160 Facts About Randolph Churchill

Major Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer-Churchill was an English journalist, writer, soldier, and politician.

Randolph Churchill served as Conservative Member of Parliament for Preston from 1940 to 1945.

Randolph Churchill was born at his parents' house at Eccleston Square, London, on 28 May 1911.

Randolph Churchill's parents nicknamed him "the Chumbolly" before he was born.

Randolph Churchill was a page at the marriage of the Prime Minister's daughter Violet Asquith to Maurice Bonham Carter on 1 December 1915.

Randolph Churchill recalled the Zeppelin raids of 1917 as "a great treat", as the children were taken from their beds in the middle of the night, wrapped in blankets, and "allowed" to join the grown-ups in the cellar; he recalled the Armistice celebrations at Blenheim Palace.

Randolph Churchill went to Sandroyd School in Wiltshire, and later admitted that he had had a problem with authority and discipline.

Randolph Churchill's headmaster reported to his father that he was "very combative".

Randolph Churchill was very good-looking as a child and into his twenties.

At home, a maid overheard Randolph Churchill confiding in his sister Diana.

Randolph Churchill later wrote that he had never seen his father so angry, and that he had made a hundred-mile trip to demand that the teacher be dismissed, only to learn that the teacher had already been sacked.

Randolph Churchill remembered that he and Diana returned from ice-skating in Holland Park on 22 June 1922 to find the house guarded and being searched by "tough-looking men" following the assassination of Field Marshal Henry Wilson.

Winston Randolph Churchill was Chancellor of the Exchequer from late 1924 until 1929.

Busy in that office, he neglected his daughters in favour of Randolph Churchill, who was his only son.

Randolph Churchill had cool relations with his mother from an early age, in part because she felt him to be spoiled and arrogant as a result of his father's overindulgence.

Clementine's biographer writes that "Randolph Churchill was for decades a recurrent embarrassment to both his parents".

Randolph Churchill went up to Christ Church, Oxford, in January 1929, partway through the academic year and not yet eighteen, after his father's friend Professor Lindemann had advised that a place had fallen vacant.

Randolph Churchill was already drinking double brandies at the age of nineteen, to his parents' consternation.

Randolph Churchill did little work or sport at Oxford and spent most of his time at lengthy lunch and dinner parties with other well-connected undergraduates and with dons who enjoyed being entertained by them.

Randolph Churchill later claimed that he had benefited from the experience, but at the time his lifestyle earned him a magisterial letter of rebuke from his father, warning him that he was "not acquiring any habits of industry or concentration" and that he would withdraw him from Oxford if he did not knuckle down to study.

Randolph Churchill dropped out of Oxford in October 1930 to conduct a lecture tour of the US.

Randolph Churchill was already in debt; his mother guessed correctly that he would never finish his degree.

Randolph Churchill's son later recorded that this was a mixed blessing: "because of the very facility with which he could speak extemporaneously [he] failed to make the effort required to bring him more success".

Randolph Churchill's father wrote begging him not to be so foolish as to marry before he had established a career.

Randolph Churchill found Randolph, to her horror, living in an extravagant suite of hotel rooms, but was able to write to Miss Halle's father, who agreed that it would be unwise for their children to marry.

Randolph Churchill went home in April 1931, having enjoyed Randolph's company in New York.

Randolph Churchill left the US owing $2,000 to his father's friend, the financier Bernard Baruch; a debt which he did not repay for thirty years.

In October 1931 Randolph Churchill began a lecture tour of the UK.

Randolph Churchill wrote in an article in 1932 that he planned to "make an immense fortune and become Prime Minister" Randolph Churchill warned that the Nazis meant war as early as March 1932 in his Daily Graphic column; his son Winston later claimed that he was the first British journalist to warn about Hitler.

In 1932 Winston Randolph Churchill had Philip Laszlo paint an idealised portrait of his son for his 21st birthday.

Winston Randolph Churchill organised a "Fathers and Sons" dinner at Claridge's for his birthday on 16 June 1932, with Lord Hailsham and his son Quintin Hogg, Lord Cranborne and Freddie Birkenhead, the son of Winston's late friend FE Smith.

