View source for Randolph Churchill

{{Short description|British journalist, writer and politician (1911–1968)}}
{{about|the son of Winston Churchill|his grandfather, and Winston Churchill's father|Lord Randolph Churchill}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Honourable]]
| name             = Randolph Churchill
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MBE|size=100%}}
| image            = Cecil Beaton Photographs- Political and Military Personalities; Churchill, Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer CBM1585.jpg
| caption          = Randolph Churchill, {{circa|1941}}
| office           = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]<br />for [[Preston (UK Parliament constituency)|Preston]]
| alongside        = [[Edward Cobb (politician)|Edward Cobb]]
| term_start       = 29 September 1940
| term_end         = 5 July 1945
| preceded         = [[Adrian Moreing]]
| succeeded        = [[John William Sunderland]]
| birth_name       = Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer Churchill
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1911|5|28|df=y}}
| birth_place      = London, England
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1968|6|6|1911|5|28|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[East Bergholt]], [[Suffolk]], England
| resting_place    = [[St Martin's Church, Bladon]]
| nationality      = English
| party            = [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]
| spouse           = {{unbulleted list | {{Marriage|[[Pamela Digby]]|1939|1946|end=divorced}} | {{Marriage|June Osborne|1948|1961|end=divorced}}}}
| children         = {{unbulleted list | [[Winston Churchill (1940–2010)|Winston Churchill]] | [[Arabella Churchill (charity founder)|Arabella Churchill]]}}
| parents          = {{unbulleted list | [[Winston Churchill]]| [[Clementine Hozier]]}}
| education        = [[Eton College]]
| alma_mater       = [[Christ Church, Oxford]]
| profession       = {{hlist|Journalist|soldier}}
| allegiance       = United Kingdom
| branch           = [[British Army]]
| unit             = [[4th Queen's Own Hussars]]<br />[[Queen's Royal Irish Hussars]]
| serviceyears     = 1938–1961
| rank             = [[Major (United Kingdom)|Major]]
| battles          = {{tree list}}
* [[Second World War]]
** [[Western Desert campaign]]
** [[World War II in Yugoslavia]]
{{tree list/end}}
| mawards          = [[Member of the Order of the British Empire]]
}}

[[Major (United Kingdom)|Major]] '''Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer Churchill'''{{efn|This English person has the [[Double-barrelled name#British tradition|barrelled surname]] ''[[Spencer-Churchill|Spencer Churchill]]'', but is known by the surname ''Churchill''.}} {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE}} (28 May 1911 – 6 June 1968) was a British journalist, writer and politician.

The only son of future [[List of British Prime Ministers|British Prime Minister]] [[Winston Churchill]] and his wife, [[Clementine Churchill|Clementine]], Randolph was brought up to regard himself as his father's political heir, although their relations became strained in later years. In the 1930s, he stood unsuccessfully for Parliament a number of times, causing his father embarrassment. He was elected as [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Preston (UK Parliament constituency)|Preston]] at the [[1940 Preston by-election]]. During the [[Second World War]], he served with the [[Special Air Service|SAS]] in North Africa and with [[Tito]]'s partisans in [[World War II in Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]]. Randolph lost his seat in [[United Kingdom general election, 1945|1945]] and was never re-elected to Parliament. Despite his lack of success in politics, Randolph enjoyed a successful career as a writer and journalist. In the 1960s, he wrote the first two volumes of the official life of his father.

Randolph was married and divorced twice. His first wife was [[Pamela Harriman|Pamela Digby (later Harriman)]]; their son [[Winston Churchill (1940–2010)|Winston]] later became a Conservative MP. Throughout his life, Randolph had a reputation for rude, drunken behaviour. By the 1960s, his health had collapsed from years of heavy drinking; he outlived his father by only three years.

==Childhood==
Randolph Churchill was born at his parents' house at [[Eccleston Square]], London, on 28 May 1911.<ref name="Soames 2003, p. 81">{{harvp|Soames|2003|page=81}}</ref>{{efn|The ODNB states that he was born in Bolton Street, Mayfair,<ref>{{harvp|Matthew|2004|pages=637–638}}</ref> which appears to be an error. In Vol II of his biography of his father (''Young Statesman'', p. 290), Randolph states that his parents had moved from Bolton Street to Eccleston Square in March 1909.}} His parents nicknamed him "the Chumbolly" before he was born.{{efn|The meaning of the word is obscure. Randolph himself claimed not to know what it meant [''Young Statesman'' pp. 350–55] His sister Mary Soames believed that it meant "a beautiful flower" in North West India, or else was a Farsi (Persian) word for a fat, happy child.<ref name="Soames 2003, p. 81"/> Mary Lovell writes that it was an Indian word for a chubby, happy child.<ref>{{harvp|Lovell|2012|page=268}}</ref>}}<ref name="Soames 2003, p. 81"/>

His father [[Winston Churchill]] was already a leading Liberal Cabinet Minister, and Randolph was christened in the House of Commons crypt on 26 October 1911, with [[Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (UK)|Foreign Secretary]] [[Sir Edward Grey]] and Conservative politician [[F. E. Smith]] among his [[godparent]]s.<ref>Soames 2003, pp. 84–85.</ref> Randolph and his older sister [[Diana Churchill|Diana]] had for a time to be escorted by plain clothes detectives on their walks in the park, because of threats by [[suffragettes]] to kidnap them.<ref>Soames 2003, p. 99.</ref> He was a page at the marriage of [[H. H. Asquith|the Prime Minister]]'s daughter [[Violet Asquith]] to [[Maurice Bonham Carter]] on 1 December 1915.<ref>Soames 2003, p. 157.</ref>

