00:04:57So he had a dynastic approach to life.
00:05:01You knew that he had to be, you know, prime minister and was a great sort of war hero and
00:05:06statesman.
00:05:07But did you think of him like that?
00:05:09Did any of that kind of come over?
00:05:12Or did you simply think of him as your grandfather?
00:05:15As I grew up, I observed how other people talked about him and how they behaved when they were with
00:05:22him.
00:05:23But it was a very gradual process.
00:05:26I mean, basically, for me, he was just grandpapa.
00:05:28And I think after the war, the only people in the world who took Winston Churchill completely for granted were
00:05:34his grandchildren.
00:05:35So was he a very, uh, was he a very formal grandfather?
00:05:38Not at all, no. He was a very relaxed person. His nature was very relaxed.
00:05:43And he certainly wasn't like the others, probably, of his class as people would have thought he'd be.
00:05:49And I think this probably was the influence of his American mother.
00:05:53Because, uh, and also he didn't speak in that sort of ponsly upper class accent that we might have expected
00:06:00him to.
00:06:01I was lucky enough to travel with him quite a bit in the older years, when, of course, as I
00:06:05grew up, he grew older.
00:06:07And he was pretty old then.
00:06:08But it was lovely just having to myself, you know, for what, for periods of time, the grandfather, the whole
00:06:15world, thought they owned.
00:06:17You can really see why he would want to live here, though, can't you?
00:06:19Because it must have been enormously relaxing and it's set in beautiful countryside.
00:06:24Oh, yes, well, absolutely.
00:06:25But, I mean, he bought the view. He didn't buy the house.
00:06:28And the house had to fit in around him, but he definitely bought the view.
00:06:32Shall we go and see what it was that he lacked?
00:06:33Yes, please. Thank you.
00:06:41Oh, that's fantastic, isn't it? Look at that view.
00:06:44And it seems to be totally unspoiled.
00:06:47I mean, nothing seems to have grown up there as long as I can remember it.
00:06:54Well, this brings back so many memories.
00:06:56Because Zeus, to come here, this is one of the favourite places to come with grandfather and feed the fish.
00:07:04There used to be a box here where the food was, for the fish was in.
00:07:08Oh, the fish food, yeah.
00:07:09And my grandfather always had his chair right next door and he'd sit down and he'd get the fish food
00:07:14out.
00:07:15And he would throw the food in and they'd come to the surface and he'd say,
00:07:19Oh, you see, they know me.
00:07:21Well, perhaps they did because they're not coming to the surface now.
00:07:24They're not performing at all, these fish, are they?
00:07:27They've gone.
00:07:27You don't seem to be having the same effect.
00:07:29No, I certainly am not having the same effect.
00:07:31There's not a fish to be seen.
00:07:32I don't know.
00:07:33Maybe you can hurl it that far.
00:07:35See if you can get it over there.
00:07:36Yes, I'll give it a go, certainly.
00:07:37It was a daily routine.
00:07:39I mean, this was something, always.
00:07:41We'd come here, we'd feed the fish, then we'd go down to the lake and see the black swans, and
00:07:48then we'd go to the pigs.
00:07:49And did you like spending time with him?
00:07:51He was good to spend time with him.
00:07:53Oh, yeah, absolutely.
00:07:53No, it was a real treat.
00:07:56Real treat.
00:07:56Did he have a sort of twinkle, a sort of mischievous, was he mischievous?
00:08:01Well, yes, absolutely.
00:08:03He had a very mischievous smile.
00:08:05And certainly, he was always, you know, looking for the sense of ridiculousness.
00:08:11It was a wonderful film of him taken on the White House lawn in his siren suit, what they call
00:08:17now a onesie.
00:08:18And he was demonstrating.
00:08:19He'd obviously just invented it so he could be out there when the sirens went off for an air raid.
00:08:24And so he had the zip going up and down for all the photographers on the lawn.
00:08:29I mean, he was obviously enjoying himself so much doing that.
00:08:34I think the one word that sums him up is courage.
00:08:38And do you think that you have inherited anything from him?
00:08:41Because I say that because I think you have definitely got his twinkle.
00:08:44Oh, that's very kind.
00:08:45Indeed, I'd like to have his twinkle.
00:08:46I've definitely got his hair.
00:08:48People don't realise that Winston Churchill was born with bright red hair.
00:08:51Is that right?
00:08:51People have a perception of him on the steps of Downing Street.
00:08:55The cigar in one hand, a V sign in the other, and with a little, not too much, white hair.
00:09:02But in fact, he had hair absolutely this colour.
00:09:05Well, I've really enjoyed him.
00:09:06Whatever your views on Churchill, it's undeniable that he's left a huge legacy on Britain and the world.
00:09:11And no matter who you are or where you're from, you know something about the man.
00:09:16Winston Churchill was Prime Minister after Neville Chamberlain.
00:09:21Winston Churchill, greatest Britain ever.
00:09:24He's actually really popular in Germany.
00:09:27He lived between 1874 to 1965.
00:09:34My nan had a statue of his head in a living room.
00:09:38Smoking a cigar, making the V sign.
00:09:40I know the V sign, he's throwing that up a lot.
00:09:43He wrote history books.
00:09:45Think of his stammer.
00:09:46He was very stylish as well, as well as powerful.
00:09:48I think of a bulldog.
00:09:51In 1951, he became Prime Minister for the second time.
00:09:55His secretary at the time was Jane Portal.
00:09:57The now Lady Williams has agreed to meet me to tell me more about those last years in power.
00:10:04Hello, I'm Hugh.
00:10:05How do you do?
00:10:06Lovely to meet you.
00:10:08So is this as much as you remember it when you were last here?
00:10:10It is exactly as I remember it.
00:10:13And the books as well?
00:10:15Well, it all looks very unchanged to me, but then I didn't work here, so...
00:10:19It looks very... I don't remember the panda up there.
00:10:23Well, he lived in a world of books, didn't he, really?
00:10:25He lived in a world of words, didn't he?
00:10:27Of words.
00:10:29What I do remember is the desk where he had his proofs, which he would correct standing up and read
00:10:38standing up.
00:10:39He liked to keep standing.
00:10:42It's so exciting to come back to Chartwell and to be able to walk into this room, into the study,
00:10:50where I spent so many hours taking dictation for Churchill.
00:10:55His best dictation time was after dinner.
00:10:59And he would be in his siren suit.
00:11:03He'd be relaxed because he was at Chartwell.
00:11:06And I would have my typewriter on a table in the corner here.
00:11:12And he would dictate straight to me on the typewriter.
00:11:17And we'd go on till two o'clock in the morning.
00:11:21Wow.
00:11:23And then there'd be the magic words, which were soup.
00:11:29And he would have a bowl of coke on something, which would be waiting at the pantry.
00:11:35And I'd go... I knew it was the end of the day.
00:11:38So how long did you work for him?
00:11:40I came to work for him in 1949.
00:11:43He was leader of the Conservative Party in opposition.
00:11:47Well, when you started, you must have been very young.
00:11:49I was young.
00:11:52I was 18.
00:11:54Wow.
00:11:55So, working for Winston Churchill was your first job?
00:11:57Yes, it was.
00:11:58What an amazing first job.
00:12:01Extraordinary.
00:12:01And it shows what luck visits one in life.
00:12:06Because I had, in fact, been told I wasn't up to getting into university.
00:12:14And luckily, I was so angry that it made me determined.