Randolph Churchill encouraged his father to try to meet Adolf Hitler in summer 1932 whilst he was retracing the Duke of Marlborough's march to Blenheim ; the meeting fell through at the last minute as Hitler excused himself.

Randolph Churchill had an affair with Doris Castlerosse in 1932, causing a near fight with her husband.

Randolph Churchill later claimed to have had an affair with his father Winston in the mid 1930s, although Winston's biographer Andrew Roberts believes the latter claim unlikely to be true.

At Lady Diana Cooper's fortieth birthday party in Venice that year a woman was deliberately burned on her hand with a cigarette by a thwarted lover, and Randolph Churchill sprang to her defence.

Randolph Churchill became embroiled in the controversy of the February 1933 King and Country debate at the Oxford Union Society.

Randolph Churchill was then met by a barrage of hisses and stink bombs.

Randolph Churchill had persuaded a number of other former students, life members of the Union, to attend in the hope of carrying his motion.

Winston Randolph Churchill wrote praising his son's courage in addressing a large, hostile audience, adding that "he was by no means cowed".

Randolph Churchill's good looks and self-confidence soon brought him some success as a womaniser, but his attempt to seduce one young woman at Blenheim failed after she spent the night in bed for protection with his cousin Anita Leslie, while Randolph Churchill sat on the side of the bed talking at length of "when I am prime minister".

Randolph Churchill, who had been lucky not to be named in court as one of her lovers, comforted a tearful Tilly Losch in public at Quaglino's after her divorce in 1934, to the amusement of the other diners and the waiters.

Clementine several times threw him out of Chartwell after arguments; at one time Clementine told Randolph Churchill she hated him and never wanted to see him again.

Randolph Churchill's campaign was funded by Lucy, Lady Houston, an eccentric ardent nationalist who owned the Saturday Review.

Randolph Churchill's involvement was criticised by his father for splitting the official Conservative vote and letting in a winning Labour candidate, although Winston appeared to support Randolph on the hustings.

Randolph Churchill had a violent row with his father about Norwood; Winston did not support him in any way this time, although he was suspected by other Conservatives of having done so.

Duncan Sandys was the only one of Randolph's Conservative opponents to win; Randolph soon became jealous when Sandys joined the family and Churchill warmed to him.

Randolph Churchill was an effective manipulator of the media, using his family name to obtain coverage in newspapers such as the Daily Mail.

The Earl of Derby lent his support, and Randolph Churchill continued to aid the Conservative campaigning across the city.

Randolph Churchill stood for Parliament a third time, as a Unionist on 10 February 1936 in a by-election at Ross and Cromarty, opposed to the National Government candidacy of Malcolm MacDonald.

Randolph Churchill's campaign was funded by Lady Houston for a third time.

In September 1936, at his father's behest, Randolph Churchill pursued his younger sister Sarah to the US in a vain attempt to dissuade her from marrying the much older comedian Vic Oliver.

Randolph Churchill was better backed financially than his father had ever been.

Randolph Churchill warned the House of Commons that there were twelve-inch Spanish howitzers trained on Gibraltar.

Channon recorded that this reduced the House's sympathies for Franco, but that when the House learned that the source was "Master Randolph Churchill" MPs were merely amused.

Randolph Churchill helped her to get a visa to report from the USSR in February 1939.

Randolph Churchill was one of the oldest of the junior officers, and not popular with his peers.

Randolph Churchill was followed by a car, both to witness the event and in case his blisters became too painful to walk further, and made it with around twenty minutes to spare.

Randolph Churchill was on board the destroyer untidily attired in his 4th Hussars uniform; he had attached the spurs to his boots upside down.

Randolph Churchill was in love with Laura Charteris but his mistress at the time was the American actress Claire Luce, who often visited him in camp.

Randolph Churchill appears to have decided that as Winston's only son, it was his duty to marry and sire an heir in case he was killed, a common motivation among young men at the time.

Randolph Churchill quickly became engaged to Pamela Digby in late September 1939.

