The Churchill Series - Dec. 13, 2005

(One of a series of daily posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

Vanity Fair's July 10, 1900 issue contained a character sketch of one of the heroes of the Boar War, twenty-five year old Winston Churchill.

On publication date, Churchill was aboard ship returning to England from South Africa, and planning at least two books and a campaign for a seat in Parliament.

Churchill's son and biographer, Randolph Churchill, shares this from the Vanity Fair sketch:

(Churchill) is a clever fellow who has the courage of his convictions.
...
He can write and he can fight.
...
(He has) hankered after politics since he was a small boy, and it is probable that his every effort, military or literary, has been made with political bent. He is something of a sportsman who prides himself on being practical rather than a dandy.

He means to get on and he loves his country. But he can hardly be the slave of any party.

Vanity Fair knew its man.
________________________________________________________________________________ Randolph S. Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Youth. (following p. 440)