He recalled the [[German bombing of Britain, 1914–1918|Zeppelin raids of 1917]] as "a great treat", as the children were taken from their beds in the middle of the night, wrapped in blankets, and "allowed" to join the grown-ups in the cellar;<ref>Soames 2003, pp. 211–12.</ref> he also recalled the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|Armistice]] celebrations at [[Blenheim Palace]].<ref>Soames 2003, p. 217.</ref>

He went to [[Sandroyd School]] in [[Surrey]], and later admitted that he had had a problem with authority and discipline. His headmaster reported to his father that he was "very combative". Winston, who had been neglected by his parents as a small boy, visited his son at prep school as often as possible.<ref>Lovell 2012, p. 326.</ref> Randolph was very good-looking as a child and into his twenties. In his autobiography ''Twenty-One Years'' (pp.&nbsp;24–25) he recorded that at the age of ten he had been "interfered with" by a junior prep school master, who made Randolph touch him sexually; Randolph had only realised that something was amiss when a matron came in, causing the master to leap embarrassed to his feet. At home, a maid overheard Randolph confiding in his sister Diana. He later wrote that he had never seen his father so angry, and that he had made a hundred-mile trip to demand that the teacher be dismissed, only to learn that the teacher had already been sacked.<ref name="Bloch 2015, pp. 89–90">Bloch 2015, pp. 89–90.</ref><ref>Lovell 2012, p. 334.</ref>

He remembered that he and Diana returned from ice-skating in [[Holland Park]] on 22 June 1922 to find the house guarded and being searched by "tough-looking men" following the assassination of [[Sir Henry Wilson, 1st Baronet|Field Marshal Henry Wilson]].<ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 267–73">Soames 2003, pp. 267–73.</ref>

==Eton==
Winston gave his son a choice of [[Eton College]] or [[Harrow School]], and he chose the former.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 352–53">Lovell 2012, pp. 352–53.</ref> Randolph later wrote "I was lazy and unsuccessful both at work and at games ... and was an unpopular boy".<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 37.</ref> He was once said to have been given "six up" (i.e. a beating) by his house's Captain of Games (a senior boy) for being "bloody awful all round". [[Michael Foot]] later wrote that this was "the kind of comprehensive verdict which others who had dealings with him were always searching for."<ref>Foot 1980, p. 164.</ref> He once wrote apologising to his father for "having done so badly and disappointed you so much".<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 365–70">Lovell 2012, pp. 365–70.</ref> During the [[general strike of 1926]] he fixed up a secret radio set as his housemaster would not allow him to have one.<ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 267–73"/> In November 1926 his headmaster wrote to his father to inform him that he had [[Corporal punishment in schools|caned]] Randolph, then aged 15, after all five of the masters then teaching him had independently reported him for "either being idle or being a bore with his chatter".<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 44.</ref>

As a teenager Randolph fell in love with [[Diana Mitford]], sister of his friend [[Mitford family#Thumbnail biographies|Tom Mitford]].<ref>Soames 2003, p. 283.</ref> Tom Mitford was regarded as having a calming influence on him,<ref>Lovell 2012, pp. 355–56.</ref> although his housemaster Colonel Sheepshanks<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://archives.etoncollege.com/Filename.ashx?tableName=ta_chronicles&columnName=filename&recordId=1847 |title=Archived copy |access-date=13 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613184740/http://archives.etoncollege.com/Filename.ashx?tableName=ta_chronicles&columnName=filename&recordId=1847 |archive-date=13 June 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> wrongly suspected Randolph and Tom of being lovers; Randolph replied, "I happen to be in love with his sister".<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 43.</ref>

Randolph was "a loquacious and precocious boy".<ref name="Matthew 2004, pp. 637–38">Matthew 2004, pp. 637–38.</ref> From his teenage years he was encouraged to attend his father's dinner parties with leading politicians of the day, drink and have his say, and he later recorded that he would simply have laughed at anyone who had suggested that he would ''not'' go straight into politics and perhaps even become prime minister by his mid-twenties like [[William Pitt the Younger]].<ref name="Churchill 1997, p. 66">Churchill 1997, p. 66.</ref><ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 352–53"/> His sister later wrote that he "manifestly needed a father's hand" but his father "spoiled and indulged him", and did not take seriously the complaints of his schoolmasters. He was influenced by his godfather Lord Birkenhead ([[F. E. Smith]]), an opinionated and heavy-drinking man.<ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 267–73"/> Winston Churchill was [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] from late 1924 until 1929. Busy in that office, he neglected his daughters in favour of Randolph, who was his only son.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 352–53"/> On a visit to Italy in 1927 Winston and Randolph were received by [[Pope Pius XI]].<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 352–53"/> In later life "relations between Winston and Randolph were always uneasy, the father alternately spoiling and being infuriated by the son."<ref name="Matthew 2004, pp. 637–38"/>

In April 1928 Winston forwarded a satisfactory school report to Clementine, who was in Florence, commenting that Randolph was "developing fast" and would be fit for politics, [[barrister|the bar]] or journalism and was "far more advanced than I was at his age". His mother replied that "He is certainly going to be an interest, an anxiety & an excitement in our lives".<ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 267–73"/> He had cool relations with his mother from an early age, in part because she felt him to be spoiled and arrogant as a result of his father's overindulgence.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 352–53"/><ref name="Churchill 1997, p. 66"/> Clementine's biographer writes that "Randolph was for decades a recurrent embarrassment to both his parents".<ref>Matthew 2004, p. 598.</ref>