Randolph Churchill was charmed by Randolph's parents, both of whom warmed to her and felt she would be a good influence on him.

Randolph Churchill was elected unopposed to Parliament for Preston at a wartime by-election in September 1940.

Once in Egypt, Randolph Churchill served as a General Staff officer at Middle East HQ.

Randolph Churchill had recently been reduced to tears on being told to his face by a brother officer how deeply disliked he was, something of which he had previously had no idea.

Randolph Churchill was sensitive to the "co-operation and self-sacrifice" of parts of the Empire that in 1942 were in more immediate danger than the British Isles, mentioning Australia and Malaya which suffered under Japanese threats of invasion.

Randolph Churchill was scathing of Sir Herbert Williams' Official Report into the Conduct of the War.

Randolph Churchill had a row with his parents so violent that Clementine thought Winston might have a seizure.

Randolph Churchill contemplated cabling him forbidding him to go, but knew that Winston would want him to.

Randolph Churchill joined the SAS CO David Stirling and six SAS men on a mission behind enemy lines in the Libyan Desert to Benghazi in May 1942.

The Benghazi Raid did not reach its goals and Randolph Churchill severely dislocated his back when his truck overturned in a road accident during the journey home.

Randolph Churchill had sent few letters to Pamela, and many to Laura Charteris, with whom he was in love and who was in the process of getting divorced.

Randolph Churchill encouraged the conversion of Vichy fighters to de Gaulle's army, submitting reports to Parliament on 23 February 1943.

In May 1943 Randolph Churchill visited his father in Algiers, where he was celebrating the successful conclusion of the Tunisian Campaign.

Randolph Churchill visited his father, who was laid up with pneumonia, in Marrakesh in December 1943.

Randolph Churchill had encountered Fitzroy Maclean in the Western Desert Campaign.

Winston Churchill agreed to Randolph accepting Maclean's offer to join his military and diplomatic mission to Tito's Partisans in Yugoslavia, warning him not to get captured in case the Gestapo sent him Randolph's fingers one by one.

Randolph Churchill returned to England for training then in January or February 1944 he parachuted into Yugoslavia.

Randolph Churchill was later joined in Yugoslavia by Evelyn Waugh and Freddie Birkenhead.

However, Maclean wrote of their adventures together, and some of the problems Randolph Churchill caused him, in his memoir Eastern Approaches.

Randolph Churchill cried when he learned that his servant had been killed, but behaved with "his usual loud rudeness" as an invalid.

Randolph Churchill was ordered by Maclean to take charge of the military mission in Croatia.

Randolph Churchill has a childlike retentive memory, and repetition takes the place of thought.

Randolph Churchill has set himself very low aims and has not the self-control to pursue them steadfastly.

Randolph Churchill was promoted to captain on 1 November 1947, and remained in the reserves for the next 14 years.

Randolph Churchill relinquished his commission on 28 May 1961, retiring an honorary major.

Randolph Churchill had assumed he would hold his seat in 1945, but did not.

The argument was about his father's planned war memoirs, and Randolph Churchill stalked off from the table as he disliked being spoken to abruptly by his father in public.

Randolph Churchill's father had misunderstood him to be talking about getting the help of a literary agent, whereas Randolph was in fact urging his father to get tax advice from lawyers, as indeed he eventually did.

Randolph Churchill's sister writes that after the war he led a "rampaging existence" as "he always had lances to break, and hares to start".

Randolph Churchill was loyal and affectionate, but "would pick an argument with a chair".

Randolph Churchill believed that he could control his temper by willpower, but he could not do this when drunk and alcohol "fuelled his sense of thwarted destiny".

Randolph Churchill maintained good written relations with his mother, but she could not stand arguments and often retreated to her room when he visited.

Randolph Churchill was able to help him out of his financial difficulties, which he acknowledged, "spared him much humiliation".

Randolph Churchill had still not entirely abandoned his youthful fantasy of one day becoming Prime Minister, and resented Eden's position as his father's political heir.

Noel Coward quipped that Randolph Churchill was "utterly unspoiled by failure".

