Q 01/05

At which grand house was Churchill born in November 1874?

A) Windsor Castle

B) Hatfield House

C) Chatsworth House

D) Blenheim Palace

Answer · why

D) Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace was Queen Anne's and Parliament's reward to his ancestor John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, for his 1704 triumph at Blenheim.

Q 02/05

Churchill's mother Jennie was the daughter of an American businessman named what?

A) William Astor

B) Cornelius Vanderbilt

C) Marshall Field

D) Leonard Jerome

Answer · why

D) Leonard Jerome

Leonard Jerome, a stock speculator dubbed the King of Wall Street, helped build Jerome Park Racetrack, where the first Belmont Stakes was run in 1867.

Q 03/05

Whom did Churchill mourn as 'my dearest and most intimate friend' when she died in 1895?

A) His aunt, the Duchess of Marlborough

B) His nanny, Elizabeth Everest

C) His aunt, Leonie Leslie

D) His mother, Lady Randolph

Answer · why

B) His nanny, Elizabeth Everest

His nanny Elizabeth Everest, whom he called Woom, had cared for him since infancy; he attended her funeral and paid for her headstone.

Q 04/05

Which military college did Churchill attend as a cavalry cadet before joining the army?

A) Dartmouth

B) Cranwell

C) Sandhurst

D) Woolwich

Answer · why

C) Sandhurst

Sandhurst admitted him in September 1893, but only after he had failed its entrance exam twice.

Q 05/05

What did Churchill call the recurring depression that troubled him through life?

A) His dark cloud

B) His grey mood

C) His black dog

D) His melancholy

Answer · why

C) His black dog

Churchill named his recurring depression his black dog, and biographer Roy Jenkins saw writing as his chief defence against it.