Winston Churchill's powerful speeches have long been credited with helping to win the war, but one leading academic says there is 'little evidence' his oratory inspired the British to beat Nazi Germany.
Professor Richard Toye also claims that the Second World War leader's 'finest hour' radio address, one of his most famous, lacked impact 'because many people thought that he was drunk'.
The University of Exeter academic claims in a new book that Churchill was not a decisive influence on the nation's willingness to fight on against Hitler when Britain was almost on its knees in 1940.
His research also found that when Singapore fell to the Japanese in 1942, one Londoner said his rallying speech was 'f****** bull****' and a 'f****** cover-up'.
PM: After the war was won, Winston Churchill
addresses a crowd of 20,000 at Walthamstow Stadium, London, but an
academic has cast doubt on the effect Winston Churchill's wartime
speeches had on the British public in a new book
Churchill's legendary oratory, which included unforgettable phrases like 'we shall fight on the beaches' and 'never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few', had moved many to join up and fight the Nazis.
But Professor Toye denies the traditional view that Churchill was universally loved and said his speeches had led to criticism and controversy.
'Churchill's first speeches as prime minister in the dark days of 1940 were by no means universally acclaimed,' he said.
'Many people thought that he was drunk during his famous "finest hour" broadcast and there is little evidence that they made a decisive difference to the British people's will to fight on.'
Well-qualified: Exeter academic Richard Toye,
who is an expert on Churchill, looks in detail at how people reacted to
his speeches in his book, The Roar of the Lion
Prof Toye's new book - The Roar Of The Lion - examines government documents and surveys, as well as the diaries of ordinary people.
He says Churchill's speeches had excited some but also caused disappointment and considerable criticism.
One of the most vivid accounts was written by a journalist who had joined the Army and had written down in shorthand the comments of his friend George, a 24-year-old French polisher from south London.
Hero: Sir Winston is regarded by many as the man who saved Britain from the clutches of Hitler's Nazi Germany
Prof Toye, who works in the Department of History at the University of Exeter, said: 'There was a complexity to people's reactions to Churchill's speeches at the time, as the evidence shows that they may have liked one bit of a speech and not another section, or liked some speeches but not others.
'People sometimes changed their minds following discussions with friends or after reading newspaper commentaries.
'There was not a blanket acceptance and positive reaction. A more measured response to his speeches is in evidence. This is possibly why the speeches didn't always have the effect now credited to them.'
Prof Toye said Churchill's famous 'We shall fight them on the beaches' speech of June 1940 was to the House of Commons, and never broadcast, but people convinced themselves they heard it.
'It was never broadcast, though it was reported on the BBC by an announcer and quoted in the press,' he said.
'However, people claim to remember having heard this famous speech from June 1940, even though they hadn't.
'It was recorded for posterity along with others of his wartime speeches nine years later.'
Mr Toye has some academic pedigree, after a PhD from Cambridge, his book Lloyd George and Churchill: Rivals for Greatness, one him awards, including The Times Higher Young Academic Author of the Year Award in 2007.
Three years later he wrote the book: Churchill's Empire: The World that Made Him and the World He Made.
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