Winston Churchill Speech

Winston Churchill is widely considered to be one of the greatest speakers of the 20th century. Among his most famous speeches were those in 1940 when Churchill rallied a nation with his words and optimism.

A hush fell over the crowded Chamber as Churchill took his place at a lectern bristling with microphones. Three national radio stations broadcast his speech live, and two others delivered it overseas via shortwave radio. Powerful overhead lamps illuminated the otherwise dimly lit Senate Chamber. Newsreel cameras began to roll, recording every word for posterity.5

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"We shall fight on the beaches" was a speech delivered by the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 4 June 1940. This was the second of three major speeches given around the period of the Battle of France; the others are the "Blood, toil, tears and sweat" speech of 13 May 1940, and the "This was their finest hour" speech of 18 June 1940. Events developed dramatically over the five-week period, and although broadly similar in themes, each speech addressed a different military and diplomatic context.

Therefore, when talking about the future course and conduct of the war in this speech, Churchill had to describe a great military disaster, and warn of a possible German invasion attempt, without casting doubt on eventual victory. He needed to prepare his domestic audience for France's departure from the war without in any way releasing France to do so. In his subsequent speech of 18 June, immediately after the French had sued for peace, Churchill said:

It is said that immediately after giving the speech, Churchill muttered to a colleague, "And we'll fight them with the butt ends of broken beer bottles because that's bloody well all we've got!"[13] Nonetheless, Churchill impressed his listeners and the speech was immediately recognised to be historic. Jock Colville, one of Churchill's secretaries, noted in his diary "A magnificent oration, which obviously moved the House."[14] Chips Channon, a Conservative MP, wrote in his diary "he was eloquent and oratorical and used magnificent English; several Labour members cried."[15] A Labour MP, Josiah Wedgwood, friend and admirer of Churchill since the Dardanelles campaign, wrote to him, "My dear Winston. That was worth 1,000 guns and the speeches of 1,000 years."[16]

Unlike his subsequent This was their finest hour speech, Churchill's 4 June speech in the House of Commons was not repeated by him as a live radio broadcast that evening. Rather, as with his earlier Blood, toil, tears and sweat speech, extracts were read by the newsreader on that evening's BBC news broadcast.[17][18] They made a great impression on Vita Sackville-West:

No audio record was made at the time of the original speech; Churchill only produced an audio recording in 1949, by repeating his previous oration. Despite this, many people after the war misremembered that they had heard Churchill speaking on the radio in 1940 when all there had been were BBC news reports that quoted his words.[21] In 1984, English heavy metal band Iron Maiden mixed a section of this recording[22] at the beginning of the video for their song "Aces High", which is inspired by the Battle of Britain, also using the recording as the introduction to the song when performed on stage, Iron Maiden also use this section as a beginning for many live shows namely during their 1984 World Slavery Tour. In "Fool's Overture", the closing track of Supertramp's 1977 album Even in the Quietest Moments..., some excerpts of the speech are heard along with London's Big Ben chiming.[23]

Few people, when they hear the speech on radio or TV documentaries, are aware that they are listening to Churchill speaking not in 1940 but nine years later.Strangely, though, there is a popular myth that the speech was broadcast at the time, not by Churchill himself, but by an actor, Norman Shelley. Shelley did make a phonograph recording of a different Churchill speech in the aftermath of the 1942 victory at El Alamein although what use was made of it, if any, is unknown. He never claimed to have impersonated the Prime Minister over the airwaves, and though many historians have pointed out that the story is false, it seems impossible to kill it.

To make note of the complexity of the origins and responses to this wonderful speech by no means implies criticism of Churchill. Rather, it prompts us to rethink the factors that contributed to his oratorical success. He did not merely provide uplifting soundbites; he presented a factual and reasoned case, provided the public with new information and, crucially, provided them with the context necessary to understand it. He was willing to run the risk of depressing his audience if this would serve the greater purpose of bringing them into contact with reality; he did not attempt to win easy popularity by providing false hope. He followed this formula throughout the war, not always with complete success in terms of audience response, but with the ultimate achievement of establishing his credibility as someone who would deliver the facts no matter how unpalatable they might be. This is a lesson which modern orators will do well to follow.

