Winston Leonard Spencer Chur-chill, British statesman, was the first man to be made an honorary citizen of the U.S. (by an act of Congress, April 9, 1963). He was born (prematurely) on Nov. 30, 1874, at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, Eng-land.

Churchill is one of the most beloved Brits for the following reasons:

1. He was full of curmudgeonly quips (i.e. “Winston, if you were my husband, I’d poison your tea.� “Lady Astor, If you were my wife, I’d drink it.�)

2. He knew Hitler was gonna be a big problem before anyone else did, at least according to his own history on the war.

2a. Once it became apparent he was right, he became Prime Minister and held down the fort until the U.S. got in on the action in 1941, all the while delivering inspiring speeches (“We shall never surrender!�), and always making time for a nap.

3. His mom was from Brooklyn!

That’s right, Winston’s mum, Jenny Jerome, was an American, born and bred in Brooklyn. Cobble Hill to be precise.

In 1953, it made front page news in the Eagle when Winston came to Brooklyn to visit her birthplace. He reportedly called it “a very moving occasion.� Jennie Jerome, a wealthy socialite, was born at 197 Amity St., near the corner of Court Street in the Cobble Hill area of Brooklyn.

But Winston grew up far from the brownstones of Brooklyn in a 320-room castle. His father was Lord Randolph Henry Spencer Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough. Lord Randolph had met Jerome in Paris while she was attending “finishing� school there.

In spite of the fact that Winston stuttered as a child and barely got into military college, he distinguished himself as a soldier in several wars, and entered Parliament at 26. When World War II came to Britain in 1939, his authority and oratory as Prime Minister turned the tide.

Perhaps the greatest example of Churchill’s grit is his June 4, 1940, speech following the evacuation of trapped Allied forces from the beach of Dunkirk: “We shall not flag nor fail. We shall go on to the end … We shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air; we shall defend our island whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.�

With his wife Clementine at his side for 57 years, Churchill lived on to rail against the Soviet threat (coining the term Iron Curtain) and to earn a Nobel Prize for his volumes of biography and history. Churchill once received a cable from President Franklin D. Roosevelt: “It’s fun to be in the same decade with you.�

Churchill’s father died in 1895. Churchill’s mother lived until 1921, remarried twice, and even acted in a movie. Jennie Jerome Churchill was known as a beautiful, shallow, selfish, diamond-studded panther of a woman. When Winston grew to manhood, she found him “interesting,� as she put it, but she didn’t like children. Instead she enjoyed parties, social intrigue and romantic adventures. When Winston’s vacation times came while he was in school, Jennie would send him to France, promising him a week at home when he returned and then breaking the promise.

Churchill’s death on Jan. 24, 1965, in London, England after declining ill-health was followed by a state funeral, at which dignitaries from all over the world paid their respects. In his last years he was often described as “the greatest living Englishman.� He achieved a world reputation not only as a gifted strategist and inspiring war leader, but as a great orator; a talented painter and a stylish writer with a profound sense of history.

— Vernon Parker and P. Neidl

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