Winston Churchill: From Failures to Finest Hour
Warfare
History Hit
4.5 • 943 Ratings
🗓️ 30 March 2022
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Whilst Churchill is best remembered for his achievements during the dark days of the Second World War, much of the rest of his career had much more to do with failure than success. Geoffrey Wheatcroft, journalist and author of 'Churchill's Shadow: An Astonishing Life and a Dangerous Legacy', joins Dan for this episode from the archive. They discuss Geoffrey's radical reappraisal of Churchill's life and work and the myth that continues to shape our view of one of the most complex figures of the 20th Century.
For more about the Second World War, check out History Hit's new original 'The Traces of War: The Battle for France' which includes Warfare's own James Rogers.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Winston Churchill is often cited as one of the greatest figures of history. |
| 0:05.0 | Even today leaders deemed worthy of heroic recognition like Ukrainian President |
| 0:10.4 | Zilinsky are compared to the Great Man. Yet whilst Winston Churchill's achievements |
| 0:16.1 | during the dark days of the Second World War are unquestionable, much of the rest of his career |
| 0:21.8 | had more to do with failure than success. |
| 0:25.0 | To find out more, I've dug deep into the History Hit Archive to bring you an episode with Jeffrey Wheatcroft. |
| 0:31.0 | Jeffrey is a journalist who is the author of a new book, Churchill's Shadow, |
| 0:36.7 | an astonishing life and a dangerous legacy. I know you're going to find this episode fascinating and if you want more on the Second World War, |
| 0:45.4 | then click the links in the show notes to take you to our brand new TV series on history hit TV with me called Traces of War and here you can follow me |
| 0:56.0 | around Europe as I unearth hidden and secret sites from World War II but now |
| 1:02.4 | here is Jeffrey Wheatcroft on Winston Churchill. |
| 1:05.7 | Enjoy. Jeffrey, thank you very much for coming on. |
| 1:22.6 | I'm delighted to be here. |
| 1:24.0 | This is very naughty. I'm having you on the podcast to say things about Winston Churchill voted number one Britain of all time. |
| 1:31.0 | Am I going to be cancelled? |
| 1:33.0 | You never know. |
| 1:34.4 | I mean, it's a risk we all take nowadays, oh wait. |
| 1:38.8 | Sorry. |
| 1:39.8 | The historiography of Churchill is so interesting, because actually it was not a very controversial view at all to hold before the Second World Board that Churchill was a |
| 1:45.0 | a dangerous chance, was it? I mean, it was that sort of extraordinary moment in |
| 1:50.8 | 1940 that means that most people can't lay a glove on him. |
| 1:54.0 | There is a brilliant description by a great historian which is really the scene of the first part of my book. |
... |
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