ABSTRACT
In 1908, Winston Churchill found himself on the frontline of politics. He participated in two hard-fought by-elections that year. In April, he was defeated in the constituency of Manchester North West by ‘an obscure and ineffectual nobody’. Churchill’s monument in Parliament Square is almost exactly as old as the author, having been unveiled on November 1, 1973, two weeks after he/she was born. It is situated in the square’s north-east quadrant at the juncture of Whitehall and Westminster Bridge, directly opposite Big Ben. This prime location is intended to convey the unmistakeable impression that Churchill is the ‘cardinal figure in history’. He had no qualms about becoming chief among ‘exalted statues’. Whilst it is possible to credit Churchill with winning the Second World War, the nature of his contribution to the one that preceded it is less clear-cut. This is evident in H. G. Wells’ adulatory article mentioned earlier.