In what would turn out to be his final report on leaving Eton, [[Robert Birley]], one of his history teachers, wrote of his native intelligence and writing ability, but added that he found it too easy to get by on little work or with a journalist's knack of spinning a single idea into an essay.<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 53.</ref>

==Oxford==
Randolph went up to [[Christ Church, Oxford]], in January 1929, partway through the academic year and not yet eighteen, after his father's friend [[Professor Lindemann]] had advised that a place had fallen vacant.<ref>Churchill 1997, pp. 53–54.</ref>

In May he spoke for his father at the [[1929 United Kingdom general election|May 1929 general election]].<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 55.</ref><ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 242–44">Soames 2003, pp. 242–44.</ref> Between August and October 1929 Randolph and his uncle accompanied his father (now out of office) on his lecture tour of the US and Canada.<ref>Churchill 1997, pp. 53–56.</ref><ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 242–44"/> His diary of the trip was later included in ''Twenty-One Years''. On one occasion he impressed his father by delivering an impromptu five-minute reply to a tedious speech by a local cleric. At [[Hearst Castle|San Simeon]] (the mansion of press baron [[Randolph Hearst]]) he lost his virginity to the Austrian-born actress [[Tilly Losch]],<ref>Lovell 2012, pp. 359–63.</ref> who was also at one time the lover of his close friend [[Tom Mitford]].

Randolph was already drinking double brandies at the age of nineteen, to his parents' consternation.<ref name="Matthew 2004, pp. 637–38"/> He did little work or sport at Oxford and spent most of his time at lengthy lunch and dinner parties with other well-connected undergraduates and with [[Don_(academia)|dons]] who enjoyed being entertained by them. Randolph later claimed that he had benefited from the experience, but at the time his lifestyle earned him a magisterial letter of rebuke from his father (29 December 1929), warning him that he was "not acquiring any habits of industry or concentration" and that he would withdraw him from Oxford if he did not apply himself to his studies. Winston Churchill had also received a similar and oft-quoted letter of rebuke from his own father, [[Lord Randolph Churchill]], at almost exactly the same age.<ref>Churchill 1997, pp. 63–65.</ref>

==Speaking tour of the United States==
Randolph dropped out of Oxford in October 1930 to conduct a lecture tour of the US.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 365–70"/> He was already in debt; his mother guessed correctly that he would never finish his degree.<ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 267–73"/> Contrary to his later claims, his father attempted to dissuade him at the time.<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 70.</ref>

Unlike his father, who had become a powerful orator through much practice, and whose speeches always required extensive preparation, public speaking came easily to Randolph. His son later recorded that this was a mixed blessing: "because of the very facility with which he could speak extemporaneously [he] failed to make the effort required to bring him more success".<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 72.</ref>

Randolph very nearly married [[Kay Halle]] of [[Cleveland]], Ohio, seven years his senior. His father wrote begging him not to be so foolish as to marry before he had established a career.<ref name="Churchill 1997, p. 77">Churchill 1997, p. 77.</ref> Clementine visited him in December, using money Winston had given her to buy a small car.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 365–70"/> Contrary to newspaper reports that she had crossed the Atlantic to put a stop to the wedding,<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 365–70"/> she only learned of the engagement when she arrived.<ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 267–73"/> She found Randolph, to her horror, living in an extravagant suite of hotel rooms, but was able to write to Miss Halle's father, who agreed that it would be unwise for their children to marry.<ref name="Churchill 1997, p. 77"/>

Clementine wrote to her husband of one of Randolph's lectures "Frankly, it was not at ''all'' good" and commented that he should have had it well-practised by now, although she was impressed by his delivery.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 365–70"/> She went home in April 1931, having enjoyed Randolph's company in New York.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 365–70"/> She would later look back on the trip with nostalgia.<ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 267–73"/>

Randolph's lecture tour earned him $12,000 (£2,500 at the then rate of exchange, roughly £150,000 at 2020 prices).<ref name="Churchill 1997, p. 77"/><ref name="measuringworth.com">[http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/result.php Compute the Relative Value of a U.K. Pound] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331194822/https://measuringworth.com/ukcompare/result.php |date=31 March 2016 }}</ref> By the time of his mother's arrival he had already spent £1,000 in three months, despite being on a £400 annual parental allowance.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 365–70"/> He left the US owing $2,000 to his father's friend, the financier [[Bernard Baruch]]; a debt which he did not repay for thirty years.<ref name="Churchill 1997, p. 77"/>

==Early 1930s==
In October 1931 Randolph began a lecture tour of the UK. He lost £600 by betting wrongly on the results of the [[1931 United Kingdom general election|general election]]; his father paid his debts on condition he gave up his chauffeur-driven [[Bentley]], a more extravagant car than his father drove.<ref>{{harvp|Churchill|1997|page=80}}</ref> In 1931 he shared [[Edward James]]'s house in London with [[John Betjeman]]. By the early 1930s Randolph was working as a journalist for the Rothermere press.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 365–70"/> He wrote in an article in 1932 that he planned to "make an immense fortune and become Prime Minister".<ref>{{harvp|Churchill|1997|page=86}}</ref> He warned that the Nazis meant war as early as March 1932 in his ''[[Daily Graphic (UK)|Daily Graphic]]'' column;<ref name="Lovell 2012, p. 372">{{harvp|Lovell|2012|page=372}}</ref> his son Winston later claimed that he was the first British journalist to warn about Hitler.<ref name="Churchill 1997, pp. 88–89">{{harvp|Churchill|1997|pages=88–89}}</ref>

