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Jonathan Rose writes that the sea of Churchill's tastes was dominated by melodrama, but he misses the whale among the fish—Churchill's beloved Shakespeare.

Churchill knew his Shakespeare and had a near-photographic memory. Darrell Holley’s Churchill’s Literary Allusions tells us he alludes to Shakespeare more than any other English author. King John, Richard III and Hamlet are his most frequent references. Henry V also moved and inspired him. He also closely read Richard II, generally accepting Shakespeare’s portrayal of his cruelty and vindictiveness.

Richard Langworth looks at the importance of Shakespeare, especially "Henry V," on Churchill and his rhetoric during World War II.

Lincoln and Churchill not only knew and quoted Shakespeare; they were connoisseurs of his plays and critics of the actors.

In his book Churchill's Literary Allusions, Darrell Holley writes: "There is no English author whom Churchill alludes to as often as to William Shakespeare. Both by formal quotations, some quite lengthy, and by well-known phrases almost hidden in his text, Churchill makes allusion to many of Shakespeare's plays."

Along with numerous Churchill anniversaries—1915, 1940, 1945, 1965—2015 marks the 600th anniversary of King Henry V’s remarkable victory at Agincourt (25 October 1415), which Winston Churchill described as “the most heroic of all the land battles England has ever fought.”

All the works concerning Winston S. Churchill since 1905, with annotations on content, quality and links to reviews.

Smith is clear that Churchill was a believer in a faith. And that faith was at the heart of his appeal to the British people in the Second World War.

Burton played a magnificent Churchill in “The Gathering Storm.” He also played to the camera, alternating praise with vitriol depending on his audience.

Churchill and Caesar both wrote literate war memoirs. Was this special pleading, or was there a higher purpose? For Churchill, there certainly was.

“In my mind’s eye I invest him with the robes of Caesar…. The lives of the great are an inspiration to their posterity.” —Lewis Broad

These are just a few of the classical authors Churchill read in his self-education as a young man. They form an adjunct to the more recent and direct inspirations, the figures of more recent centuries.