Churchill was a prolific painter and writer. You can see many of his works at Chartwell in Kent, where he lived and worked for many years. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953.
He was born in Oxfordshire in the town of Woodstock. He was born in 1874 and lived to be 91.
He was well known for: Fiction Nonfiction Painting
Churchill was an accomplished amateur artist and took great pleasure in painting, especially after his resignation as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1915. He found a haven in art to overcome the spells of depression which some say he suffered throughout his life. William Rees-Mogg wrote In his own life, he had to suffer the black dog of depression. In his landscapes and still lifes there is no sign of depression. Churchill was persuaded and taught to paint by his artist friend, Paul Maze, whom he met during the First World War. Maze was a great influence on Churchills painting and became a lifelong painting companion.
Churchills best known paintings are impressionist landscapes, many of which were painted while on holiday in the South of France, Egypt or Morocco. Using the pseudonym Charles Morin, he continued his hobby throughout his life and painted hundreds of paintings, many of which are on show in the studio at Chartwell as well as private collections. Most of his paintings are oil-based and feature landscapes, but he also did a number of interior scenes and portraits. In 1925 Lord Duveen, Kenneth Clark, and Oswald Birley selected his Winter Sunshine as the prize winner in a contest for anonymous amateur artists.:46–47 Due to obvious time constraints, Churchill attempted only one painting during the Second World War. He completed the painting from the tower of the Villa Taylor in Marrakesh.
During 1934, for example, Churchill was commissioned by Colliers, the News of the World, the Daily Mail—and, added that year, the Sunday Dispatch, for which the newspapers editor, William Blackwood, employed Adam Marshall Diston to rework Churchills old material (Churchill himself would write one new piece in every four published by the Dispatch). Later in the year, when Churchill had less time to write, at the recommendation of Blackwood he employed Diston directly as his ghostwriter. Diston wrote, for example, Churchills remaining Colliers articles for the year, being paid £15 from the £350 commission Churchill received for each article. Blackwood considered Diston a splendid journalist and his first article written for Churchill went to print without change—this, according to David Lough, was the start of a partnership that would flourish for the rest of the decade. By the end of the following year, Diston had already prepared most of Churchills The Great Men I Have Known series for the News of the World in Britain and Colliers in the US, due to appear from January 1936. Sir Emsley Carr, the British newspapers chairman, enjoyed them so much he immediately signed up Churchill for a series in 1937. The News of the World would pay nearly £400 (£12,000 today) an article. Another of Churchills ghostwriters was his Private Secretary Edward Marsh (who would at times receive up to 10 per cent of Churchills commission).
Churchill was a prolific writer, often under the pen name Winston S. Churchill, which he used by agreement with the American novelist of the same name to avoid confusion between their works. His output included a novel, two biographies, three volumes of memoirs, and several histories. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953 for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values. Two of his most famous works, published after his first premiership brought his international fame to new heights, were his six-volume memoir The Second World War and A History of the English-Speaking Peoples a four-volume history covering the period from Caesars invasions of Britain (55 BC) to the beginning of the First World War (1914). A number of volumes of Churchills speeches were also published. the first of which, Into Battle, was published in the United States under the title Blood, Sweat and Tears, and was included in Life Magazines list of the 100 outstanding books of 1924–1944.
Churchill was an amateur bricklayer, constructing buildings and garden walls at his country home at Chartwell, where he also bred butterflies. As part of this hobby Churchill joined the Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers, but was expelled due to his revived membership in the Conservative Party.