October 12, 2018 ▸ History, People

Episode 338: Winston Churchill: Legendary, Racist, British Hero!

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On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we take a jump across the pond and talk about one of the most important politicians who ever lived, the original British Bulldog, Winston Churchill. Many credit him with playing a major role in the victory over Nazi Germany, and others accuse him of causing the death of millions of Indians and being a drunken racist. Maybe both? You listen, you decide.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was born to Lord Randolph Churchill in a very upper class family. He was said to be a scatterbrained child, always tardy and fairly bad at school, but when he was able to take up rifles, he started to excel. Eventually, he went on to a distinguished military career, even being an action hero and breaking out of a war camp and travelling 300 miles across enemy lines to find a safe border to cross.

Back in England, he began a political career which came to a head as he was one of the most vocal naysayers about Hitler’s rise to power. Eventually, on the eve of World War II, King George appointed him as the prime minister, and the war was then started in earnest. Churchill is said to have been the main reason the Brits were able to rescue the 300,000 soldiers stranded at Dunkirk. He was also responsible for ruthless actions such as the sinking of the allied French fleet, so it wouldn’t fall into Nazi hands.

Did Winston Churchill know about the bombing that devastated Coventry, and if he did, why did he keep it a secret? How big of a partier and drinker was he? How bad was his debt, and why did the government and other political donors have to pay his bills for him? How did he die? What did he think of Gandhi? What was up with his velvet onesies? Listen, laugh, learn.

Link about the Coventry Conspiracy: https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/myths/churchill-let-coventry-burn/