In 1932 Winston Churchill had [[Philip Laszlo]] paint an idealised portrait of his son for his 21st birthday.{{efn|It appears as the cover picture of ''His Father's Son'', Winston Churchill's 1997 life of his father Randolph.}}<ref name="Bloch 2015, pp. 89–90"/> Winston Churchill organised a "Fathers and Sons" dinner at [[Claridge's]] for his birthday on 16 June 1932, with [[Douglas Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham|Lord Hailsham]] and his son [[Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone|Quintin Hogg]], [[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury|Lord Cranborne]] and [[Frederick Smith, 2nd Earl of Birkenhead|Freddie Birkenhead]], the son of Winston's late friend [[F. E. Smith]].<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 87.</ref> Also present were [[David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty|Admiral of the Fleet Earl Beatty]] and [[David Beatty, 2nd Earl Beatty|his son]], and [[Oswald Mosley]] (then still seen as a coming man).<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 365–70"/> That year Randolph flew into a rage with [[Lord Beaverbrook]], when his ''[[Daily Express]]'' singled him out in a story on the sons of great men, which sneered that "major fathers as a rule breed minor sons, so our little London peacocks had better tone down their fine feathers." "The function of the gossip writer", said Randolph, "is not among those which commend themselves mostly highly to my generation" (in middle age Randolph would himself become a highly paid London gossip columnist).<ref>{{cite journal |last=Slide |first=Anthony |title=Gossip, Scandal, and Innuendo |date=2010-02-26 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.14325/mississippi/9781604734133.003.0009 |journal=Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine |pages=144–169 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |doi=10.14325/mississippi/9781604734133.003.0009 |isbn=978-1-60473-413-3 |access-date=2021-02-11|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Randolph reported from the [[July 1932 German federal election|German elections in July 1932]].<ref name="Churchill 1997, pp. 88–89"/> Randolph encouraged his father to try to meet [[Adolf Hitler]] in summer 1932 whilst he was retracing [[John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough|the Duke of Marlborough]]'s march to [[Battle of Blenheim|Blenheim]] (Winston was writing the Duke's life at the time); the meeting fell through at the last minute as Hitler excused himself.<ref name="Lovell 2012, p. 372"/> Randolph had an affair with [[Doris Castlerosse]] in 1932, causing a near fight with her husband. She later claimed to have had an affair with his father Winston in the mid-1930s, although Winston's biographer [[Andrew Roberts (historian)|Andrew Roberts]] believes the latter claim unlikely to be true.<ref>{{harvp|Roberts|2018|page=386}}</ref><ref name="Telegraph">{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2018/03/04/secret-history-churchills-secret-affair-review-good-documentary/ |title=Secret History: Churchill's Secret Affair, review – a good documentary undermined by its own scoop |website=The Telegraph |first=Benji |last=Wilson |date=4 March 2018 |access-date=5 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905145339/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2018/03/04/secret-history-churchills-secret-affair-review-good-documentary/ |archive-date=5 September 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Randolph, then aged just 21, was sent to Paraguay in August 1932 by Beaverbrook's ''Daily Express''. Just after his arrival in [[Asunción]], he conducted an interview with Major Arturo Bray Riquelme, Director of the Military School and Commander of the R.I. 6 "Boquerón", formed from the officers and cadets of the [[Francisco López Military Academy|Paraguayan Military School]]; this report was published in the ''Daily Express'' on Thursday, 11 August 1932, when the R.I. 6 was in full preparation to depart or at the war front in the [[Chaco War|Chaco]]. Arturo Bray was highly sought after by the British press as he had served as a British officer in the World War I and was highly decorated.<ref>{{cite book |title=Cousin Randolph – Life of Randolph Churchill |first=Anita |last=Leslie}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Winston S. Churchill, 1874-1965: a comprehensive historiography and annotated bibliography |first=Eugene L. |last=Rasor}}</ref><ref>Article by Gustavo Ávalos in Memorias de la Guerra del Chaco / Research and compilation by Eduardo Ortíz Mereles and Eduardo Nakayama – Mandu'arâ Cultural Association.</ref>

At [[Lady Diana Cooper]]'s fortieth birthday party in [[Venice]] that year a woman was deliberately burned on her hand with a cigarette by a thwarted lover, and Randolph sprang to her defence.<ref>{{harvp|Lovell|2012|page=373}}</ref>

Randolph also became embroiled in the controversy of the February 1933 [[King and Country debate]] at the [[Oxford Union Society]]. Three weeks after the Union had passed a pacifist motion, Randolph and his friend [[Edward Stanley, Lord Stanley (politician, born 1894)|Lord Stanley]] proposed a resolution to delete the previous motion from the Union's records. After a poor speech from Stanley, the [[list of presidents of the Oxford Union|president]], Frank Hardie, temporarily handed over the chair to the librarian and opposed the motion on behalf of the Union, a very unusual move. The minutes record that he received "a very remarkable ovation".<ref name="Pearce 2016 pp. 390-92">{{harvp|Pearce|2016|pages=390–392}}</ref> Randolph was then met by a barrage of hisses and stink bombs.<ref name="BWBU">{{cite book |title=Barbed Wire Between Us: A Story of Love and War |first1=Derek |last1=Round |first2=Kenelm |last2=Digby |publisher=Random House |location=Auckland |year=2002}}</ref> His speech, facing what the minutes describe as a "very antipathetic and even angry house" was "unfortunate in his manner and phrasing" and was met with "delighted jeers". He then attempted to withdraw the motion. Hardie was willing to permit this, but an ex-president pointed out from the floor that a vote of the whole house was required to allow a motion to be withdrawn. The request to withdraw was defeated by acclamation and the motion was then defeated by 750 votes to 138 (a far better attendance than the original debate had attained).<ref name="Pearce 2016 pp. 390-92" /> Randolph had persuaded a number of other former students, life members of the Union, to attend in the hope of carrying his motion.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jan |last=Morris |author-link=Jan Morris |title=The Oxford Book of Oxford |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2002 |page=375}}</ref> A bodyguard of Oxford Conservatives and police escorted Churchill back to his hotel after the debate.<ref name="BWBU" /> Sir [[Edward Heath]] recorded in his memoirs that after the debate some of the undergraduates had been intent on [[debagging]] him.<ref>{{harvp|Heath|1998|page=38}}</ref>{{efn|Heath wrote about Randolph with contempt, but went up to Oxford in October 1935 so was not an eyewitness.}} Winston Churchill wrote praising his son's courage in addressing a large, hostile audience, adding that "he was by no means cowed".<ref>{{harvp|Churchill|1997|page=96}}</ref>

Randolph's good looks and self-confidence soon brought him some success as a womaniser, but his attempt to seduce one young woman at Blenheim failed after she spent the night in bed with his cousin [[Anita Leslie]] for protection, while Randolph sat on the side of the bed talking at length of "when I am prime minister".<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 365–70"/> Randolph, who had been lucky not to be named in court as one of her lovers, also comforted a tearful Tilly Losch in public at [[Quaglino's]] after her divorce in 1934, to the amusement of the other diners and the waiters.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 365–70"/>

In the 1930s, Winston's overindulgence of his son was one of several causes of coolness between him and Clementine.<ref name="Bloch 2015, pp. 89–90"/> Clementine several times threw him out of [[Chartwell]] after arguments; at one time Clementine told Randolph she hated him and never wanted to see him again.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 381–83">{{harvp|Lovell |2012|pages=381–383}}</ref>

==Early political career==
Randolph Churchill's political career (like that of his son) was not as successful as that of his father or grandfather [[Lord Randolph Churchill]]. In an attempt to assert his own political standing he announced in January 1935 that he was a candidate in the [[1935 Liverpool Wavertree by-election|Wavertree by-election]] in Liverpool; on 6 February 1935, an Independent Conservative on a platform of rearmament and opposition to [[Government of India Act 1935|Indian Home Rule]]. His campaign was funded by [[Lucy, Lady Houston]], an eccentric ardent nationalist who owned the ''[[Saturday Review (London newspaper)|Saturday Review]]''. In an attempt to encourage Randolph, Lady Houston sent him a poem:

{{Poem quote
|text=When the truth is told at Wavertree
Wavertree will set India free
And [[Ramsay MacDonald|Socialist Mac]] will be up a tree
With all his lies and hypocrisy
Your Indian kinsfolk from over the sea
Are crying to thee
To save them from horrors you cannot see
Gallant Randolph can set them free
For Randolph is brave and Randolph has youth
And is boldly determined to tell the truth
[[William Pitt the Younger|Pitt]] was premier at twenty three
So why not he?<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Crompton |first=Teresa |title=Adventuress: The Life and Loves of Lucy, Lady Houston |publisher=The History Press |year=2020 |pages=272–274}}</ref>
}}

The poem was widely disseminated in the press – but without the unflattering references to 'Socialist Mac[Donald],' who at the time was still Prime Minister of the Conservative-dominated National Government.

His involvement was criticised by his father for splitting the official Conservative vote and letting in a winning Labour candidate, although Winston appeared to support Randolph on the hustings.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gilbert|first=Martin|title=Winston Churchill, The Wilderness Years|year=1981|publisher=Macmillan|pages=123–24|isbn=978-0-333-32564-3}}</ref><ref name="Matthew 2004, pp. 637–38" /><ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 267–73" /> [[Michael Foot]] was an eyewitness at Wavertree, where he blamed Baldwin's India policy (allowing India to impose tariffs on imported British goods) for hurting the Lancashire cotton trade. When he asked rhetorically, "And who is responsible for putting Liverpool where she is today?" a heckler shouted, "[[Blackburn Rovers]]!". "He collected 10,000 Independent votes in a few days and handed the seat on a platter to the Labour Party" as Foot later put it.<ref>Foot 1980, pp. 163–64.</ref> The day after the Wavertree by-election the [[Secretary of State for India]] [[Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood|Samuel Hoare]] wrote to [[Governor-General of India|Viceroy]] [[Lord Willingdon]] “that little brute Randolph has done a lot of mischief … The fact that he kept our man out will undoubtedly do both Winston and him a good deal of harm in the party. The fact, however, that he got more votes than we expected is disquieting. It shows that there is a great deal of inflammable material about and it makes me nervous of future explosions.”<ref>Ireland, p.145</ref>

In March 1935, again with financial backing from [[Lady Houston]],<ref name=":0" /> he sponsored an Independent Conservative candidate, Richard Findlay, also a member of the [[British Union of Fascists]], to stand in a [[1935 Norwood by-election|by-election]] in [[Norwood (UK Parliament constituency)|Norwood]]. This attracted no backing from MPs or the press, and Findlay lost<ref>{{cite book|title=Winston Churchill, The Wilderness Years|page=124}}</ref> to the official Conservative candidate, [[Duncan Sandys]], who in September that year became Randolph's brother-in-law, marrying his sister [[Diana Churchill|Diana]].<ref>Clark, ''Tories'', p. 542.</ref> He had a violent row with his father about Norwood; Winston did not support him in any way this time, although he was suspected by other Conservatives of having done so.<ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 267–73" /> Duncan Sandys was the only one of Randolph's Conservative opponents to win; Randolph soon became jealous when Sandys joined the family and Churchill warmed to him.<ref>Lovell 2012, p. 385.</ref>

Having blamed Baldwin and the party organization for his loss, Randolph libelled Sir Thomas White. Over the summer he was summoned to the High Court to pay damages of £1,000; when advised that without an apology his career in politics was over, he immediately backtracked.<ref>16 July 1935, from a solicitor's letter to Winston Churchill, [https://www.churchillarchive.com/explore/page?id=CHAR%202%2F246%2F108#image=0 CHAR 2/246/108], CUCC</ref>

Randolph Churchill was an effective manipulator of the media, using his family name to obtain coverage in newspapers such as the ''Daily Mail''. In the [[1935 United Kingdom general election|November 1935 general election]] he stood as the official Conservative candidate at Labour-held [[West Toxteth (UK Parliament constituency)|West Toxteth]]; reportedly he was so unwelcome that they threw bananas.<ref>[https://www.churchillarchive.com/explore/page?id=CHAR%202%2F246%2F161#image=0 CHAR 2/246/161 – CUCC] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314120849/http://www-archives.chu.cam.ac.uk/perl/node?a=a;reference=CHAR%202%2F246|date=14 March 2016}}, chu.cam.ac.uk; accessed 27 August 2016.</ref> The [[Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby|Earl of Derby]] lent his support, and Randolph continued to aid the Conservative campaigning across the city.<ref>AR 2/246/116, Letter from Lord Derby to WSC, offering to help Randolph Churchill's election campaign in Liverpool West Toxteth. 23 October 1935 [https://www.churchillarchive.com/explore/page?id=CHAR%202%2F246%2F117#image=0 CHAR 2/246/117]</ref> He stood for Parliament a third time, as a [[Unionist Party (Scotland)|Unionist]] on 10 February 1936 in a [[1936 Ross and Cromarty by-election|by-election]] at [[Ross and Cromarty (UK Parliament constituency)|Ross and Cromarty]], opposed to the [[National Government (United Kingdom)|National Government]] candidacy of [[Malcolm MacDonald]]. Randolph's campaign was funded by Lady Houston for a third time. It was long and lively, carried out in wintry conditions in which Randolph and the other candidates drove many miles over narrow mountain tracks, carrying spades in their cars to dig themselves out of snowdrifts, to reach far areas of the large constituency.<ref name=":0" /> Although Randolph enjoyed it all enormously, he was defeated again.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20121219110721/http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Rcommons2.htm Profile]}}, leighrayment.com; accessed 12 March 2016.</ref> This embarrassed his father, who was hoping to be offered a Cabinet position at this time.<ref name="Matthew 2004, pp. 637–38"/>

In September 1936, at his father's behest, Randolph pursued his younger sister [[Sarah Churchill (actress)|Sarah]] to the US in a vain attempt to dissuade her from marrying the much older comedian [[Vic Oliver]].<ref>Soames 2003, p. 276.</ref>

Lady Houston had backed Randolph's three attempts to stand for Parliament. He was better backed financially than his father had ever been.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 381–83"/> This support came to a halt when she died late in 1936. Freddie Birkenhead remarked that he was "unbowed but bloody as usual". Thereafter he used his employment as a Beaverbrook/Rothermere journalist to promote his political career and to warn of the dangers of Hitler. In 1937 he tried in vain to get an invitation from [[Unity Mitford]] to meet Hitler.<ref>Lovell 2012, p. 394.</ref> The diarist [[Henry Channon|"Chips" Channon]] speculated (15 April) that if Winston Churchill were to return to office under the new prime minister [[Neville Chamberlain]] the outcome might be "an explosion of foolishness after a short time", war with Germany or even "a seat for Randolph".<ref>Channon 1995, p. 119.</ref> Churchill warned the House of Commons (19 July 1937) that there were twelve-inch Spanish howitzers trained on [[Gibraltar]]. Channon recorded that this reduced the House's sympathies for [[Francisco Franco|Franco]], but that when the House learned that the source was "Master Randolph" (as he described him) MPs were merely amused.<ref>Channon 1995, p. 135.</ref>

[[Virginia Cowles]] first met Randolph in New York in the early 1930s. He helped her to get a visa to report from the USSR in February 1939. She praised his courage but wrote that "going out with him was like going out with a time bomb. Wherever he went an explosion seemed to follow. With a natural and brilliant gift of oratory, and a disregard for the opinions of his elders, he often held dinner parties pinned in a helpless and angry silence. I never knew a young man who had the ability to antagonise so easily."<ref>Lovell 2012, p. 411.</ref> At a dinner at Blenheim for [[John Spencer-Churchill, 10th Duke of Marlborough#Marriages and issue|Lady Sarah Spencer-Churchill]]'s 18th birthday in July 1939 a drunk Randolph had to be removed after behaving badly to a woman who spurned his advances and starting a row with another man over Winston's reputation.<ref>Lovell 2012, p. 405.</ref>