Randolph Churchill was blackballed from the Beefsteak Club and on one occasion was slapped twice across the face by Duff Cooper at the Paris Embassy for making an obnoxious remark.

Randolph Churchill reported on the Red Army parade from Moscow.

Randolph Churchill was still trying to persuade Laura Charteris to marry him.

Randolph Churchill accepted that he could never have Laura, with whom he had been in love for much of his adult life.

Randolph Churchill stood unsuccessfully for the Parliamentary seat of Plymouth Devonport in February 1950.

Randolph Churchill reported on the Korean War from August 1950, six weeks after the initial North Korean invasion of the south.

Randolph Churchill's father gave him a handwritten letter of introduction to General Douglas MacArthur.

Randolph Churchill returned to Korea to report on the Inchon Landings, the liberation of Seoul and the UN forces' crossing of the 38th Parallel.

Randolph Churchill then returned to the UK for an operation on his wounded leg.

Randolph Churchill was involved in an altercation on board a train at Nottingham on 22 February 1951.

Randolph Churchill was denied entry to the locked restaurant car by a railway employee, then later asked by the same man to leave the reserved seat in which he had been sitting.

At the next station Randolph Churchill was questioned by a plain-clothes policeman who had been summoned to board the train.

Randolph Churchill stood for Parliament for Devonport again in 1951.

In 1951, as in 1950, Foot and Randolph Churchill exchanged invective in public, but got on well in private, often meeting for a drink at the end of the day when Randolph Churchill had been deserted by his own party workers, with whom he had a poor relationship.

Randolph Churchill dubbed his ranting phone calls the "Eden Terror".

Randolph Churchill had long been jealous of Anthony Eden, and often wrote articles critical of him in the London Evening Standard.

Randolph Churchill was a Gold Staff Officer at the Coronation in 1953.

Randolph Churchill repeated his accusation at the Manchester Publishing Association on 7 October 1953 and in another speech.

Randolph Churchill was assisted by Alan Brien to write the life of Lord Derby; while researching it in 1953, Randolph and June lived at Oving House near Aylesbury, which got him away from White's Club and his gambling friends.

Randolph Churchill retired upstairs for a further noisy row with his wife, declaring that he would never see his father again.

Winston Randolph Churchill had declined a peerage at the end of the Second World War in 1945, and then did so again on his retirement in 1955, ostensibly so as not to compromise his son's political career by preventing him from serving in the House of Commons.

Randolph Churchill introduced his father to Aristotle Onassis, on whose yacht Christina he was often to cruise, in January 1956.

Randolph Churchill set up a private company, "Country Bumpkins", to market his pamphlet "What I said about the Press", which most newsagents refused to stock, and soon found himself involved in a libel case.

Randolph Churchill was carefully briefed on precise details both of facts and of the intricacies of the law.

Randolph Churchill's son writes that he had been "completely self-controlled".

Randolph Churchill fell in love with Natalie Bevan when she called on him, a case of the 'thunderbolt' of sudden infatuation, witnessed by Patrick Kinross who was there at the time.

Randolph Churchill was accepted as his companion by the Churchill family, visiting Chartwell, Hyde Park Gate and the Christina.

In November and December 1958 Randolph Churchill published six articles in the Daily Express about the Suez Crisis.

Randolph Churchill inherited something of his father's literary flair, carving out a successful career for himself as a journalist.

Randolph Churchill edited the "Londoner's Diary" in the Evening Standard and was one of the best-paid gossip columnists on Fleet Street.

Randolph Churchill edited collections of his father's speeches, which were published in seven books between 1938 and 1961.

Randolph Churchill reported on Cyprus and Algeria.

Randolph Churchill particularly disliked the police state of South Africa, and on entering the country he was detained in customs for insisting on giving his thumbprint in ink rather than signing the relevant entry form, until it was confirmed that he was entitled to do so.

Randolph Churchill obtained an interview with Hendrik Verwoerd, who was surrounded by revolver-toting bodyguards after addressing a rally in Boer territory.

