# Winston Churchill- Oh That Unknown Person **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 9, 2008, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679 "2008-05-09T11:24:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679/1 "2008-05-09T11:24:49Z")
A friend went to lunch today (this is in Perth W.A.- they are a bit whacky). The name Winston Churchill was mentioned and there were few blank looks on some of the younger folk- mid 20’s to 30’s. They did not know Winston Churchill. To me that is unbelievable. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679/2 "2008-05-09T11:36:02Z")
That is definitely weird. What makes Perth wacky? Is it something that would explain why none of them were paying attention in history class? Perhaps it’s because they’re all the way off in the middle of nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679/3 "2008-05-09T11:37:38Z")
How horribly depressing. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679/4 "2008-05-09T11:46:16Z")
I guess the 30 year old is of Indian descent- so maybe his background didn’t cater for this. But he does have a string of university degrees. The others were quite well educated normal people in respectable (as in white collar) jobs. It is bizarre to me that they hadn’t heard of him. As to why Perth is whacky- it is 2,000 miles from anywhere of note. I hate to think of mentioning the Siege of Sidney Street and Peter the Painter. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679/5 "2008-05-09T12:07:40Z")
I’ll betcha they’ve heard of Ned Kelly though ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679/6 "2008-05-09T12:24:45Z")
Probably. Though he was a Victorian Bushranger (Victoria being a state here- one of the ones we rank low on the social scale 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679/7 "2008-05-09T12:46:43Z")
[QUOTE=Cicero] They did not know Winston Churchill. [/QUOTE] I’ll bet you’ve never heard of [Winston Churchill](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill_%28novelist%29), either. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679/8 "2008-05-09T13:02:05Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] I’ll bet you’ve never heard of [Winston Churchill](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill_%28novelist%29), either. [/QUOTE] Okay waht am I missing? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679/9 "2008-05-09T13:22:45Z")
[QUOTE=Cicero] Okay waht am I missing? 🙂 [/QUOTE] The link is to the wiki page for a now-unknown novelist who was, initially, “the famous Winston Churchill”. Couple of battles and some good speeches later, and BAM! he was a historical footnote. > [@](#): > > I guess the 30 year old is of Indian descent- so maybe his background didn’t cater for this Even if he’d gone to school in India he’d normally know who Winston Churchill was. Apart from anything else he was one of the foremost proponents of maintaining British rule in India. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679/10 "2008-05-09T13:26:39Z")
> [@](#): > > The link is to the wiki page for a now-unknown novelist who was, initially, “the famous Winston Churchill”. Couple of battles and some good speeches later, and BAM! he was a historical footnote. He’s not THAT unknown. He had his own entry in World Book Encyclopedia when I was a kid. I stumbled across him when looking up that OTHER Winston Churchill. Years ago I learned that, after he had his first book published, the statesman Winston Churchill wrote to novelist Winston Churchill, just for the heck of it. That’s be like Congressman Paul Simon writing to songster Paul Simon, without SNL getting them together. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679/11 "2008-05-09T13:30:44Z")
The British Winston Churchill used “Winston S. Churchill” as his byline when he started out as a newspaper reporter in order to avoid confusion. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679/12 "2008-05-09T13:35:13Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] The link is to the wiki page for a now-unknown novelist who was, initially, “the famous Winston Churchill”. Couple of battles and some good speeches later, and BAM! he was a historical footnote. Even if he’d gone to school in India he’d normally know who Winston Churchill was. Apart from anything else he was one of the foremost proponents of maintaining British rule in India. [/QUOTE] Thanks. I should have picked that up. And I still can’t believe anyone of adult age should not know of Churchill. Curmudgeon here. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679/13 "2008-05-09T13:52:40Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] He’s not THAT unknown. He had his own entry in World Book Encyclopedia when I was a kid. I stumbled across him when looking up that OTHER Winston Churchill. [/QUOTE] He’s got a Wikipedia page _now_. By “unknown” I meant “not known to the majority of people” rather than “unknown to history”. I suspect the vast majority of those who do know of him stumbled upon him accidentally much as you did. I’d only heard of him because he was very briefly mentioned in the rather good HBO film _The Gathering Storm_. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679/14 "2008-05-09T13:56:39Z")
I got told off in a game of charades once for including the obscure historical figure “Stalin”. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679/15 "2008-05-09T13:59:11Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] I got told off in a game of charades once for including the obscure historical figure “Stalin”. [/QUOTE] Well, of course. “Stalin” indeed. Normal people only know him as Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, silly. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679/16 "2008-05-09T15:53:10Z")
> [@](#): > > He’s got a Wikipedia page now. By coincidence, I’m the one who started that page. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679/17 "2008-05-10T17:50:21Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] By coincidence, I’m the one who started that page. [/QUOTE] Really? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679/18 "2008-05-11T02:26:48Z")
Yes, really. If I were making up stories about myself I would be telling people about the affair I’ve been having with Rosario Dawson. That woman can’t get enough of me. ---
**Author:** ![DellieM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@DellieM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DellieM)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679/19 "2008-05-11T03:33:26Z")
[QUOTE=Cicero] Probably. Though he was a Victorian Bushranger (Victoria being a state here- one of the ones we rank low on the social scale 🙂 ) [/QUOTE] That’s very naughty Cicero. Here in Victoria we know that the sandgropers are constructing the world’s biggest pneumatic drill so that they can cut themselves off and just float away from the rest of us (they didn’t want to join the Federation remember …) Anyway, I was over there in 2000 and bought some groceries, and was promptly told “You do know that this is an Eastern states yoghurt?” Oh, and Perth is whacky because my ex-husband lives there! 😉 They don’t know Winston Churchill because he doesn’t play for Freo … ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679/20 "2008-05-11T03:37:34Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] Yes, really. If I were making up stories about myself I would be telling people about the affair I’ve been having with Rosario Dawson. That woman can’t get enough of me. [/QUOTE] She has been r_emarkably_ horny since the sex change. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winston-churchill-oh-that-unknown-person/448679.md?page=2)