When it finally came, ‘in peace and without pain’, the death of the greatest Englishman would not have been a surprise to anyone, including the man himself.
For Sir Winston Churchill, who died 60 years ago today aged 90, had long predicted he would pass on the same day as his father had seven decades earlier – and he did.
The man who had led Britain through its ‘darkest hour’ with stirring words and indomitable spirit gave up the ghost at his London home surrounded by his family.
Operation Hope Not – the name for the funeral plans that had been more than a decade in the making – kicked into gear as tributes poured in from across the world.
He was, said Queen Elizabeth, a ‘many-sided genius’ whose loss left the ‘whole world’ poorer.
Prime minister Harold Wilson called him ‘the greatest man any of us have known’.
It was fitting then that he received all the trappings of a state funeral, including a three-day lying in state period in Westminster Hall.
Just over 320,000 people queued more than 1.5miles south of the River Thames to pay their respects, whilst ten per cent of the world’s population – including nearly half of all Britons – watched the final goodbye in St Paul’s Cathedral on television.
It was a suitably grand send-off for a prime minister who had shepherded the country through the Second World War, written more words than Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare combined and earned the love and respect of millions of people.
Sir Winston Churchill leaving London for Chartwell, his beloved country home in Kent, July 30, 1964
British Naval Officers stand vigil around Sir Winston’s coffin as it lies in state in Westminster Hall
Sir Winston final decline came when he suffered a stroke just a few weeks after his 90th birthday.
The nation held its breath as regular updates on his condition were released in the days that followed.
As the sleeping titan received regular visits from family members at his London home, 28 Hyde Park Gate, his personal doctor, Lord Moran, issued regular updates on the state of his health.
The initial news about his stroke was greeted with concern across the world.
World leaders including US President Lyndon Johnson and France‘s Charles de Gaulle – who Churchill always disliked – issued statements.
An update on January 18 said the great man had ‘lost ground’. The gravity of the situation was demonstrated by Lord Moran’s visit to Churchill’s home at 2am the following day.
On January 20, the Mail’s editorial declared: ‘There is a hush over the nation as the shadows close in on the great man. Party strife is hushed.
‘The Prime Minister cancels a visit to Germany. The Archbishop of Canterbury speaks of the ‘approaching death’ of one whose work is done.
‘All this in daily expectation of the event which, after so many, many years, after so much that we have gone through together, will take Winston Churchill from us.
‘He fights, but whether consciously or not no man can tell. He will go out fighting – indomitable to the end.
A group of schoolgirls form part of the long queue waiting to file through Westminster Hall for the lying-in-state of Sir Winston Churchill
The queue stretching across the Thames. More than 320,000 people filed past to pay their respects
Winston Churchill’s funeral cortege makes its way down Whitehall towards St Paul’s Cathedral, January 30, 1965
Sir Winston Churchill’s funeral procession makings its way to St Paul’s Cathedral from Westminster Hall, January 30, 1965
The funeral cortege of Sir Winston Churchill arrives with his coffin at St Paul’s Cathedral
Sir Winston’s coffin is carried into St Paul’s Cathedral for his state funeral, January 30, 1965
The front page of the Daily Mail the day after the death of Winston Churchill, January 25, 1965
The Daily Mail’s coverage on January 25, 1965, the day after the death of Churchill
The sombre mood when Churchill’s body was lying in state was perfectly captured by the Mail’s Vincent Mulchrone. Using words that would themselves go down in history, he wrote on January 28: ‘Two rivers run silently through London tonight, and one is made of people. Dark and quiet as the night-time Thames itself, it flows through Westminster Hall, eddying about the foot of the rock called Churchill’
The Daily Mail’s front page on the day of Sir Winston Churchill’s funeral
‘How typical the long, brave life of one who said: “Never give in! Never, never, never, never!”‘
On January 22, just two days before his death, Sir Winston’s third great-grandchild was born to his daughter-in-law at Westminster Hospital.
But Sir Winston would not live to see the new arrival. The worst news finally came shortly after 8am on January 24.
For a decade before his death, Sir Winston had said he would pass away on the same day as his father.
Lord Randolph Churchill – who had always cruelly shunned his son’s attempts at affection – died aged just 45 on January 24, 1895.
Sir Winston’s granddaughter, Celia Sandys, spoke of the moment of Sir Winston’s death in 2016.