I recently came across this whilst researching a speck of my own and it was certainly eye opening to see that this speech as heard today occurred some 9 years after the event. It also gives a lesson in context and the message that can be derived based on who is listening ( as per the Americans comment ).

I heard this speech as a child on the radio. He was an inspiring man and kept us going with his

words. He will long be remembered in history.

I am 86 and was 11 when I heard on the radio from Chamberlain that we wre at war with Germany.

I remember my mum and dad coming in from work and holding each other and mum crying.

There was talk of sending us to canada to family there but my mum and dad said no, we were a '

family and would stick together at home.

We had air raids on my home city of York. I remember the wail of the sirens and sitting under the dining table in our appartment over a garage we lived in. I walked with my brother to look around next morning and saw the bomb damage in the city.

We dont war again, it is a dreadful thing and I hope that the world leaders will all work to keep us at peace.

After the evacuation of Dunkirk was complete, Churchill had a very specific tone to strike in his speech on June 4. He also had to address a reluctant ally in the United States: Franklin Roosevelt. Much of the American public was still hesitant to get involved in the war, and Roosevelt was trying not to anger the isolationists as he mounted a re-election campaign. But Churchill nevertheless saw an opportunity to make an appeal.

The practice of having an outside commencement speaker at the University began sometime in the early 20th century. During the 1970s and 80s, speeches came from recipients of honorary degrees. In the late 1980s, the practice of having a commencement address was revived, although the address was typically given near the end or middle of the ceremony instead of at the beginning.

This is Churchill's draft for one of his most famous pieces of oratory. His speech of June 18, 1940, delivered first in the House of Commons and then broadcast to the Nation, occurred against the backdrop of the fall of France, one of the darkest moments in British history. Churchill did not flinch from admitting the severity of the situation, but he turned it into a roar of determination and defiance.

September 1940 was a key month for Churchill as this schedule shows. The Royal Air Force had managed to hold its own against the powerful German Luftwaffe, winning the Battle of Britain. But Hitler now changed tactics and began the wholesale bombing of London and other civilian centers. Churchill's engagements included, numerous cabinet meetings, speeches before the House of Commons, a radio broadcast, and more.

In the dark early days of the Second World War Churchill had few real weapons. He attacked with words instead. The speeches he delivered then are among the most powerful ever given in the English language. His words were defiant, heroic and human, lightened by flashes of humour. They reached out to everyone in Britain, across Nazi-occupied Europe, and throughout the world. As journalist Beverley Nichols wrote, 'He took the English language and sent it into battle.'

Churchill waves to crowds in Whitehall celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany on Victory in Europe Day (VE Day), 8 May 1945. In a speech to them, he declared: 'God bless you all. This is your victory!' The crowd roared back, 'No - it is yours'. For Churchill, nothing would match his wartime triumphs. What came afterwards would be 'all anticlimax' as he later wrote in his war memoirs.

Winston Churchill has many famous speeches. From 'We shall fight on the beaches' and 'Their finest hour', to 'Blood, toil, tears, and sweat' and 'The few', Churchill's words have shaped how we remember the Second World War. But what made his speeches so special and how did his words affect the outcome of the Second World War?

On May 13, 1940, three days after Germany invaded France, Churchill gave his first speech as prime minister to the House of Commons, a speech that was later broadcast to the public. tag_hash_108"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat," he said, as he helped the country brace for hard times.

In another landmark speech, Churchill proclaimed: "You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: victory. Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terror. Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival."

Before he became prime minister, Churchill had already written an acclaimed four-volume history of World War I. After World War II, he wrote a six-volume memoir. His historical writings, along with his speeches, earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature. 17dc91bb1f