Randolph Churchill particularly abhorred the Sharpeville Massacre, believing that "10 London bobbies" could have dispersed the crowd relatively peacefully.

In 1960 Randolph Churchill published the life of Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby to prove to the trustees of his father's papers that he was fit to write his official biography.

In May 1960 Sir Winston Churchill approved of Randolph's writing his life.

Winston Churchill never heard Randolph have a row with her.

Jonathan Aitken and Michael Wolff were eyewitnesses to Bobby Bevan bringing Natalie over for the evening and waiting patiently downstairs while she and Randolph Churchill enjoyed a Cinq a sept.

Randolph Churchill's researchers included Martin Gilbert, Michael Wolff, Franklin Gannon, Milo Cripps, Michael Molian, Martin Mauthner and Andrew Kerr.

Aitken beat a hasty retreat as Randolph Churchill had a blazing row with his mother while Sir Winston, then in his late 80s, turned red, shook his legs and beat his walking sticks together with anger.

Winston Churchill's secretary Anthony Montague Browne recorded an incident on board Aristotle Onassis's yacht in June 1963, in which Randolph "erupted like Stromboli", shouting abuse at his aged father, whom he accused of having connived for political reasons with his then wife's affair with Averell Harriman during the war, and calling a female diner who attempted to intervene "a gabby doll".

Randolph Churchill often reported on American politics, and in Washington, DC he often stayed with his former fiancee Kay Halle, who was by then an important Washington hostess during the Democratic administrations of the 1960s.

The American journalist Joseph Alsop stalked off from one conversation muttering that Randolph Churchill should entitle his memoirs "How to Lose Friends and Influence Nobody".

Randolph Churchill flew home then travelled to Blackpool, where the Conservative Party Conference was in session.

Randolph Churchill supported Lord Hailsham for the leadership rather than Macmillan's deputy Rab Butler.

Randolph Churchill knocked on the door of Butler's hotel room and urged him to withdraw from the contest, stressing the 60 telegrams which had been sent to him in support of Hailsham, many of them concocted by his team at East Bergholt.

Randolph Churchill distributed "Q" badges, pinning them on people; he tried to pin one on Lord Dilhorne's buttock without his noticing, but accidentally stabbed him with the pin, causing him to bellow with pain.

Randolph Churchill still hoped, somewhat unrealistically, for a peerage in Macmillan's resignation honours at the end of 1963.

In 1964 Randolph Churchill published The Fight for the Party Leadership.

In 1964 Randolph Churchill was laid low by bronchopneumonia which left him so frail he could only whisper.

Randolph Churchill's mother visited him frequently in hospital after his lung operation.

At his father's funeral in January 1965 Randolph Churchill walked for an hour in the intense cold, despite being not yet fully recovered from his lung operation.

Randolph Churchill organised a luncheon party for her 80th birthday at the Cafe Royal on 1 April 1965.

Randolph Churchill wrote a memoir of his early life, Twenty-One Years, published in 1965.

Randolph Churchill wrote to The Times criticising him for publishing within 16 months of his patient's death and contrary to the wishes of the family.

Randolph Churchill's kidneys were failing, so he seldom drank alcohol any more, and ate little, becoming emaciated.

In 1966 Randolph Churchill published the first volume of the official biography of his father.

Randolph Churchill had finished only the second volume and half a dozen companion volumes by the time of his death in 1968.

Randolph Churchill died of a heart attack in his sleep at his home, Stour House, East Bergholt, Suffolk and was found by one of his researchers the next morning, 6 June 1968.

Randolph Churchill was 57, and although he had been in poor health for years, his death was unexpected.

Randolph Churchill is buried with his parents and all four of his siblings at St Martin's Church, Bladon near Woodstock, Oxfordshire.

Randolph Churchill was played by Nigel Havers in the Southern Television's 1981 drama series, Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years, set in the decade Winston was out of office and Randolph himself attempted to enter parliament.

Broadcast in 2016, it starred Michael Gambon, and depicted Winston Churchill during the summer of 1953 when he suffered a severe stroke, precipitating therapy and resignation; the character of Randolph was played by the English actor Matthew Macfadyen.