Winston Churchill was born on November 30, 1874, at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England. His mother was American and his grandfather was the 7th Duke of Marlborough. He was an indifferent student and joined the army as a lieutenant under Queen Victoria in 1895. Sent to India, he took leave to cover the fighting in Malakand, which resulted in his first published work. In 1899, he resigned and ran for parliament as a conservative from Oldham. He lost.
He went to South Africa for the Boer War in 1899, was captured, and escaped. Returning to England, he was elected MP by Oldham. In 1911, Herbert Asquith appointed him First Lord of the Admiralty. He had the fleet ready when war broke out in 1914, but was blamed for the disaster at Gallipoli and resigned from the admiralty. He became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1924, but from 1929 to 1939, he held no cabinet post. Churchill's conduct during World War II made him a hero, but the Conservatives lost in 1945 elections. He became Prime Minister again in 1951. Elizabeth II knighted him in 1953. He retired as PM in 1955, did not run for MP in 1964 and died in 1965.
