WINSTON CHURCHILL

Today in 1965, Winston Churchill was buried. He was without doubt, the finest Englishman ever to lead that Nation. When England stood alone and had nothing with which to defend itself, he welded the English language into an exceptional fighting tool.

He did this against the express desires of his party and the defeatist Generals around him. On his way to Parliament on a very dark day in England, on the verge of surrender, he chose to take the Tube to Westminster and Parliament. He spoke to the commoners who had infinitely more resolve than his advisors. He emerged with a keen sense of what he was all about and spent the rest of the war doing it.

Anyone reading or hearing his words will understand how he turned a Nation on the edge of abject defeat into a defiant Nation united in cause and unyielding in purpose. Victory at all costs. For without Victory, there is nothing. He roused England's heart as has no other.

At his funeral, the Great and Mighty attended his service in St Paul's Cathedral, miraculously spared during the Blitz. Outside and lining every street within a mile of the event stood thousands of Londoners-the originals during the Blitz, their children and just plain folks who understood in their hearts what he meant to them and their Nation. They would not see the like of him again.

On his final movement down the Thames to his resting place, all the giant cranes lining the East End docks dipped in salute to the man that previously walked amongst their bombed out houses and docks at the height of the Blitz giving them heart. To them, he represented the Heart of England and what as a people, they were all about.

He was truly a Great Man.