==Military service==

===Early war, marriage and Parliament===
In August 1938, Randolph Churchill joined his father's old regiment, the [[4th Queen's Own Hussars]], receiving a commission as a second lieutenant in the supplementary reserve,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34545 |date=26 August 1938 |page=5480 |supp=}}</ref> and was called up for active service on 24 August 1939.<ref name="Quarterly_Army_List_45">{{cite book |pages=317c |title=The Quarterly Army List: April 1945 |publisher=HM Stationery Office |year=1945}}</ref><ref name="Matthew 2004, pp. 637–38"/><ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 413–15">Lovell 2012, pp. 413–15.</ref><ref>Churchill 1997, p. 168.</ref> He was one of the oldest of the junior officers, and not popular with his peers. In order to win a bet, he walked the 106-mile round trip from their base in Hull to York and back in under 24 hours. He was followed by a car, both to witness the event and in case his blisters became too painful to walk further, and made it with around twenty minutes to spare. To his great annoyance, his brother officers did not pay up.<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 176.</ref>

On the outbreak of war, Randolph's father was appointed [[First Lord of the Admiralty]]. He sent [[Captain (Royal Navy)|Captain]] [[Lord Louis Mountbatten]], along with Lieutenant Randolph Churchill, aboard {{HMS|Kelly|F01|6}} (which was based at Plymouth at the time) to Cherbourg to bring the [[Edward VIII|Duke]] and [[Duchess of Windsor]] back to England from their exile. Randolph was on board the destroyer untidily attired in his 4th Hussars uniform; he had attached the spurs to his boots upside down. The Duke was mildly shocked<ref>P. Zeigler, ''Mountbatten'', p. 125.</ref> and insisted on bending down to fit Randolph's spurs correctly.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 413–15"/>

Randolph was in love with [[Laura Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough|Laura Charteris]] (she did not reciprocate) but his mistress at the time was the American actress [[Claire Luce]], who often visited him in camp. He appears to have decided that as Winston's only son, it was his duty to marry and sire an heir in case he was killed, a common motivation among young men at the time. He quickly became engaged to [[Pamela Digby]]<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 413–15"/> in late September 1939.<ref name="Soames 2003, p. 317">Soames 2003, p. 317.</ref> It was rumoured that Randolph had proposed to eight women in the previous few weeks, and Pamela's friends and parents were not pleased about the match. She was charmed by Randolph's parents, both of whom warmed to her and felt she would be a good influence on him.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 418–21">Lovell 2012, pp. 418–21.</ref> They were married in October 1939.<ref name="Soames 2003, p. 317"/> On their wedding night, Randolph read her chunks of [[Edward Gibbon]]'s ''[[The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]]''. Despite this, she became pregnant by the spring of 1940.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 418–21"/>

In May 1940, Randolph's father, to whom he remained close both politically and socially, became prime minister, just as the [[Battle of France]] was beginning. In the summer of 1940, Winston Churchill's secretary, [[Jock Colville]], wrote (''Fringes of Power'' p.&nbsp;207) "I thought Randolph one of the most objectionable people I had ever met: noisy, self-assertive, whining and frankly unpleasant. He did not strike me as intelligent. At dinner he was anything but kind to Winston, who adores him."<ref>Lovell 2012, p. 432.</ref> The polemic against appeasement ''[[Guilty Men]]'' (July 1940), in fact written anonymously by [[Michael Foot]], [[Frank Owen (politician)|Frank Owen]], and [[Peter Howard (journalist)|Peter Howard]], was wrongly attributed to Randolph Churchill.<ref>Morgan 2008, p. 80.</ref>

Randolph was elected unopposed to Parliament for [[Preston (UK Parliament constituency)|Preston]] at a wartime by-election in September 1940.<ref name="Churchill 1997, pp. 196–97">Churchill 1997, pp. 196–97.</ref> Soon afterwards, his son [[Winston Churchill (1940–2010)|Winston]] was born on 10 October 1940.<ref>Soames 2003, p. 331.</ref><ref>Lovell 2012, p. 436.</ref> During the first year of marriage, Randolph had no home of his own until [[Brendan Bracken]] found them a vicarage at [[Ickleford]], near [[Hitchin]], [[Hertfordshire]]. Pamela often had to ask Winston to pay Randolph's gambling debts.<ref>{{harvp|Lovell|2012|pages=439-444}}</ref>

===North Africa===
It was widely suspected, including by Randolph himself, that secret orders had been given that the 4th Hussars were not to be sent into action (they were, as soon as Randolph transferred out). Randolph transferred to [[No. 8 (Guards) Commando]]. In February 1941 they were sent out, a six-week journey via the [[Cape of Good Hope]] and the East Coast of Africa, avoiding the Central Mediterranean where the [[Royal Italian Navy|Italian navy]] and Axis air forces were strong. Randolph, who was still earning £1,500 per annum as a [[Lord Beaverbrook]] journalist, lost £3,000 gambling on the voyage. Pamela had to go to Beaverbrook, who refused her an advance on Randolph's salary. Declining his offer of an outright gift (it is unclear whether submitting to his sexual advances was a condition), she sold her wedding presents, including jewellery; took a job in Beaverbrook's ministry, arranging accommodation for workers being redeployed around the country; sublet her home and moved into a cheap room on the top floor of [[The Dorchester]] (a rather dangerous place to be during [[the Blitz]]). By accepting hospitality from others most evenings she was able to put her entire salary towards paying Randolph's debts. She may also have had a [[miscarriage]] at this time. The marriage was as good as over, and she soon began an affair with her future husband [[Averell Harriman]], who was also staying at the Dorchester.<ref>{{harvp|Lovell|2012|page=439–444}}</ref>

