Time Magazine's Man of the Half-Century

BACK about 20 years ago, I was in England, sort of loitering around. One day, I found myself outside Blenheim Palace.
One of the features about the magnificent building was its massive library. I have always love books and anything that has anything to do with books. The sight of the stupendous multi-tiered book shelves took my breath away.
"This guy was certainly born rich," I told myself. Blenheim Palace was Winston Churchill's birth home. Its grounds are magnificent. Even the grass looks like a massive Persian green carpet.
Can anyone be any richer? I asked myself again. Churchill was related to the famous Duke of Malborough who was reported never to have lost a single battle.
Back to the man of that hour - Winston Spenser Churchill, who was born to be great. Before Blenheim, Churchill was just that craggy-faced Brit who looked like a bulldog or had a bulldog tenacity as the media had reported him to be.
Outside Blenheim Palace, I stumbled onto a souvenir shop and some books on Churchill were on sale. Since, my pockets were generally empty, I bought a paperback entitled "My Early Years by Winston Churchill". That night, I returned to my room and started reading the paperback.
By the time, I finished the book I became thoroughly fascinated by this Englishman who had died in 1965 at the age of 95. What a fantastic life he led.
One of Churchill's strongest points was his ability to convince his countrymen to fight on despite overwhelming odds. Churchill was labelled as Britain's Last Lion. His roar could be heard through the war years.
He rallied frightened citizens to fight for survival, to fight on until victory is ensured and then on achieving victory, be maganimous about the whole triumph.
Since that visit to Blenheim Palace, I have read most of Churchill's books. He writes with a force and a passion that holds the reader right up to its fateful end.
I can understand why Britain is so proud of her famous son. It's true that Churchill at the end of the day is still a man but what a character he was.
He had his faults, weaknesses just like you and I, the only difference was he overcame all his shortcomings and rose to the occasion and kept his many dates with destiny. Churchill really believed he was meant to feature prominently in the Second World War.
When the war started, Churchill was almost immediately appointed the Prime Minister of Britain. He said he felt as if his entire life was a major preparation for that hour and that time. And he was right.
His encouraging words, his fighting messages and his bulldog determination fired the imagination of all of England and gave his countrymen courage "to fight on for years if necessary, and if necessary, alone". Such were the power of those words that even I was stirred when I first read them.
Today, Winston Churchill continues to be an icon or symbol for Britain's fighting spirit. In desperate times when the shadow of darkness and evil descended on Europe, Churchill walked right through the heart of darkness and fear and led his people through.
After the Battle of Britain, he said those famous words: "Never in the field of human conflict, have so many owed so much to so few (referring to the British pilots)."
Indeed when Churchill's war years could be described in his own words as "Britain's finest hour".
Without sounding over sentimental, it is my personal opinion that Winston Churchill is one of Britain's brightest shining lights in modern times. I continue to follow the man through his books and books written about him.