00:12:19You sound like you loved it.
00:12:21You really enjoyed it.
00:12:22I loved it every moment.
00:12:24And he was so wonderful to work for.
00:12:28One knew exactly where one was.
00:12:31One just had to get on with the work.
00:12:33He was kind.
00:12:36I can't say he was thoughtful, but why should he be thoughtful?
00:12:40We would have been horrified if he'd been thoughtful.
00:12:43When he became Prime Minister again, do you think he found it fulfilling again?
00:12:49I mean, it's obviously a very different role, isn't it?
00:12:51Yes.
00:12:51I know he found it fulfilling.
00:12:54And in a way, he was such a strong and marvellous character that he wasn't going to allow people
00:13:04to tell him that it was time, that perhaps somebody else took over.
00:13:08I remember this game on the whole time.
00:13:11Just shut his ears to it.
00:13:13But he wasn't terribly well.
00:13:15I mean, he was dogs, wasn't he, by ill health at that point?
00:13:18He was very well until he had his stroke in 1953.
00:13:23And it was at that point that he came down to Choctaw.
00:13:28But unlike today, nobody in the outside world really knew about that.
00:13:32The proprietors of the major newspapers were his great friends.
00:13:37Yeah.
00:13:38So they, this would not be approved of now.
00:13:41In fact, it would be against the law, I believe, to hide information.
00:13:47But they were able to keep it under wraps.
00:13:52In those days, it seemed that it was all right to keep it secret.
00:13:58The cabinet knew.
00:14:01The government boxes continued to arrive downstairs.
00:14:04And they were dealt with.
00:14:07The country was governed perfectly adequately in most people's view.
00:14:13And did his sort of indomitable spirit and this idea of kind of never giving in,
00:14:18did that apply to his personal life as well?
00:14:21Yes, it did.
00:14:22You see, and particularly this determination to recover from the stroke.
00:14:27I mean, I could remember him walking from his bedroom here through.
00:14:32He went to every meal in the dining room next door.
00:14:39He would walk through with a stick and with some help to begin with.
00:14:44And then he was able to walk perfectly adequately himself.
00:14:48Have you ever sort of invoked the spirit of Winston Churchill and thought,
00:14:52I am not giving in?
00:14:54I know I have to do this.
00:14:55I have to get through this.
00:14:56Yes.
00:14:57He's very much the beacon of determination in my life, yes.
00:15:04Well, that's been delightful.
00:15:05Thank you so much.
00:15:06Thank you very much.
00:15:07Lovely to meet you.
00:15:07And I hope to meet you again.
00:15:08I do hope our paths will cross again.
00:15:14But before I could leave, there was just one more person I wanted to drag down.
00:15:21After his death and following his instructions, the family asked that there should always be a marmalade cat named Jock,
00:15:28with a white bib and four white socks living here at the estate.
00:15:31Jock the Sixth is the latest in a long line of marmalade toms living here at Chartwell.
00:15:36And I'm going to find him.
00:15:41Jock?
00:15:43Jocky?
00:15:48Jock?
00:15:59Jock?
00:16:03Jock?
00:16:06Jock...
00:16:08Jocky?
00:16:11Jocky?
00:16:13Jock?
00:16:13Jocky?
00:16:15Jocky?
00:16:28Jocky?
00:16:35There's absolutely no doubt that Winston Churchill was a master orator.
00:16:40In fact, his ability to create and deliver barnstorming and memorable speeches
00:16:45really lay at the heart of his political success.
00:16:47But how did he do it?
00:16:49Well, he describes speech-making as the art of making deep sounds from the stomach
00:16:53sound like important messages from the brain.
00:16:57One man who's admired and studied Churchill's words in great depth
00:17:01and for a very long time is historian Professor Richard Toye.
00:17:05He's become particularly fascinated by the speeches made during World War II
00:17:09and the impact they had on the war effort, the nation and the entire world.
00:17:14So was Churchill's reputation for rhetoric justified, do you think?
00:17:19I think it was, but I think the story is more complicated than we often think.
00:17:24So actually the process by which he learned to become a great orator was a very long one.
00:17:29He had a lot of practice. He was somebody who was first elected to Parliament in 1900.
00:17:34And so he had decades of experience before he actually became Prime Minister.
00:17:37And there were plenty of missteps along the way.
00:17:39So you don't think he was a natural orator? He taught himself?
00:17:42He was not a natural orator in the sense of being able, being very good at any rate,
00:17:46doing it spontaneously. So initially he tried to learn all his speeches by heart
00:17:54and stand up and deliver them. And there was a famous occasion in the Commons in 1904
00:17:59where he got almost all the way through one of his speeches
00:18:02and then suddenly forgot basically the last line or two
00:18:06and came to a halt, couldn't do anything and sort of sat down with his head in his hands.
00:18:10You don't get a prompt in the House of Commons, do you?
00:18:13Well, people sort of thought that he might be losing his mind
00:18:16and there was a lot of concern about him.
00:18:20And so after that he always, if he could, had a prepared text
00:18:25which he basically read from so that he was very good
00:18:28at these carefully crafted orations on set-piece occasions.
00:18:33But what he wasn't particularly good at was a debate, a spontaneous debate,
00:18:39reacting to what other people had said and making comebacks, if you like.
00:18:42But, I mean, he's very famous for his witticisms, isn't he, of course,
00:18:45but were none of them spontaneous then? None of them were ad-lib?
00:18:50A lovely story, which I think does indicate in some ways
00:18:53that there are two levels of preparation, which one night, I think in the 1950s
00:18:58when he was Prime Minister for the second time, somebody encounters him late at night
00:19:03in the cabinet room, sitting working away, and they say,
00:19:05Prime Minister, what are you doing still up at this hour?
00:19:08And he says, oh, I was just preparing some of my spontaneous witticisms.
00:19:12Yeah, exactly.
00:19:13Would he deliberately have, you know, kind of turned a phrase?
00:19:18You know, it's the phrases, isn't it, that you remember?
00:19:20Yeah, well, some of them he had literally been kind of working on for decades,
00:19:24so that, you know, never have so many owed so much to so few.
00:19:29You can go back and see that he's, in 1907, speaking in East Africa,
00:19:34he's talking, he's sort of writing, in fact, about a dam and saying
00:19:37that never has so much water been held up by so little masonry.
00:19:41So, you know, these are things...
00:19:43Not quite such a good phrase.
00:19:44No, no, but, you know, you work on it, and over time, you know,
00:19:47you've got several decades to work on it.
00:19:49And you can see that at the appropriate moment,
00:19:51he could sort of reach into his memory banks, if you like,
00:19:54and sort of pull it out again.
00:19:55So his wartime speeches are the most famous,
00:19:57but how important were they, do you think, for the morale of the nation?
00:20:02They were perhaps effective in a different way than we think,
00:20:05and they also aroused more controversy and more criticism at the time
00:20:10than we would tend to think now.
00:20:13He becomes Prime Minister on 10th of May.
00:20:16It's not till the 4th of June that we get this very famous
00:20:20Fight Them on the Beaches speech.
00:20:22We shall fight on the beach.
00:20:35But that speech, it's worth saying,
00:20:39everybody has heard the quotation,
00:20:42and yet he did not record that speech at the time.
00:20:46That recording was made nine years later.
00:20:48He gave the speech...
00:20:50So people didn't hear it?
