Most people know about Churchill.
Churchill was the old guy who looked like a bulldog.
He was Prime Minister during the war, smoked a cigar, did the V sign, and made some great speeches, right?
Well yes, that’s what he’s famous for.
But I don’t think that’s the most interesting part.
I think the most interesting part is what happened before all that.
Churchill was born in 1874.
In the 1890s he fought in the Boer war.
He was captured, but escaped and the Boers offered a reward for him ‘dead or alive’.
He came back to Britain, a hero, and became a Conservative MP in 1900.
In 1904 he changed parties, from the Tories to the Liberals.
He became Home Secretary while still in his 30s.
He looked to have a meteoric career ahead of him, and during World War One he became First Lord Of The Admiralty.
But he was in charge of the disastrous Dardanelles campaign.
He lost his job in government and returned to the army, to command front line troops in battle.
After the war he was reinstated and became Chancellor of the Exchequer.
In 1924 he changed parties again, from the Liberals back to the Tories.
Being a good writer, he was able to justify it “Any man under 30 who is not a liberal has no heart. Any man over 30 who is not a conservative has no brain.”
But in 1926 Churchill badly mishandled The General Strike, and then he badly mishandled the economy
By 1929 Churchill was out of government completely.
This was the finally end of the line for Churchill.
He’d had a high profile career, a long time in the public eye, and a full life, but he was 55 years old now, an old man, finished.
Everyone knew it was time for him to go, to quietly retire.
At the time, a reporter interviewed him.
One of the questions he was asked was “What advice will you give now that your career is over?”
Apparently Churchill just stared silently at the floor.
And remember, this is 1929, ten years before World War Two.
The next decade is what Churchill referred to as his ‘wilderness years’.
He was alone, an outsider, washed up.
Considered a loose cannon, a laughing stock.
In parliament, he constantly made speeches warning about the dangers of German rearmament.
About the rise of Adolf Hitler and fascism.
He was shouted down, ridiculed and ultimately ignored.
Everyone considered it the ravings of a burnt-out, deluded old man.
In 1934, the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain even said “The real danger to this country is Winston. He is the warmonger, not Hitler.”
While Churchill said of Chamberlain “He is decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all powerful for impotency.”
Eventually of course, Churchill was right and Chamberlain was wrong.
Germany had rearmed on a vast scale.
Hitler didn’t want peace.
To try to avoid war, Chamberlain gave in to demand after demand from Hitler, hoping to appease him.
Churchill said “Chamberlain had the choice between war and shame. Now he has chosen shame, he’ll get war later.”
And he was right.
After all of Europe had fallen to Hitler, Chamberlain resigned.
The man who had ridiculed Churchill as an old warmonger who should be pensioned off, had to admit he was wrong, he couldn’t cope.
All of Europe was now overrun by the unstoppable Nazi war machine.
And in 1940, when Britain was all but finished, who did they turn to, to lead the country out of the mess?
The man whose career was over in 1929.
An inspiring post. Especially for all who feel their careers are over when, given the right circumstances and opportunities, they’re not. Thanks Dave. A positive start to Wednesday started here.
Julian Williams - 12 September 2012 9:23 am
Thanks Julian.
I always liked Churchill’s line after El Alamein in 1942.
“This isn’t the end. This isn’t even the beginning of the end.
But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
Dave Trott - 12 September 2012 9:39 am
What a powerful”pre-history” – never knew about Churchill prior to what happened around WW2. To be honest it brought tears to my eyes because we know of his personal sufferings, but what a great man he was for this nation. And what a powerful lesson to anybody in mid-life who believe everything is over. Thank you for this enlightenment.
Ann Murgatroyd - 12 September 2012 10:00 am
Thanks Ann,
Sometimes it helps us all to remember Churchill’s line “If you’re going through hell the best thing to do is keep going.”
Dave Trott - 12 September 2012 10:35 am
As Winnie used to say, ‘K B O’ – Keep Buggering On.
Robin. - 12 September 2012 11:40 am
Makes u wonder, Dave.
If the Brits found themselves in a similar position 2day, who would play Churchill?
Maggie’s too far gone, Tony’s booked for the next 3 years doing lecture tours and book signings, and all the other political candidates are either too lightweight and flimsy, or don’t look convincing nor good on camera. Generally both.
Is, do u think, Simon Cowell Britain’s only hope?
A talent show with lousy covers of well known songs sung by members of the general public, combined with stirring speeches to the nation about beating the foe would, I think, be an interesting format and Saturday nite ratings winner.
Grilla Login - 12 September 2012 12:03 pm
The Arctic Ice Cap is still melting as every government speaks and does nothing about it.
Voice in the wilderness - 12 September 2012 12:13 pm
Dave, Did you know that it was an Oldham man who set him up? He helped him escape from Africa, thus he returned a hero and consequently got his political career up and running. Churchill’s long career in the House of Commons had begun.