She said: ‘He had said some years before that he was going to die on the anniversary of Lord Randolph’s death, his father – so what made him say that?
‘So on January 24, early in the morning, we gathered around his bed to say goodbye and 70 years to the day, and probably to the minute… he slipped imperceptibly away to meet his maker. It’s uncanny really.’
Within half an hour of the news of his passing being announced, a crowd had begun to gather outside Sir Winston’s home.
The coffin of Sir Winston Churchill is carried down the nave of St Paul’s Cathedral, January 30, 1965
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip attend the funeral of Winston Churchill at St Paul’s Cathedral
Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip lead mourners on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral
Members of the Grenadier Guards stand to attention next to Sir Winston’s coffin on the MV Havengore shortly before the vessel leaves Tower Pier
RAF planes fly overhead as Sir Winston Churchill’s coffin is carried on the MV Havengore to Festival Hall Pier
Vincent Mulchrone declared on the paper’s front page on January 25: ‘When the soul quit the body of Sir Winston Churchill yesterday the ten people crowded in his room watched the little miracle familiar to anyone who has seen death.
“The years”, said one of the ten, “fell away from his face, and he looked again the way he looked during the war.”
‘The curtains in the ground-floor back bedroom were drawn against the darkest hour before the old warrior’s last dawn.’
Domestic tributes were led by the Queen and the prime minister.
Her Majesty, who had been mentored by Sir Winston when she became the monarch during his second stint in Downing Street, said to Lady Churchill: ‘The news of Sir Winston’s death caused inexpressible grief to me and my husband.
‘We send our deepest sympathy to you and your family.
‘The whole world is poorer by the loss of this many-sided genius, while the survival of this country and the sister nations of the Commonwealth in the face of the greatest danger that has ever threatened them will be the perpetual memorial to his leadership, his vision and his indomitable courage.’
Mr Wilson added: ‘We feel, as a family feels when its eldest, most respected, best-loved member has died, a sense of personal loss of a gap in our midst that cannot be filled.
‘The silent vigil of our people outside his house during these dark hours, the unstinted sympathy felt in every house in the land for Lady Churchill – these are perhaps more eloquent of our feelings than words can be.
The coffin of Winston Churchill arriving at Waterloo Station, where it was placed onto a train drawn by a Battle of Britain locomotive named Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill’s coffin is loaded onto the Battle of Britain train bearing his name, before it makes its way to Oxfordshire for his burial
Mourners examine the flowers and wreaths laid on Winston Churchill’s grave at St Martin’s Church in Bladon, Oxfordshire
Queues of people wait to file past the grave of Sir Winston Churchill after his funeral, January 31, 1965
Lady Churchill and family lay a wreath on the grave of Sir Winston Churchill, Bladon, Oxfordshire, 1974
Sir Winston with his wife Clementine at his home on his 90th birthday, November 1964
Sir Winston and his wife Clementine sit on board a naval auxiliary patrol vessel as it travels down the Thames towards docks in East London, September 1940
‘We know, too, that with his death we are making the end of an era.’
He ended: ‘Winston Churchill’s life, his monumental achievements, have enriched for ever not only our nation which he led, not only the world which he bestrode, but the hearts of each of us whose lives he touched with his greatness.’
Sir Winston’s passing immediately triggered the plans for his state funeral.
Not since the death the Duke of Wellington in 1852 had a ‘commoner’ been given the honour of a state funeral.
Sir Winston had been intimately involved in the Hope Not plans for more than a decade before he died.
Imperial War Museum Historian Anthony Richards, the author of upcoming book Churchill: A Visual History, told MailOnline: ‘The plan had been a long lasting one and it had been adapted over the years several times.
‘He had a big say in every single aspect of it.’
The historian added: ‘It was his last chance to put his final stamp on history.’
Just like most of the monarchs who he had served faithfully during his 60-year career, Sir Winston was to lie in state in Westminster Hall.
Sir Winston giving his famous V for Victory sign outside Downing Street during his time as prime minister
Sir Winston on the Buckingham Palace balcony with King George VI, the Queen, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret on VE Day, May 8, 1945
Winston Churchill posing with a machine gun and a cigar in his mouth
The catafalque that held his coffin was covered with black velvet, and the floor of the hall was topped with beige carpet to absorb the sounds of mourners’ feet as they filed past.