00:20:51People are remembering something that they didn't actually hear?
00:20:53That's quite right.
00:20:54So the speech was delivered in the House of Commons,
00:20:58and that evening the BBC announcer read out extracts of it
00:21:03on the nine o'clock news,
00:21:05but unless you happen to be an MP or sitting in the gallery
00:21:09of the House of Commons, nobody heard it at the time.
00:21:11Perhaps that says even more about how powerful the words are.
00:21:15People suddenly remember hearing them when they didn't.
00:21:18They sort of transcend reality and enter a world of their own.
00:21:22We shall fight on the beaches.
00:21:24I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.
00:21:28Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never.
00:21:33We shall never surrender.
00:21:34We shall never surrender.
00:21:37Decades later, and the Churchill Oratory legacy lives on,
00:21:41not just in books or recordings,
00:21:43but in the latest generation of public speakers,
00:21:46including 17-year-old Nathaniel Aruge,
00:21:49who in 2014 was the winner of the English-speaking Union's
00:21:53Winston Churchill Cup for Public Speaking,
00:21:56becoming the best young public speaker in the country.
00:22:00So have you been to the Hazard of Parliament before?
00:22:02Yes, I was invited down a couple of months ago
00:22:05to lay a wreath in a Winston Churchill memorial service.
00:22:08Oh, cool. And who was here for that?
00:22:12Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg, David Cameron, Nicholas Soames.
00:22:16And they all laid wreaths themselves?
00:22:18Yes, we all laid wreaths. We were all in a line.
00:22:20It's a really symbolic photo of us all standing in a line with our wreath.
00:22:23And did that feel odd? Were they nice to you?
00:22:25They were really nice to me, but, yeah, it felt really weird.
00:22:29Really weird.
00:22:30And did it make you want to be a politician,
00:22:32to use public speaking in that way?
00:22:34As much as I love public speaking,
00:22:36I don't really want to be a politician
00:22:38because I feel like I don't want to be a hate figure.
00:22:42And what do you want to do, then, if not that?
00:22:45I want to be a dentist.
00:22:48Do you?
00:22:49Yeah, I know it's very different, but, yeah.
00:22:50Well, if you don't want to be a hate figure, don't be a dentist.
00:22:52That's good to say.
00:22:53That's right.
00:22:5490% of the population hate going to the dentist and do that.
00:22:58What do you think Churchill means to your generation?
00:23:01I think Churchill is kind...
00:23:03He can kind of be used as a role model to a lot of young people.
00:23:07I mean, like, he's an example of someone
00:23:08who kind of came from small beginnings,
00:23:11who kind of got things wrong.
00:23:13And I think a lot of young people, they think,
00:23:15just because there's so many opportunities available to them,
00:23:18they can't really screw up.
00:23:20Here's an example of someone who keeps getting it wrong,
00:23:23getting it wrong, getting it wrong,
00:23:24and just carries on and just picks himself back up,
00:23:27no matter what the circumstances are.
00:23:30Meeting Nathaniel is a refreshing reminder
00:23:32of just how the Churchill legacy
00:23:34continues to inspire people of all ages.
00:23:36And that's partly because he's been immortalised on stage
00:23:39and screen by a number of Britain's best-loved actors.
00:23:42Richard Burton, Timothy Spall, Bob Hoskins, Brendan Gleeson.
00:23:47But no-one has really come as close to mastering the role as Robert Hardy,
00:23:51who was nominated for a BAFTA for the 1981 series,
00:23:55Winston Churchill, The Wilderness Year.
00:23:59Britain must regain our former strength and confidence
00:24:04in our role in the world.
00:24:13Robert.
00:24:14Hugh Dennis, as I live and die.
00:24:16What an honour.
00:24:17Not as great as mine.
00:24:19Come in.
00:24:20Come in.
00:24:22I thought I'd bring you in here because there's a lot of...
00:24:27Churchilliana.
00:24:28And how many times have you played Churchill?
00:24:31Nine, I think.
00:24:33And did you take on, you know, the first role
00:24:36with a certain amount of trepidation, or...?
00:24:38I refused it, absolutely. I said no.
00:24:42Because I knew it's impossibility.
00:24:44And what persuaded you?
00:24:46Oh, ages and ages of pressure from them.
00:24:52Eventually, I don't know how many lunches it took,
00:24:54or how many months, but months.
00:24:57Eventually I saw that they had such faith
00:25:02in something in me which I didn't perceive at all.
00:25:07But anyway, eventually I said,
00:25:09well, if you really think so, I'll have a go.
00:25:11And are you glad you did?
00:25:12Well, yes, of course, because I absolutely adored Churchill.
00:25:18Hmm.
00:25:18People of my generation, you know,
00:25:20we listened to every speech he made.
00:25:23And his genius at reporting the worst news to us,
00:25:29week by week or month by month.
00:25:31He somehow always just lifted us up.
00:25:35And he took the nation by the hand
00:25:37and simply led us through the worst time in our history.
00:25:42OK, there you are, that's it.
00:25:44Well, how about moving on?
00:25:49Take a chair.
00:25:51Thank you very much.
00:25:52But not only did Robert become Churchill,
00:25:54he also met him.
00:25:56I did.
00:25:57It was an extraordinary occasion when
00:25:59my dear friend Richard Burton was playing Hamlet
00:26:02at the Elvick and I was playing Laertes.
00:26:05And we concluded the play,
00:26:07well aware that Winston was in the front row
00:26:10because, you know, it's a very, very long play
00:26:12and it's always cut.
00:26:14Yeah.
00:26:14And every time we cut,
00:26:16there was an eruption from the front row
00:26:18because he knew it all by heart.
00:26:19And that's wrong.
00:26:21Row, row.
00:26:23Things like that.
00:26:23Where are we now?
00:26:26All that was going on quite loud.
00:26:28And then Richard said to me,
00:26:31he's coming to my dressing room.
00:26:33Come straight to my room.
00:26:36So I did.
00:26:37And we heard him puffing and rumbling down the corridor.
00:26:43Heard him turning right.
00:26:45Heard him knock at the door.
00:26:46Come in.
00:26:47And he said to Richard,
00:26:49addressing him still as the Prince of Denmark,
00:26:52Your Highness, I am in great need.
00:26:56May I use your lavatory?
00:26:58And Richard said,
00:27:00Sir, I'd be honoured.
00:27:01Unlike most politicians, you know,
00:27:03wit in the House of Commons isn't really wit, is it?
00:27:07You can get away with all sorts
00:27:08because you have a captain.
00:27:10Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
00:27:11Sure.
00:27:12300 backbenchers will laugh at anything you say.
00:27:15Churchill actually had genuine wit.
00:27:16I think.
00:27:17Oh, yes.
00:27:19He had.
00:27:20There is the Nancy Astor story, isn't there?
00:27:23She said, exhausted, infuriated by him,
00:27:28on his feet in the Commons,
00:27:31said,
00:27:32Oh, Winston,
00:27:36if you were my husband, I'd poison your coffee.
00:27:41And he said,
00:27:46Lady Astor, if you were my wife, I'd drink it.
00:27:51You want that to be true, don't you?
00:27:53You want that to be true.
00:27:54No, absolutely.
00:27:55Well, I think that's in the House of Commons report.
00:27:58And what do you think was the key for you in playing Churchill?
00:28:01What did you have to master?
00:28:03Well, I felt the most difficult thing was the voice.
00:28:08Of all these nine times that I've attempted Winston,
00:28:12you know, it has got a bit better each time, I think.
00:28:16But I was best in French.
00:28:19Because nobody knew.
00:28:21Nobody in Paris knew or cared.
00:28:25So how do you do a Churchill voice?
00:28:28What's the...
00:28:29What is the secret?
00:28:31I don't know.
00:28:32Whatever secret it is, I've lost it now.
00:28:36But, I mean, it's...
00:28:38You have to try and embody
00:28:42some of the curiosities
00:28:46and some of the tone
00:28:49and some of the tune
00:28:52because he had a particular tune,
00:28:55which is of a...
00:28:56He had a particular rhythm, didn't he?
00:28:58A particular rhythm.
00:28:59Yeah.
00:28:59Yeah, he did.
00:29:01Which I've really lost touch with.
00:29:05Robert wanted to put my Churchill impression to the test.
00:29:08The news from France is very bad.
00:29:12The news from France is very bad.
00:29:16And I grieve for the gallant French people
00:29:19who have fallen into this terrible misfortune.
00:29:23And I grieve for the gallant French people
00:29:27who have fallen into this misfortune.
00:29:30Nothing can alter our feelings towards them.
00:29:33Or our faith of the genius of France will rise again.
00:29:38You're making these sentences very long now.
00:29:41I'm finding it difficult to remember them.
00:29:43Nothing will alter our feelings towards them.
00:29:50Or our faith that the genius of France will rise again.
00:29:58I think I did all right there.
00:29:59But it's harder to do than you'd think.
00:30:01Although it is one of those impressions
00:30:03I reckon everyone thinks they can manage.
00:30:04We've all got a decent Churchill in us, right?
00:30:06We will fight them on the beaches.
00:30:09We will never surrender.
00:30:11We will never surrender.
00:30:13We will fight them on the beaches.
00:30:15We will fight them on the shore.
00:30:17We will never surrender.
00:30:19Never in the field of human conflict.
00:30:21There's so much owed by so many to so few.
00:30:25We will fight them on the beaches.
00:30:27Never give up. Never, never give up.
00:30:30I don't have a Churchill impression.
00:30:32It's just...
00:30:32Oh, yes.
00:30:42Winston Churchill is perhaps best known as an orator, a great speech maker.
00:30:47But less appreciated is his role as a fashion icon.
00:30:50The top hat, the cigar and the key.
00:30:54Big trench coat, big fella.
00:30:56A big bottle of champagne.
00:30:57Didn't you wear a jumpsuit?
00:30:58The romper suit.
00:30:59Big cigar as well.
00:31:01This is like a cigar and wear like a really cool hat.
00:31:04This hat, yeah.
00:31:05The hat with a...
00:31:06I don't know how you call it, but a typical...
00:31:09Probably a hat.
00:31:10He loved hats.
00:31:11In fact, it's said that Winston never found a hat that he didn't like.
00:31:16I'm completely the opposite.
00:31:18I've never found a hat that suited me.
00:31:21But if I am going to find one, it's going to be here.
00:31:23Because this is the country that made them for Winston.
00:31:29Good morning, sir.
00:31:30Established in 1676, James Locke & Co. is the oldest hat shop in the world.
00:31:36As well as being one of the oldest family-owned businesses still in existence.
00:31:40Come and have a look and see.
00:31:42Yeah.
00:31:43I will look terrible in all these hats, by the way.
00:31:45Well, come and try some of Churchill's.
00:31:47We've laid out a few.
00:31:49This is a picture you're probably very familiar with,
00:31:51which is Churchill on his wedding day.
00:31:54Just getting out of the car.
00:31:56Wearing a nice silk hat.
00:31:58Now, there at the end, Hugh, is a...
00:32:02silk hat of exactly the sort he would be wearing.
00:32:04Can I see what that's like?
00:32:05Can I see what that's like?
00:32:06Which is the front...
00:32:07I never know which is the front of the back of hats.
00:32:08Well, the back...
00:32:09It's sometimes obvious.
00:32:11But the bow is usually on the left-hand side.
00:32:13Very good.
00:32:13I've got the weirdest shaped head, I think.
00:32:16It's completely square in my head.
00:32:18Well, we'll have a look at that.
00:32:21So, let's move on.
00:32:23And then, this is the sort of hat he was wearing a little later.
00:32:26Do you wear this straight?
00:32:27Yeah.
00:32:28And then, of course, we come into the First World War.
00:32:31And there's an interesting story,
00:32:33because you will, of course, know that during the First World War,
00:32:36his career almost completely was destroyed.
00:32:38Yeah.
00:32:38With the Dardanelles Affair, which we now call the Gallipoli Affair.
00:32:41I think 50,000 or 60,000 lost their lives.
00:32:45Strategically, it was brilliant, but the execution wasn't good.
00:32:47And it cost him his job.
00:32:49He stays in the Cabinet as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
00:32:53And in July, he says,
00:32:54please, I must go out and find out why it's such a disaster.
00:32:57The Prime Minister agrees, but the King stops it.
00:33:00And the day before he's due to go, on the 20th of July,
00:33:03he's told by the Prime Minister,
00:33:05you may not go to the Dardanelles.
00:33:06Somebody else is going in your shed.
00:33:08And he must have been in the depths of depression.
00:33:10Because there he is.
00:33:11He's lost his big job and so on.
00:33:13He comes in here on the Tuesday.
00:33:15And he buys himself a brown Homburg.
00:33:18But I think he was in sombre mood.
00:33:20And I think he just wanted to cheer himself up.
00:33:22And so he got himself a hat on the day that he's told
00:33:26he can't even go to the Dardanelles to see what's going on.
00:33:29So can you tell you the number of hats he bought?
00:33:30The number of times he was feeling very down.
00:33:32Well, I think mostly, despite the reported black dog depression,
00:33:38I think mostly he was up.
00:33:40But that was the day when he was...
00:33:41It's bad for business for you, of course, if he was cheerful.
00:33:44And then later, now this is a hat that you've certainly seen.
00:33:46Yeah.
00:33:47And try that one.
00:33:48That's called a Cambridge.
00:33:50And he liked wearing that style too.
00:33:52He wore so many styles.
00:33:56You've got that at a slightly jaunty angle, but that's fine.
00:33:58Am I not?
00:33:59Well, I think it might just be the shape of my head.
00:34:02How does it fit?
00:34:04Well, it's...
00:34:05I've got a bit of...
00:34:07You're very good.
00:34:09Do you know at school, my nickname...
00:34:11Because I've got very high cheekbones.
00:34:12And I've got quite a large chin.
00:34:14And one of my nicknames at school was snowplough.
00:34:17Because my face is exactly the same shape as a snowplough.
00:34:20They thought that if you pushed me along the playground on a snowy day,
00:34:23the snow would be forced up.
00:34:25Yeah.
00:34:26Really?
00:34:27In a way.
00:34:27One little photograph which shows him wearing that hat.
00:34:31You'll probably be familiar with that one.
00:34:33Now, where is this taken?
00:34:34He's holding this Tommy gun, isn't he?
00:34:35Do you know the history of this?
00:34:37Well, that photograph is taken in the Second World War.
00:34:39And he's demonstrating that he's got whatever it takes.
00:34:44And you can see he's quite at peace with himself.
00:34:47Hmm.
00:34:48Well, I've never found a hat that suited me.
