The Legacy of Winston Churchill - Professor Vernon Bogdanor

Was Winston Churchill the greatest statesman that Britain has ever known, or are his achievements magnified through the lens of his leadership in WW2? Professor Bogdanor discusses Churchill’s life and work: Winston Churchill died in January 1965, having entered Parliament 65 years earlier (1900) - becoming a Cabinet minister in 1908. By the late 1930s, he had twice changed parties, was widely distrusted, and believed his career a failure. Yet, in 1940, he became the symbol of national unity. He seems remote from us today, but he remains at the heart of the debate on Britain’s role in the world. Will he be regarded as pointing the way to the future or as a grandiose final chord, the prelude to the collapse of British power? The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: