Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill is best remembered as the Prime Minister of Great Britain during World War II. He served his country in a variety of ways, holding many high offices of state under four different prime ministers, as a member of Parliament for more than 60 years, and for serving two terms as prime minister. He was born at Blenheim Palace on November 30, 1874, and educated at Harrow and Sandhurst. His military service included periods spent in Cuba, India, the Sudan, and in France during World War I. Churchill's writing career began with pieces written for British newspapers while in the military. Some of his most famous works include Marlborough, a four-volume biography… of his ancestor, the 1st Duke of Marlborough; The World Crisis, a four-volume history of World War I; The Second World War, a six-volume history; and A History of the English Speaking Peoples, a six-volume work was completed toward the end of his life. In 1953, Churchill received the Nobel Prize for Literature, in recognition of his extensive writing as well as for his speeches throughout a long, distinguished career as a statesman. That same year, Queen Elizabeth II knighted Winston Churchill. Winston Churchill died on January 24, 1965, at the age of 70.
Martin Gilbert, 1936 - Martin Gilbert was born in London in 1936 to a jeweler. He was sent to Canada at the age of 3 and a half in an effort to escape the war, but was returned home soon thereafter. He attended Highgate School from 1945 til 1954. Gilbert then joined the British Army for a few years, and went on to Magdalen College at Oxford. He graduated from Oxford in 1960 and wrote his first book, called "The Appeasers." In 1961, after a year of research and writing, Gilbert was asked to join a team of researchers working for Winston Churchill. At the age of 25, he was formally inducted into the team, doing all of his own research. Gilbert became known as Churchill's official biographer… and has remained so for thirty years. He is a fellow of Oxford College at Merton and has written over 40 books, some on Churchill, such as his multivolume treatise called "Churchill" as well as books on the Holocaust, "Surviving the Holocaust" and books on the war itself, "The Second World War." Long after Churchill died, Gilbert chronicled his efforts in the war and in making the world a better place for all her people to exist. He continues to write on the struggles of Jews during the war and the histories of this world, from culture to culture.