00:34:50Then come and have a look at some others, too.
00:34:52I'm not sure...
00:34:53I mean, by all means, that one maybe.
00:34:55But I think you'll want something which perhaps
00:34:57doesn't make everybody look at you when you go along,
00:34:59but just some.
00:35:00That's about the right balance.
00:35:02Yeah.
00:35:02And you think everyone will look at me in this?
00:35:04Because of the high peak.
00:35:05I think everybody will look at you in that one.
00:35:07Okay.
00:35:08What if I have a Tommy gun?
00:35:10Then you might be looked at by some other people, too, yes.
00:35:13It's actually here.
00:35:14Yeah.
00:35:16But if a hat can make you feel better,
00:35:18it's clothes that maketh the man.
00:35:20And it's just a short walk to the world's most fashionable street.
00:35:24This is Savile Row.
00:35:26It's home to London's finest tailors.
00:35:28It's a road, actually, that makes you feel really quite underdressed.
00:35:31But anyway, I'm heading up to Henry Poole, which is just here,
00:35:35which is one of the finest tailors on the street,
00:35:37which, since 1806, has dressed some of the world's most influential people.
00:35:42Not surprisingly, it was one of Churchill's favourite tailors.
00:35:47In 1876, Henry Poole died and passed the business on to his cousin, Samuel Cundy.
00:35:52Hello.
00:35:52The Cundys have been running the family business ever since,
00:35:55and today, Angus Cundy and his son, Simon, are in charge.
00:35:59Hi.
00:35:59Hugh.
00:36:00Nice to meet you.
00:36:02Nice to meet you.
00:36:02You knew who I was at the same moment I told you.
00:36:04It's amazing.
00:36:04It's amazing.
00:36:05Yeah.
00:36:06So this is the cloth that Churchill wears in that famous photograph, isn't it?
00:36:12That's right.
00:36:13With the Tommy gun.
00:36:14Yep.
00:36:14Very much a heavier cloth than this day.
00:36:16It was, you know, a bit bulletproof, a bit armour-proof,
00:36:1918 ounces, it was heavy.
00:36:21These days, we couldn't sell it.
00:36:23But now, we're making 11 ounce,
00:36:24but it does come from the original mill that we've made it also back in the day,
00:36:28and that's the Churchill stripe.
00:36:30Churchill loved the stripe, didn't they?
00:36:32Why was that, do you suppose?
00:36:33Well, because they basically elongate the body.
00:36:35They make you taller.
00:36:37They make you sort of stronger.
00:36:39The width of the stroke stripe is important.
00:36:41The stronger the stripe, the more authority it looks.
00:36:43You know, power play, lawyers, that sort of character,
00:36:45have these big, bold stripes.
00:36:47And that's what it came down to.
00:36:49His body was quite petite.
00:36:50His head was quite large.
00:36:51So really, he wanted something to balance him out,
00:36:54and stripes made him that.
00:36:55You're wearing one, aren't you?
00:36:57Yes.
00:36:58You just made two...
00:36:58How tall are you normally there?
00:37:00I'm about five foot two,
00:37:02but actually, today, I'm about 5'11",
00:37:04maybe pushing a six foot mark by the end of the day.
00:37:06Yeah.
00:37:06So that's how it works, hopefully.
00:37:09What about Zebra?
00:37:10What do you think they're up to?
00:37:11Zebras are kind of mixed bag, really.
00:37:12You know, they tend to be all over the place, as they do.
00:37:15They tend to run all over the place, so...
00:37:16I've often thought with zebras,
00:37:17I've thought they are very like barcodes, aren't they?
00:37:20So if you ran a barcode scanner over a zebra,
00:37:22would it say zebra?
00:37:23There's a price to it.
00:37:24I don't know.
00:37:24Maybe it comes up with a price.
00:37:25It comes up with a price.
00:37:27This is the weirdest conversation I've ever had.
00:37:30Anyway, do you have this made up somewhere?
00:37:33We've actually one made by the window there.
00:37:35In fact, this jacket is even in Churchill's size.
00:37:38Let's pop down Winston.
00:37:40There we go.
00:37:41So let's just try on the Churchill.
00:37:44There we go.
00:37:48Nicely on the neck.
00:37:50That's it.
00:37:51It's fine, isn't it?
00:37:52Well, it's fine apart from the arms.
00:37:54Yeah.
00:37:54I think, say, upper body was pretty good, but I think...
00:37:57Thank you very much.
00:37:59The lower parts, obviously, use your sleeves and longer arms.
00:38:02Still a bit short on the coat.
00:38:04I find it very surprising that he was this small, actually.
00:38:08Didn't he?
00:38:09Did he make seats for him the whole of his life?
00:38:11Well, pretty much.
00:38:12But you'll have to meet my father on that one.
00:38:14So come and meet him.
00:38:17Come and meet my father, Angus Cundy.
00:38:20Hello, Angus.
00:38:20Pleased to meet you.
00:38:21And you.
00:38:22Fantastic.
00:38:23What have you got there?
00:38:24Well, Sir Winston Churchill came to us first in 1905.
00:38:31And at that time, he was living in Mount Street.
00:38:34We think his chest was 37.
00:38:37Yeah.
00:38:37And waist 35.
00:38:39So in 1906, going to this, he spent 243 pounds, four shillings and sixpence.
00:38:44And you know, that really is a lot of money.
00:38:47Mm.
00:38:48Wow.
00:38:48We had a British warm overcoat.
00:38:52Yeah.
00:38:52Nine pounds, nine shillings.
00:38:55So this is 1929, isn't it?
00:38:57So did he carry on buying from you right through to the end of his life?
00:39:00The orders all stopped.
00:39:04And he, in fact, owed 126 pounds, five shillings and sixpence.
00:39:11And he didn't pay us.
00:39:13And he didn't pay us until the most terrible thing happened in it.
00:39:19It did upset my father.
00:39:21Mm.
00:39:22And that was that he was made prime minister in 1940.
00:39:26And the moment he was made prime minister, we sent a bill to 10 Downing Street.
00:39:33And he paid us.
00:39:34And sadly, we never saw him again as a customer.
00:39:38Mm.
00:39:38So it meant that, um, poor Churchill, prime minister, not only had Hitler after him, but also his tailor.
00:39:49On that note, Hugh, would you like to come and see some of the tailors working on suits downstairs?
00:39:53Yeah, I'd love to, yeah.
00:39:54Come on through.
00:39:57This is actually, um, a British warm.
00:40:00Oh, of the, say, the kind of cake there, Churchill.
00:40:03Actually, let's just try this on you to see how it feels.
00:40:08And this is what Churchill was towards the end of his life.
00:40:11This saw his?
00:40:13Yeah.
00:40:13So he went from this?
00:40:14Yeah.
00:40:15To this?
00:40:15Yeah.
00:40:18You sure there wasn't someone in there with him?
00:40:21Not in my life.
00:40:22That's...
00:40:23That is huge.
00:40:25And that is incredibly heavy, isn't it?
00:40:27And you can see the great photograph with him and Starling together, on the bench together.
00:40:31And that was the coat that he was wearing back when we made him in 1918.
00:40:34Is he looking the warmest, do you think, of this?
00:40:36I think Starling's doing really well as well.
00:40:37Although Starling probably knew what he was doing, didn't he?
00:40:39Cold weather.
00:40:40He knew about cold weather.
00:40:42Hmm.
00:40:43So we'll go upstairs and then we'll...
00:40:44It was indeed a remarkable and very deliberate transformation for Churchill.
00:40:48He'd most definitely been considered a runt at school.
00:40:52He showed no real sporting prowess and once went running into the woods when the other
00:40:57boys threw cricket balls at him.
00:41:02In 1897, Churchill wrote to his brother Jack,
00:41:05Being in many ways a coward, particularly at school, there is no ambition I cherish so keenly as to gain
00:41:12a reputation for personal courage.
00:41:14Which may in some way explain his seemingly unending desire to put himself in danger in war zones as a
00:41:23correspondent or as a soldier.
00:41:25Or his love of flying at a time when the statistics were pretty much stacked against you.
00:41:30Wherever the action was, that's where Churchill wanted to be.
00:41:34And that was the case even on D-Day.
00:41:48In the run up to the D-Day landings, Churchill decided that he couldn't sit here comfortably in London or
00:41:54in some headquarters in home counties,
00:41:56while so many people were putting their lives in danger.
00:41:59So he hatched a plan.
00:42:00And that was that he would direct his part of the operations from this warship, HMS Belfast,
00:42:06as it sat off the Normandy coast, pounding enemy positions.
00:42:10He spoke to the King to tell them that that's what he was going to do.
00:42:14And the King, not wishing to be outdone, because he was a military man as well, said that, OK, he'd
00:42:19go too.
00:42:21Obviously it didn't take the King's secretary very long to point out to the monarch that this probably wasn't that
00:42:26good an idea.
00:42:26And the King then wrote to Churchill to say that,
00:42:30My dear Winston, I've been thinking a great deal of our conversation yesterday,
00:42:34and I've come to the conclusion that it would not be right for either you or I to be where
00:42:39we plan to be on D-Day.
00:42:40I very reluctantly come to the conclusion that the right thing to do is what normally falls to those at
00:42:46the top on such occasions,
00:42:48namely to remain at home and wait.
00:42:50I hope very much that you will see it in this light too.
00:42:54But Churchill wasn't that easily dissuaded.
00:42:56He decided that, well, if that's what the King was going to do, Churchill would go on his own.
00:43:01And it took a second letter from the monarch, effectively forbidding Churchill from doing it, to dissuade the Prime Minister.
00:43:09My dear Winston, I want to make one more appeal to you not to go to sea on D-Day.
00:43:14I am a sailor, and as King I am the head of all three services.
00:43:19There is nothing I would like better than to go to sea, but I have agreed to stay at home.
00:43:24Is it fair that you should then do exactly what I should have liked to do myself?
00:43:28I ask you most earnestly to consider the whole question again, and not let your personal wishes, which I very
00:43:35well understand,
00:43:36lead you to depart from your own high standard of duty to the state.
00:43:41Your very sincere friend, George.
00:43:44You can't really imagine any modern Prime Minister, can you, putting themselves in that kind of danger,
00:43:50or putting themselves in the war zone in such a perilous position.
00:43:54Perhaps that is why Churchill has become such an enduring figure.
00:44:10For Churchill, his greatest legacy will surely be the defeat of Hitler.
00:44:14He once said, if Hitler invaded hell, I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the
00:44:20House of Commons.
00:44:22Like all conflicts, World War II caused great pain and came at a great cost to both sides.
00:44:28So I am here in Germany to see what the name Churchill means to people in this country,
00:44:33and specifically to a group of men with a very interesting hobby here in Nuremberg.
00:44:45Atlantean Codex are a heavy metal band based in deepest Bavaria.
00:44:49They might not strike you as the usual type of admirer of Churchill,
00:44:53but they have immortalised one of his speeches in the way they know best.
00:44:57Their song, Twelve Stars and an Azure Gown, an Anthem for Europa,
00:45:02features recordings of Churchill's 1946 Zurich speech on the future of Europe,
00:45:07and his hope to unite countries in their common inheritance.
00:45:14I've come to their rehearsal studio to find out more.
00:45:26It's got to be enough.
00:45:34That was great.
00:45:36Fabulous.
00:45:37Hi.
00:45:37I'm Hugh, by the way.
00:45:39I'm Marcus. Nice to meet you.
00:45:40Marcus.
00:45:40Hello.
00:45:40Hi.
00:45:40I'm Hugh.
00:45:41Mario.
00:45:42How are you?
00:45:42Yeah.
00:45:43Hiya.
00:45:43I'm the only one who's not wearing black.
00:45:46I'm slightly alarmed by that.
00:45:47Hello.
00:45:47It's like a wedding.
00:45:48Hello.
00:45:52How are you doing?
00:45:53Yeah.
00:45:54Wow.
00:45:56Wow.
00:45:56So do you always sing in English?
00:46:00Yes, we do.
00:46:00You've used the speech of Churchill's.
00:46:03Yeah, that's right.
00:46:04That's right.
00:46:04We used the speech for Churchill for one of our songs on the last album.
00:46:08And whose idea was it to sample that speech?
00:46:11Well, the song was an idea of Florian and the lyrics are by Florian.
00:46:16I guess the idea to use the Churchill speech for the song was my idea.
00:46:20What issues do you think is still current then?
00:46:23Why is this speech sort of relevant still?
00:46:26First, I'd say the rise of fascism all over Europe.
00:46:29And secondly, the fact that most of the citizens of Europe don't perceive Europe as a cultural
00:46:39union but as a political and economical union.
00:46:43We're drifting apart rather than coming together.
00:46:45And I think that's what also inspired that song because we were stating that fact that
00:46:52there is a crisis but at the same time in the lyrics there's some sort of expression
00:46:56of hope.
00:46:56And how do audiences respond to it?
00:46:59As a German band using words for Winston Churchill might be pretty difficult for the crowd and
00:47:04for our fans but actually the people loved it because the words fit just so perfectly with
00:47:10the whole lyrics of the song so it went down pretty well with the crowds and actually at
00:47:17our current shows this is, well, the favourite song.
00:47:21I think it's a fantastic way of doing a speech.
00:47:24Absolutely.
00:47:24I wish to speak to you today.
00:47:27See?
00:47:28I could do that.
00:47:28You want to try it out in there, in the practice room?
00:47:30To do it, isn't it?
00:47:31Play with us?
00:47:31Yeah.
00:47:31Yeah.
00:47:32Thank goodness I'd had that lesson from Robert Hardy.
00:47:37This is so me.
00:47:39We noticed that.
00:47:41Yeah.
00:47:42Let's do that.
00:47:42Okay.
00:47:44Okay.
00:47:45I wish to speak to you today about the tragedy of Europe.
00:47:52Let's go.
00:47:53Let's go.
00:47:55Let's go.
00:48:06Let's go.
00:48:17Let's go.
00:48:24Let's go.
00:48:27Let's go.
00:48:29Let's go.
00:48:30Let's go.
00:48:51Let's go.
00:49:00Let's go.
00:49:02Thank you so much for letting me do my very poor Churchill impression.
00:49:06I don't think I can hear.
00:49:07I won't be able to hear for a while.
00:49:09Who's the one whose hand I can't shake because he's got a very bad cold over there?
00:49:13I'll just wave.
00:49:15Bye.
00:49:15Bye.
00:49:16Got something for you.
00:49:19Is it a hearing aid?
00:49:20No, no, it's not.
00:49:21To remind you of the German band who used the voice of Churchill.