When pressed as to how it all came about, Churchill was noted as saying, ‘I told’em Oldham’.
john p woods - 12 September 2012 12:14 pm
John,
When I was a very young kid, that was the line on the commercials for Oldham car batteries.
Dave Trott - 12 September 2012 12:34 pm
Dave,
Any idea who coined it? Being brought up in Oldham, the ‘I told em Oldham’ line was spuriously used for all manner of comedic situations.
john p woods - 12 September 2012 2:14 pm
Wood have been the ‘SS Factor’ in Churchill’s day.
Grilla Login - 12 September 2012 2:18 pm
Dave,
Is that your earliest recollection of a mnemonic? If so, did it have a lasting impression on your attitude to effective communication? In your opinion do all the ‘best’ ads (recall) have a mnemonic? Care to rattle off a few that you think pass mustard, ‘You can’t k-nacker a knirps’ aside?
john p woods - 12 September 2012 2:19 pm
Dave,
I know you must be stacked out as ever so I went to the back catalogue for mnemonic insight http://www.cstthegate.com/davetrott/2010/03/what-i-learned-in-the-playground/
One thing though, I’ve heard some cd’s don’t like alliteration and it’s ilk though. Isn’t that a bit stupid?
john p woods - 12 September 2012 2:30 pm
John, depends whether you’re trying to get into the D&AD or the public’s conciousness.
Different target markets need different executions.
Dave Trott - 12 September 2012 3:24 pm
‘Xerxes Factor’ in Leonidas 1′s day.
Grilla Login - 12 September 2012 3:26 pm
Dave,
But surely we shouldn’t care less what our peers think about our work. After all, they aren’t who we are selling to.
john p woods - 12 September 2012 3:48 pm
True.
But creative directors do the hiring and they read D&AD.
Dave Trott - 12 September 2012 3:50 pm
Dave,
And therein lies the rub.
john p woods - 12 September 2012 3:58 pm
‘Xenoposeidon Factor’ in the days of Lower Cretaceous, chronostratigraphically speaking.
Grilla Login - 12 September 2012 4:04 pm
‘Xenoposeidon Factor’ in the days of Early Cretaceous, geochronological speaking.
Grilla Login - 13 September 2012 2:29 pm
Favourite Churchill quote:
“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. ”
To add a few more failures to your enjoyable account: flunking school, deciding to return to the Gold Standard at the pre-WWI parity, supporting Edward VIII during the abdication, opposition to Indian independence, losing the ’45 election whilst accusing Labour of needing their own Gestapo, a series of personal financial scrapes. And as for ‘loss of enthusiasm’, they almost had to pry the premiership from his cold, dead hands. What an appetite.
Gareth - 13 September 2012 9:50 pm
Hitler was a better painter than Churchill…
john p woods - 13 September 2012 10:50 pm
I’ve been working through your blog posts, Dave, and enjoying them very much. I wondered whether you knew that Roy Jenkins’ best-selling bio of Churchill was a great example of predatory thinking?
The Randolph Churchill/Martin Gilbert official biography took decades to write whilst amassing an enormous amount of research. The end result was impressive but indigestible, almost unreadable. Jenkins saw an opportunity to re-write the research to bring out the cracking story that lay behind it. He did a superb job, establishing the standard work in the popular field and making quite a lot of money.
I guess something being ‘done’ might be the beginning of an opportunity rather than the end.
Gareth - 14 September 2012 8:51 am
Ecellent Gareth.
I’m sure Churchill would have appreciated Woy’s predatory thinking.
Dave Trott - 14 September 2012 2:01 pm
Hello everyone.
Really enjoyed this post, Dave (especially as I’m going to be 40 in a couple of weeks!). It reminded me of Beckett’s line in Krapp’s Last Tape: “Perhaps my best years are gone…but I wouldn’t want them back. Not with the fire in me now.”
Ant Melder - 14 September 2012 10:10 pm
Great quote Ant,
Along the same lines is what Hokusai said about growth as an artist:
“But all I have done before the the age of 70 is not worth bothering with.
At 75 I’ll have learned something of the pattern of nature, of animals, of plants, of trees, birds, fish and insects.
When I am 80 you will see real progress.
At 90 I shall have cut my way deeply into the mystery of life itself.
At 100, I shall be a marvelous artist.
At 110, everything I create: a dot, a line, will jump to life as never before.”
Dave Trott - 15 September 2012 10:40 am
Is the ad industry awash with kids? Is it a false economy?
john p woods - 16 September 2012 2:25 pm
Ant,
Many thanks for that.
I have two young trees I planted in my back garden last year.
Each one has but one Apple.
Their first fruit.
One is bright green.
The other is bright red.
Every day I look out of the kitchen window and ask myself.
“Should I pick them now?”
And every day I leave them a little longer
their colours becoming even brighter in the receeding sun.
A day shall come when they both must be picked.
This is the bitter sweetness of life.
Voice in the wilderness - 20 September 2012 8:12 am