2024 marks 150 years since former Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s birth, and 2025 marks 80 years since he led Britain to victory in World War II. Tamara Hinson decided that it’s high time for a Winston Churchill-themed exploration of London. In the pin-drop silence of London’s National Portrait Gallery, I discover that Winston Churchill and I had similar views.
Not a love of breakfasts in bed (apparently he’d surround himself with newspapers and remain there until midday, a habit I fully endorse), but a dislike of being photographed. When painter Graham Sutherland arrived on his doorstep in 1954, tasked with painting a portrait to mark the wartime leader’s 80th birthday, Churchill was less than enthusiastic. The petulant Prime Minister grumbled: “how are you going to paint me? As a cherub or the bulldog?” Churchill hated Sutherland’s finished painting so much that he asked his wife to destroy it.
READ MORE: 9 London experiences you won’t find in the guidebooks.