00:49:24It's going to play in your car.
00:49:25That isn't going to play in my car, no.
00:49:27I don't think.
00:49:28Look at that.
00:49:28That will, though.
00:49:29I'm going to listen to that tomorrow.
00:49:31Thank you very much.
00:49:32Can you give me some play-out music?
00:49:34See you.
00:49:36Bye-bye.
00:49:43From Germany, I'm off to France, somewhere very comfortable celebrating Churchill's legacy.
00:49:54In 1947, the French awarded him the Medaille Militaire.
00:49:57They have streets named after him.
00:49:59And in 1998, a publicly funded Churchill statue was erected in Paris.
00:50:07But one celebration of his name would no doubt have been closer to his heart than any other.
00:50:11His own champagne.
00:50:15He apparently once said to his wife that he'd taken more out of alcohol than alcohol had taken out of
00:50:20him.
00:50:20But he had a lot of it.
00:50:22It's estimated by some that between 1908 and 1965, Winston drank 42,000 bottles of champagne.
00:50:30And he often had a pint of it with his lunch.
00:50:33His favourite was from here, on this road, the Avenue de Champagne.
00:50:39And he called it the most drinkable address in the world.
00:50:42Now, to celebrate the connection with him, its official address is the Rue de Winston Churchill.
00:50:48And it's the home of Paul Roger.
00:50:51Christian Paul Roger has agreed to meet me and tell me more about the famous connection.
00:50:56Hello.
00:50:57Hello.
00:50:58Welcome here.
00:50:59Best to hear you.
00:51:00I'm Hugh.
00:51:01Lovely.
00:51:03Paul Roger, no.
00:51:04Yeah.
00:51:04Paul Roger, no.
00:51:05It is still in the family?
00:51:06The business is still?
00:51:07Yes.
00:51:07It's one of the very few family companies still run and managed by Derek DeSantis and the founder.
00:51:14And we are very proud of that.
00:51:15And give us a total freedom to operate the way we want and to maintain that famous quality.
00:51:22Without which we would not be existing.
00:51:23And the all famous quality, of course, made you Winston Churchill's favourite champagne.
00:51:28Yes.
00:51:29He said, I need champagne to tease my brain when I have to write my speeches.
00:51:33And his favourite vintage has been 28, which has been then followed by 34 and 37.
00:51:40But we had, as you know, little problems after 37.
00:51:45And the situation improved after 40 and 44, thanks to Mr. Churchill.
00:51:51And here you've got a fantastic document.
00:51:53It's an invoice.
00:51:55Mr. Churchill, MP, Member of Parliament.
00:51:58I wanted to tell you something about him regarding the question we got from a journalist.
00:52:03Mr. Churchill, do you consider yourself as a rich man?
00:52:06He said, no, no, but never known a day when I could not afford buying a case of Paul Roger
00:52:13and offering another case to a friend.
00:52:16And because he likes your champagne so much, you've created a Winston Churchill champagne.
00:52:21We had that feeling it was a way to pay him a tribute for what he did for France.
00:52:28And he loves champagne so much that we approached the family with the idea of creating a cuvee that will
00:52:34be named after him.
00:52:37And when did you launch that?
00:52:38We did that in 84.
00:52:40At the time we celebrate 40 years anniversary of the D-Day.
00:52:43Oh, OK.
00:52:44So it's called...
00:52:45And does it sell well?
00:52:46Does it do well as a champagne?
00:52:48We never got enough.
00:52:49Oh, really?
00:52:50Which is...
00:52:51Am I able to try some?
00:52:53We'll...
00:52:54We'll manage.
00:52:55We'll organize that.
00:52:56It would be lovely.
00:52:58So that's the 2002.
00:53:00Oh, yes.
00:53:01Yeah.
00:53:02Churchill.
00:53:04When you taste champagne, do you taste it in the same way you taste wine?
00:53:07Or do you...?
00:53:08You start just to try to catch the flavors that comes out of that.
00:53:12The bubbles are playing the role of aromatic, aromatic loudspeaker.
00:53:15They, in fact, express the feelings, the very delicate feeling that you've got in the wine.
00:53:20And you look at the color.
00:53:22The color should be pale gold.
00:53:24When it's with age, it may just be darker.
00:53:26When it's younger than that, it may be slightly on the silver side.
00:53:30But it's lovely.
00:53:31And you assess those macroscopic bubbles climbing up to the surface.
00:53:37It's wonderful.
00:53:38And, last but not least, you sip it.
00:53:41Mmm.
00:53:47It's delicious.
00:53:49It's good.
00:53:49Isn't it?
00:53:50It's fantastically good, yeah.
00:53:51It makes me feel better.
00:53:52It makes me feel a lot better.
00:53:54Yes.
00:53:57Winston Churchill apparently once said,
00:53:59My tastes are simple.
00:54:01I am satisfied with the best.
00:54:03And no one could say that he had an abstemious lifestyle.
00:54:06He smoked, he liked to eat well, and he drank exceptionally well.
00:54:11In fact, he was almost the opposite of a modern politician.
00:54:14Modern politicians, of course, need to be seen jogging or cycling to work,
00:54:19even if there's a car behind them carrying their ministerial boxes.
00:54:23In fact, given his lifestyle, it's incredible, I think,
00:54:25that Winston Churchill achieved as much as he did.
00:54:28But with all the finery of his life, there came great responsibility.
00:54:33He had to make very difficult decisions.
00:54:35Some of them, very, very tough indeed.
00:54:44In 1940, immediately after the fall of France,
00:54:49Winston Churchill had to make one of the most difficult decisions of his career.
00:54:52And that was to sink the French navy at the port of Mers-el-Kabir,
00:54:58in what was then French Algeria, to stop it falling into German hands.
00:55:02It was a decision that would cost the lives of 1,300 French sailors,
00:55:08who, until that moment, had very firmly been on the Allied side.
00:55:13Not surprisingly, it's a very, very controversial decision.
00:55:17In France, it still splits opinion.
00:55:20Many regard it as completely unforgivable.
00:55:22And in Britain, too.
00:55:24But for some, it proved absolutely that Winston Churchill had got what it takes to leave Britain in wartime.
00:55:33But there is no doubt that Winston Churchill made mistakes.
00:55:37His decision to invade Gallipoli in 1915 was a disaster.
00:55:42And although we think of Dunkirk as a kind of success, militarily, too, that was calamitous.
00:55:50A calamitous failure, really.
00:55:52It's intriguing, though, that despite his flaws and his foibles and his failings,
00:55:59the legacy of Winston Churchill still endures today.
00:56:14On the 8th of May 1945, victory in Europe was declared,
00:56:19and Winston Churchill was the man of the hour.
00:56:23He addressed the nation in a broadcast.
00:56:26He then addressed the House of Commons.
00:56:28He went to a Thanksgiving service, and then he visited the King in Buckingham Palace.
00:56:36But his next stop was here.
00:56:38The balcony of what was then the Ministry of Health.
00:56:44Beneath him, the streets were lined with thousands of people.
00:56:48It was here he was to address them, minus, I hope, this very attractive pigeon fencer.
00:56:55The crowd were desperate to hear the words of their beloved and victorious Prime Minister.
00:57:00So he began.
00:57:02God bless you all, he said.
00:57:04This is your victory.
00:57:07But before he could continue, they roared back,
00:57:09No, it's yours.
00:57:13This is your victory.
00:57:18The victory of the cause of freedom.
