E36: Choose one modern or historical person you most admire and justify your choice

Sir Winston Churchill, 1874 to 1965 (I think!). At any rate, I was stationed at Woolwich when the great man died, and the Royal Artillery had the task of organizing the funeral at St Paul's Cathedral. It was called 'Exercise Hope-Not' and it went into action at once, proving to be the greatest state funeral of the century, monarchs included. And not without good reason. Churchill inspired Britain to bring about the defeat of Adolf Hitler, at the time when all seemed to be lost.

Churchill was a descendant of the great Duke of Marlborough, and was born at Blenheim Palace in 1874. He was sent to Harrow School where, for obvious reasons, he was very unhappy. His parents, Lord Randolph Churchill and Jenny Jerome took him away at a quite early age. The problem was the severe canings administered by one or two of the masters, ostensibly for academic shortcomings. In fact, it was likely that the masters concerned were sadists.

In 1895 he was commissioned in the 4th Hussars, and he saw active service in several minor wars. One was the Boer War, in which he was war correspondent for the Morning Post. He had already developed a fine command of the English language. Imprisoned in Pretoria, he made a dramatic escape. In 1900 he became Conservative MP for Oldham but, disagreeing with Neville Chamberlain about tariff reform, he joined the Liberals. In 1908 he became President of the Board of Trade under Asquith and brought in legislation which created labor exchanges.

In 1910 he became Home Secretary, and authorized the use of troops against armed gangsters in the Sydney Street riots. In 1911 he became First Lord of the Admiralty, and he put the fleet into a state of readiness for war. His participation in the Dardanelles campaign was a failure. From 1914 - 16 he served as a lieutenant-colonel in the trenches (First World War) and then became Minister of Munitions under Lloyd George in 1917, his main role being the development of the tank. From 1918 - 21 he was Secretary for War, and then he became Colonial Secretary, establishing the Irish Free State. He also supported the 'white generals' in Russia.
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Source: www.englishdaily626.com