Biographies

Name: Douglas Bader
Born: 1910
Died: 1982
Place of Birth: London
Information: Douglas Bader was the son of a soldier killed in the first world war. Bader won a scholarship to St Edwards School in Oxford after Oxford he went on to the RAF college in Cranwell, where he captained the Rugby team and was a champion boxer. In 1930 Bader was commissioned as an officer in the RAF but after only 18 months he crashed his plane and as a result he lost both his legs. He was discharged from the RAF and he found work with the Asiatic Petroleum Company. He learnt to find using artificial legs and at the outbreak of World War 2 he was allowed to rejoin the RAF As a member of 222 squadron Bader took part in an operation over Dunkirk and showed his ability by bringing down a Messerschmitt Bf109 and a Heinkel He111. He was promoted and given command of 242 squadron the squadrons first sortie was in the Battle of Britain on the 30th of August 1940 resulted in the shooting down of 12 German planes in just over an hour, Bader claiming two Messerschmitt 110. In the summer of 1941 he obtained 12 kills and he was shot down on the 9th of August 1941 by a Messerschmitt Bf109 near Le Touquet, France. He parachuted out and badly damaged both his artificial legs, he was taken to a French hospital and with the help of a nurse he escaped, he was later recaptured and sent to colditz where he remained for the rest of the war. After the war he left the RAF in 1946 and became the managing director of Shell Aircraft until 1969 when he left to become a member of the Civil Aviation Authority Board. Douglas Bader was knighted in 1976 and he died in 1982.

Name: Sir Winston Churchill
Born:30th November 1874 (St. Andrews Day)
Died:
Place of Birth: Blenheim Palace
Information: His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was the youngest son of the Duke of Marlbourgh and his mother, Jennie Jerome, was the daughter of an American business tycoon. Churchill had a privilaged childhood but it wasn't a very happy one as his parents were distant figures and some of his schoolboy letters revealed a rebellious school boy. In 1895 churchill graduated from Sandhurst. He travelled to the United States and to Cuba, he saw action on the north west frontiers of India in 1897 his adventures continued into 1899 when he sailed to South Africa as a correspondent of the Morning Post of cover the Boer War. He was captured and spent his twenty-fifth birthday as a Prisoner of War until he escaped and made his way across enemy lines to Durban.
Churchill was first elected into parliament in 1900, shortly before the Death of Queen Victoria as a Conservative, four years later he joined the Libral Democrats and rased swiftly through the ranks. He became home secretary and a post which is remembered to day because of the Tonypandy riot and the siege of Sidney Street. Churchill married Clementine Hozier on the 12th September 1908 at St. Margaret's Church in Westminster. Together they had five children but only four survived into adult hood.
By the time the World War one broke out in 1914, Churchill was the First Admiralty and was seen as a major national figure. Soon the war in Europe had become a stalemate with nither side gaining any victories, Churchill realised that the only way to end the war quickly was to attack Turkey through the Dardanelles. This attack soon turned out to be a bad idea which lead to the disastrous Gallipolli landings and cost Churchill his job as the First Admiralty. Unable to remain idle during the war Churchill sought active service on the Western Front, in January 1916 Churchill was appointed as Lieutenant - Colonel commanding the 6th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers.