Beginning Churchill's life
Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born on November 30, 1874. He was not born like
all children. His mother, a beautiful, lively, fun-loving woman, on November 30, 1874,
against the advice of her family, decided to take part in the ball, which the Duke of
Marlborough gave in his ancestral palace Blenheim. In the middle of the evening, Lady
Churchill suddenly felt ill, and they barely managed to bring her to one of the nearest
rooms, which on the occasion of the ball was turned into a ladies' dressing room. In this
unusual setting - on piles of coats, hats and boas - Winston Churchill was born. The child was
red. With a dull and upturned nose, he resembled his ancestors from the Marlboro family.
Winston grew up in his father's London home, placed in the care of a nanny named Everest.
The young parents had no time for him. According to the traditions that existed in England
at that time, the people of this circle did not themselves raise their children. Winston grew
up essentially unaware of his parents, and became more and more attached to the nanny,
whom he loved dearly until her death. Subsequently, when Churchill was a major
statesman, the portrait of the nanny was always in his office. He grew up a strong, but far
from beautiful child. The boy had a major speech impairment: he stuttered and lisped.
However, he was a terrible chatterbox and talked almost incessantly since he learned to
pronounce the words. Winston was distinguished by excessive self-confidence and
stubbornness. These qualities increased as the boy grew older.
From the very beginning, Winston showed a complete reluctance to learn the way all
children learn. He had an excellent memory, but he learned easily and quickly only what
interested him. Whatever he didn’t like, he categorically didn’t want to teach. Subsequently,
Winston himself admitted that he was an extremely poor student. Having disliked numbers
from the very first days of school, he never came to terms with mathematics. Winston hated
classical languages and, over the years of study, learned only the alphabet from Latin and
Greek, and even then not very firmly. But he loved English and knew it well.
Little Winnie lived a rather difficult life. At the age of seven he was sent to a closed
preparatory school in Ascot. It was a fashionable and very expensive school, adhering to its
traditions. Winnie had a very difficult time here. A few years later, he was transferred to
Harrow High School. Winston's failures in school deeply grieved his parents. The father
came to the conclusion that his son was not smart enough to make a legal career, and
therefore, in his last years at Harrow, Winston studied in classes that prepare students for
admission to military school. After two unsuccessful attempts to enter Sandhurst High
School in August 1893, he was nevertheless enrolled in the school.