Jim,
In which "circles" would cigar smoking and a shot of brandy condemn a man to hell? I thought unbelief condemned a man to hell.
But that aside, besides the Bible and Shakespeare, Churchill is the most frequent source for quotations. That right there says alot about the man.
But I must address one issue with you. it seems that every time that the subject of Winston Churchill comes up you always bring up the Tonypandy incident where it is mistakenly cited that Churchill used the military against the striking miners to quell the violence and destruction of property. In fact Churchill was criticized by the Conservatives for not deploying troops sufficienly quickly and by the socialists for using excessive force. Arthur Balfour, leader of the Opposition, led the Conservative attack on the Home Secratary's handling of the crisis. Balfour criticized Churchill for not sending the military and using the police instead. I quote Balfour:
Many of these deplorable occurrences might have been avoided had he not at a critical moment refused to carry out decisively and effectively the measures which he contemplated. Had he not held back the military and not shown some doubt and hesitation at a critical moment, much destruction of property, many unhappy incidents, and many circumstances which all, whatever their opinions, must look upon as a great blot on the procedure of civilised society, might have been wholly avoided.
The forces that Churchill sent were at the request of Chief Constable and the local authorities in the Rhondda Valley.
You might want to read Churchills response to Balfour in the House of Commons 7 February 1911.
You may have gotten your info from the BBC.
