Winston Churchill: Some Rare Pictures

The bowler hat momentarily replaced by a steel helmet Churchill is relaxed and smiling in a bomb shelter as the RAF and the Luftwaffe battled over Dover.

In the harsh summer of 1940 few nations were blessed as Britain was in difficult times. In new Prime Minister Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, the country had a leader whose style, temperament and experience made him the ideal leader for times of war, the most suitable man to take charge of a country badly beaten, at a time when Luftwaffe's Reich Marshal Hermann Goring was preparing to attack Britain to force it to surrender.

Churchill loved the power and control and also a good fight. He was extremely energetic and competitive and always kept up with a  variety of hobbies such as painting, polo, hunting and writing. As a boy at Harrow, he stubbornly refused to learn Latin and mathematics. Then he went to the Sandhurst military academy, served as an officer enthusiast in India and occupied a seat in parliament at the age of 26. In 1911 when he was just 37 years old Churchill became the top leader of the Royal Navy.

Churchill was also a shrewd opportunist who during his political career, who did not care to switch parties .  Finally he was selfish and extravagant, lover of elegant clothes and bright hats, for whom the megalomania was the only way to protect his sanity.

In part as he liked to draw attention, as Prime Minister Churchill frequently and deliberately took personal risks.  But people admired him for it, and admired his disdain toward the danger. Once when a German bomb fell near his car and was about to overturn it he managed to joke, "That should be my kilos which kept the car straight."

In 1889 a student from Harrow, Winston Churchill then 15 years of age is portrayed with mandatory school uniform, jackets, cane and all.

An unflappable Lt. Churchill poses astride his favorite horse during his time of military service in India 1896, with the Hussars of the Queen.

Member of the government at the age of 35 years  Churchill (with white cap) shakes hands with his host, Kaiser Wilhelm during military maneuvers in Germany in 1909

Churchill stands next to Allied officers in France in 1915. He was a infantry battalion commander there

Churchill poses next to a biplane after completing a flight of 200 miles in 1914.  An impetuous and extremely lucky pilot, he once crashed but escaped unhurt.

With Clementine his wife, Churchill doffs his hat during an unsuccessful campaign for Parliament as an independent candidate in 1924

On holiday in France in 1927 as finance minister Churchill drinks some brandy  before a wild boar hunt

Churchill rides against the Prince of Wales during a polo match in 1924. While serving as a trooper in India he won a trophy with his team and remained an excellent polo player even in his fifties.

With his white hat and overall Churchill the artist paints a picture at the French Riviera in 1935.

At the beginning of World War II, as First Lord of Admiralty, Churchill talks with army officers of the British expeditionary force.

Recently appointed Prime Minister Churchill studies maps of war with Admiral Ramsay Bretram in September 1940, during an inspection tour of the defenses along the south coast of Great Britain.

Churchill with British soldiers in southern coastal area of Britain which was expected to face the brunt of the German attack

Officers and sailors of a battle cruiser anchored at a port in northern Britain give three cheers to their prime minister

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