From soldier and war correspondent in Queen Victoria’s reign, First Lord of the Admiralty in 1914, Chancellor of the Exchequer in Baldwin’s Cabinet to the man who led his country to victory in the Second World War – Churchill’s career was a saga of heroism and adventure unparalleled in modern times. The outline is well known, but Brendon enriches his story with a wealth of unfamiliar detail. Chrurchill himself emerges as a vibrant being with talents amounting to genius and faults amounting to infirmities, but unquestionably one of the most colourful and fascinating characters in this or any other age – an authentic hero indeed.