Head of House: Mr Babra
House Leader: Lavinia
House colour: Purple
The Houses at Avon House Preparatory School are named after famous people with a local connection.
Sir Winston Churchill, politician, artist, historian and writer, was MP for Woodford for 40 years.
Each year Churchill runs a charity event in School. This year they raised money for Magic Breakfast which ensures that no child is too hungry to learn by providing a healthy breakfast.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Winston was born November 30th, 1874 in Oxfordshire, England. He was actually born in a room in a palace named Blenheim Palace. His parents were wealthy aristocrats. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a politician who held many high offices in the British government.
Churchill attended the Royal Military College and joined the British cavalry upon graduation. He traveled to many places while with the military and worked as a newspaper correspondent, writing stories about battles and being in the military.
While in South Africa during the Second Boer War, Winston Churchill was captured and became a Prisoner of War. He managed to escape from prison and traveled 300 miles to be rescued. As a result, he became something of a hero in Britain for a while.
In 1900 Churchill was elected to Parliament. Over the next 30 years he would hold a number of different offices in the government including a cabinet post in 1908. His career had many ups and downs during this time, but he also became famous for many of his writings.
At the outbreak of World War II, Churchill became First Lord of the Admiralty in command of the Royal Navy. At the same time the current Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, wanted to appease Germany and Hitler. Churchill knew this would not work and warned the government that they needed to help fight Hitler or Hitler would soon take over all of Europe.
As Germany continued to advance, the country lost confidence in Chamberlain. Finally, Chamberlain resigned and Winston Churchill was chosen to be his successor as Prime Minister on May 10, 1940.
Soon after becoming Prime Minister, Germany invaded France and Britain was alone in Europe fighting Hitler. Churchill inspired the country to keep fighting despite the bad circumstances. He also helped to forge an alliance of Allied Powers with the Soviet Union and the United States. Even though he did not like Joseph Stalin and the communists of the Soviet Union, he knew the Allies needed their help to fight Germany.
With the Allies help, and Winston’s leadership, the British were able to hold off Hitler. After a long and brutal war they were able to defeat Hitler and the Germans.
After the war, Churchill’s party lost the election and he was no longer Prime Minister. He was still a major leader in the government, however. He was again elected Prime Minister in 1951. He served the country for many years and then retired. He died on January 24, 1965. school and Harrow. He did not do well at school and was considered lazy, although he did enjoy history and literature. After Harrow he went to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst and joined the British army, seeing action on the Indian north-west frontier and in the Sudan.
