At the end of the 19th century, the British Empire was the strongest power in the world, controlling vast areas of Asia and Africa. Her domain was washed by seven seas. Winston Churchill (1874-1965), who became the most prominent political figure in Great Britain, was born into one of the most distinguished families in the country. Winston Churchill's political career lasted more than half a century. Having started his political career at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, he managed to lead his homeland through two world wars and numerous crises. He served nine times in the British cabinet and twice became head of government. A passionate defender of imperial traditions, Churchill witnessed the decline of the British Empire at the end of his life. Churchill's activities largely determined the further development of Great Britain and all of Europe. According to a survey conducted in 2002 by the BBC, he is considered the most outstanding Briton in history. Winston Churchill went down in history not only as a politician, but also as a writer: in 1953 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for the excellence of his works historical and biographical nature, as well as for brilliant oratory, with the help of which the highest human values were defended." As P.S. Siverts, a member of the Swedish Academy, noted in his speech, “Churchill’s political and literary achievements are so great that he can be compared with both Caesar and Cicero.” Thirty years later, his compatriot William Golding said: “Churchill received the Nobel Prize for his passionate philippics - an example of courage and inflexibility. His poetry of fact changed history."