00:57:23For many, that day in May 1945 sums up Winston Churchill.
00:57:29It was the pinnacle of his career.
00:57:30It was his finest moment.
00:57:32He was a beloved Prime Minister who, through his own indomitable spirit,
00:57:37had become victorious in war.
00:57:40And yet, just a few weeks later, both he and his party were voted out in a general election.
00:57:49And it wasn't until 1951 that he came back as Prime Minister.
00:57:53And even then, it was only for three and a half years.
00:57:56He finally retired from politics altogether in 1964.
00:57:59And just three months after that, he was gone.
00:58:06One of Winston Churchill's dying wishes was that there should be no more statues of him.
00:58:11He thought there were quite enough of those already.
00:58:13So instead, a memorial trust was established, which welcomed public donations.
00:58:19And they reached the rather staggering figure of £2.8 million,
00:58:22which is the equivalent of about £48 million today.
00:58:27So the purpose of the trust was to perpetuate and honour the memory of Winston Churchill
00:58:33by establishing these things called Churchill Fellowships,
00:58:36which would be available to men and women who wanted to travel to gain insight and knowledge into their chosen
00:58:42field.
00:58:45Julie Stokes applied for her fellowship in 1992.
00:58:48She used the knowledge she'd gained to set up the charity Winston's Wish,
00:58:53which offers support to children who suffered bereavement here in the UK.
00:58:57This is the hub. This is where we see children whose mums, dad, brothers, sisters have died or are seriously
00:59:03ill.
00:59:04We have a helpline here. The team go out, they meet children, sometimes children come in.
00:59:09So this is your idea? So this is your legacy?
00:59:13Well, technically, I think this is Churchill's legacy, actually.
00:59:15I did the Churchill Fellowship, but hugely helped by an amazing bunch of people
00:59:20who all just came together at the right time.
00:59:23And how many children do you see a year, do you think?
00:59:25Well, I think the team now, with all the different ways in which we work,
00:59:29the educational agenda, the helpline, the face-to-face work,
00:59:33we're reaching about 30,000 children a year.
00:59:38Julie wanted me to see some of the work that goes on here at Winston's Wish,
00:59:42and so she invited me to meet Gemma, a senior practitioner for the charity,
00:59:47and Martina, a teenage girl who two years ago lost her brother.
00:59:51So what are you doing here?
00:59:52I'm making a memory jar for my brother.
00:59:55You pick a few colours and you write down what they mean to you,
01:00:00and then you get salt and chalk and you just add colour to the salt.
01:00:07And then after you're done, you just dip everything in here.
01:00:12So what do these colours mean for you?
01:00:15Green is fun, yellow is love, pink is support, orange is my family,
01:00:21and purple is all the memories.
01:00:24And green is to be the biggest of the colours, doesn't it?
01:00:28So you had a lot of fun with your brother?
01:00:29Yeah.
01:00:31And was he older than you or was he younger than you?
01:00:33Yeah, he was older than me. He'd be 18.
01:00:36Oh, wow. And what did you do when you had fun with him?
01:00:40Um, we used to pretend to fight because he wanted to become a wrestler when he grew up.
01:00:48So, was that fun?
01:00:50Well, I found it fun.
01:00:53Oh, that's lovely.
01:00:54So do you think that Winston's wishes helped you?
01:00:56Yeah, they have.
01:00:59But it's a sort of, it's a process, so how long have you been kind of working with them?
01:01:04About two years now.
01:01:06And how do you feel different now from the way you did?
01:01:09Well, I don't cry that much, to be honest, anymore.
01:01:13And they, I've learnt how to, like, live with it.
01:01:18Martina will start making her memory jars.
01:01:24I would already have got most of this on the table, by the way.
01:01:42There you go.
01:01:43So where will you keep that jar?
01:01:45I usually keep it on my bedside table.
01:01:49And look at it and think about it.
01:01:51Yeah.
01:01:52Lovely to meet you. And thank you very much.
01:01:54Thank you very much.
01:01:55OK. Bye-bye.
01:02:07Well, I genuinely found that very moving, listening to those stories,
01:02:11and seeing how Winston's wish helps bereaved children across the UK.
01:02:15And I think for a man who disapproved of, you know,
01:02:18there being more statues of himself because he regarded them as rather pointless,
01:02:22this is really a legacy of which Winston would be very proud.
01:02:32One of the first things you notice when you look into the life and works of Winston Churchill is just
01:02:37the sheer amount of stuff that he got through.
01:02:40He was Prime Minister twice.
01:02:43He won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
01:02:46He was Time Magazine's Man of the Year and Man of the Half Century.
01:02:51He won countless military honours.
01:02:53He got a knighthood.
01:02:54The list is absolutely endless.
01:02:56It was a remarkable life and a remarkable career.
01:03:00Absolutely fantastic Prime Minister.
01:03:02Brought us through some tough times.
01:03:04Inspirational.
01:03:05He was Britain's greatest wartime leader.
01:03:07He's an inspiration to others.
01:03:08I think we owe a huge debt of gratitude for him.
01:03:13Without the man, I don't feel we'd all be stood here.
01:03:16On his 75th birthday, Churchill said,
01:03:19I am ready to meet my maker.
01:03:22Whether my maker is ready for the ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
01:03:26His maker had another 15 years to get ready.
01:03:30Churchill lived to be 90 years old and died exactly 70 years to the day after his father.
01:03:35And he is buried here in the village of Bladen in Oxfordshire.
01:03:39When I stood in the back garden of our house in 1965 and I looked up,
01:03:45I had no real idea what I was looking at.
01:03:48I had no idea of the influence that Winston Churchill had had on this country
01:03:52or on the rest of the world.
01:03:55And I had no idea that some 50 years later,
01:03:58I'd get the chance to look at his life and his legacy
01:04:01and to meet some remarkable people with a unique connection to the man.
01:04:07I've met people who spent time with him,
01:04:09worked for him,
01:04:10and who even effectively became him.
01:04:14I've met people who studied him,
01:04:16Germans who sampled him,
01:04:17and those who've been inspired by him.
01:04:20People who dressed him,
01:04:23provided him with hats,
01:04:25encapsulate his name into bubbles,
01:04:28and used his memorial trust to start a remarkable charity.
01:04:33And I don't know quite what I was expecting to find out
01:04:36from all those people and the stories that they told,
01:04:40but what struck me really is just a range of things in his life
01:04:46that have inspired people.
01:04:48And even now,
01:04:49this is remarkable really,
01:04:5250 years later,
01:04:53people are still leaving flowers and notes on his grove.
01:04:58This message here is from a 13 year old child,
01:05:02who says,
01:05:04thank you for the freedom that I have today.
01:05:07Probably done it in history at school,
01:05:10but inspired by the man.
01:05:12But for me, I think,
01:05:15what I love about him,
01:05:17is the fact that he was brilliant,
01:05:19but he was so flawed.
01:05:22Every time that he failed,
01:05:25and he failed an enormous number of times in Gallipoli,
01:05:28and various decisions he made as a politician.
01:05:30He just dusted himself down,
01:05:32and he got on with it again.
01:05:33And that's something I think we could all do.
01:05:36It's something that you can apply to any aspect of your own life.
01:05:40He lived by his own words, effectively.
01:05:43Never give in.
01:05:45And that is why the legacy of Winston Spencer Churchill
01:05:49is going to last a very long time.
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