Five watch officers stood guard around his coffin, which was covered with the Union Jack.
The lying in state began at 6am on January 27 and lasted for three days, until the morning of his funeral on the 30th.
In that time, more than 320,000 people who had shuffled in a queue that snaked south to Lambeth Bridge and then north along the South Bank (around 1.5miles in total) filed past his coffin to pay their final respects.
In that time, Westminster Hall was open for 23 hours a day.
The sombre mood was perfectly captured by Vincent Mulchrone once again.
Using words that would themselves go down in history, he wrote in the Mail on January 28: ‘Two rivers run silently through London tonight, and one is made of people.
‘Dark and quiet as the night-time Thames itself, it flows through Westminster Hall, eddying about the foot of the rock called Churchill.’
When the lying in state came to an end, hundreds of people who were still in the queue had to be turned away.
Sir Winston Churchill is aided as he leaves his London home for a stay in the country, July 1964
Winston Churchill leaves his home in Hyde Park Gate to travel to London Airport ahead of a holiday on board the plush yacht owned by shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, March 1961
Winston Churchill seen arriving back at his Hyde Park Gate home by ambulance, 1962
Crowds in Hyde Park Gate gather to celebrate 90th birthday of Sir Winston Churchill, November 1964
At 9.45am on January 30, the procession from the Hall to St Paul’s Cathedral began, with Sir Winston’s coffin lying on a gun carriage.
With a million people lining the two-mile route, the mourners walking in the procession included his son Randolph – who took part despite poor health – and grandson, also called Winston.
Sir Winston’s wife Clementine and their daughters and granddaughters followed in carriages.
Around 25million people in Britain watched on television.
Globally, 350million people – a tenth of the world’s population – tuned in.
For most of those watching, they were guided by the smooth tones of BBC broadcasting legend Richard Dimbleby, who would be dead from cancer just 11 months later.
Once at St Paul’s, ex-prime ministers Clement Attlee, Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan – all of whom had served in Sir Winston’s war cabinet – acted as honorary pallbearers.
Attlee, who was 82 and very frail, at one point stumbled on the steps and nearly brought Sir Winston’s coffin crashing to the floor.
Inside St Paul’s Cathedral, leaders of 112 nations – nearly every independent state in the world – paid their respects.
Sir Winston was born at Blenheim Palace. Above: The statesman as a young boy
Sir Winston Churchill as an officer in the South African Light Horse, 1899. He had always been cruelly shunned by his father, Lord Randolph Churchill (right)
Winston Churchill (right) aged around 10 with his mother Jennie and brother Jack
Sir Winston was also honoured by the presence of the Queen – who had ascended to the throne when he was PM in 1952 – and other members of the Royal Family.
Queen Elizabeth, who did not usually attend the funerals of people outside the Royal Family, showed the depth of her respect for her first prime minister by breaking with tradition.
Rather than arriving last, as was the norm for the monarch, she turned up even before the family and coffin had arrived and went on to follow Churchill’s relatives out afterwards, instead of leaving first.
The assembled mourners heard a succession of Sir Winston’s favourite hymns, including Fight the Good Fight and He Who Would Valiant Be.
After the service, his coffin was carried to Tower Pier and placed on the barge the MV Havengore, as an RAF flypast gave a final honour in the skies above.
The barge carried Sir Winston to Festival Pier and then a hearse took his coffin to Waterloo station.
It was there that his final journey to his resting place – beside his father at St Martin’s Church in Bladon, Oxfordshire – began.
The train carrying Sir Winston’s coffin left Waterloo at 1.25pm.
Hundreds of thousands of people had lined the route to get a final glimpse of the man who had carried them through the darkest times.
Once at the church – which was less than two miles from Blenheim Palace, his birthplace – Sir Winston was laid to rest with just family present.
The following day, Bladon, then a village of just 900 people, was swamped by thousands who had flocked to Sir Winston’s graveside.
His final goodbye marked the end of an era for the country.
The Mail’s Bernard Levin summed up his legacy when he wrote on January 26: ‘We shall never see another Churchill because the challenges that brought forth his like have disappeared, and the energy with which his like responded to those challenges has withered accordingly.
‘Churchill’s death leaves the world a little quieter, a little darker, a little colder: but above all a little smaller.’
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