And the oranges and cigars.

That's what he survived on for the first few days that he was in Cuba in November of 1895.

Now this is slightly exaggerated of course,

but it paints a colorful picture of Winston Churchill's

arrival in Havana, Cuba, when he was just 20 years old.

And it was on this trip, in fact, that Churchill's obsession with cigars,

specifically Cuban cigars, began. And he especially grew to love the brands Romeo Ihulietta and

La Aaroma de Cuba. And forgive the pathetic Spanish accent, but I will always try.

Now Churchill had come to Cuba as a military observer in the lead up to the Spanish-American War,

and this would be the same war where Theodore Roosevelt would find glory just three years later.

And just like Roosevelt, Churchill sought out action at every possible turn. He was never one to sit on the sidelines as you'll

soon hear. And Cuba at this time was a place of action. Churchill wrote of this time that Cuba was a place where, quote,

real things were going on. Here was a scene of vital action. Here was a place

where anything might happen, here I might leave my bones."

And that is almost exactly what happened.

On November 30th of 1895, Winston Churchill almost joined the ranks of those rare historical figures

who died on their birthday.

Now William Shakespeare is perhaps the most famous individual on that short list,

with most scholars pinning his date of birth to April 23rd of 1564 and his death on

April 23rd of 1616 aged 52 and that idea of dying on your birthday that's just such a wild thought to me. And again, it almost happened to Churchill. But while Churchill was technically in Cuba as a military observer, putting it simply somebody

who travels to places where conflicts have broken out just to see what's going on, so to speak,

and perhaps report out, Churchill could not resist joining in the fight.

...