Once in Egypt, Randolph served as a General Staff (Intelligence) officer at Middle East HQ.<ref name="Matthew 2004, pp. 637–38"/> Averell Harriman visited Randolph in Cairo in June 1941 to bring him news of his family. Randolph, who himself had a long-term mistress and several casual girlfriends at the time, had no idea yet that he was being cuckolded. He had recently been reduced to tears on being told to his face by a brother officer how deeply disliked he was, something of which he had previously had no idea.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 447–48">Lovell 2012, pp. 447–48.</ref> On 28 October 1941 he was promoted to the war-substantive rank of captain (acting rank of [[major (United Kingdom)|major]]) and put in charge of Army information at GHQ.<ref name="Quarterly_Army_List_45"/><ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 447–48"/> For a time he edited a newspaper, ''Desert News'', for the troops.<ref name="Churchill 1997, pp. 196–97"/> He lived at [[Shepheard's Hotel]]. Anita Leslie, then in an ambulance company, wrote that "he could not cease trumpeting his opinions and older men could be seen turning purple with anger" and that he was "insufferable".<ref>{{harvp|Lovell|2012|pages=447–448}}</ref>

On leave in January 1942, he criticised the Tories for exculpating Winston Churchill's decision to defend Greece and Crete. He was sensitive to the "co-operation and self-sacrifice" of parts of the Empire that in 1942 were in more immediate danger than the British Isles, mentioning Australia and [[British Malaya|Malaya]] which suffered under Japanese threats of invasion. He was scathing of Sir Herbert Williams' ''Official Report'' into the Conduct of the War.<ref>HC Deb 28 January 1942 vol. 377, cc. 727–890.</ref>

[[File:Winston Churchill during the Second World War E22267.jpg|thumb|From left to right, General [[Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke|Sir Alan Brooke]], Major Randolph Churchill, Lieutenant-General [[Sir Oliver Leese]], Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] and General [[Bernard Montgomery|Sir Bernard Montgomery]], having an alfresco lunch during Prime Minister Churchill's visit to Tripoli, February 1943. Standing behind Montgomery is Leese's [[aide-de-camp]], [[Ion Calvocoressi]].]]

His father, who was under great stress following recent Japanese victories in the Far East, visited him briefly in Cairo in spring 1942.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 456–59">Lovell 2012, pp. 456–59.</ref> Randolph had a row with his parents so violent that Clementine thought Winston might have a seizure.<ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 352–53">Soames 2003, pp. 352–53.</ref> In April 1942 he volunteered for the newly formed [[Special Air Service|SAS]] – to his mother's dismay, because of the strain on his father. She contemplated cabling him forbidding him to go, but knew that Winston would want him to.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 456–59"/><ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 352–53"/> He joined the SAS CO [[David Stirling]] and six SAS men on a mission behind enemy lines in the [[Libyan Desert]] to [[Benghazi]] in May 1942.<ref>Churchill 1997, pp. 207–15.</ref>{{efn| Although the enlisted ranks of the SAS were made up of picked men, some of the officers were appointed on the basis of social connections, such as membership of [[White's]] Club. The same was true of the [[Royal Marine Commandos]], in which Churchill's colleague Evelyn Waugh served.}} The Benghazi Raid did not reach its goals and Randolph severely dislocated his back when his truck overturned in a road accident during the journey home. After a stay in Cairo he was invalided back to England.<ref>Soames 2003, pp. 352–53, 389-90.</ref><ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 456–59"/> Randolph had sent few letters to Pamela, and many to Laura Charteris, with whom he was in love and who was in the process of getting divorced.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 456–59"/> [[Evelyn Waugh]] recorded that Pamela "hates him so much that she can't sit in a room with him". By November 1942 Randolph had formally left her; his parents, who adored their baby grandson Winston, sympathised with Pamela.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 456–59"/>

In November 1942 he visited [[Morocco]] to witness the [[Operation Torch|American landings]]. Randolph encouraged the conversion of [[Vichy France|Vichy]] fighters to [[de Gaulle]]'s army, submitting reports to Parliament on 23 February 1943.<ref>North Africa, HC Deb 16 March 1943 vol. 387, cc. 1033–37.</ref> In May 1943 Randolph visited his father in [[Algiers]], where he was celebrating the successful conclusion of the [[Tunisian Campaign]].<ref>Soames 2003, p. 373.</ref> Randolph, along with his sister Sarah, accompanied his father to the [[Tehran Conference]] in November 1943. On the way back they quarrelled again about his failed marriage, which may have contributed to the serious [[heart attack]] which Winston Churchill suffered at Tunis.<ref>Lovell 2012, pp. 464–68.</ref> He visited his father, who was laid up with [[pneumonia]], in [[Marrakesh]] in December 1943 ([[Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis|General Alexander]] gave him a lift on his plane).<ref>Soames 2003, pp. 381–82.</ref> He was promoted to the temporary rank of major on 9 December.<ref name="Quarterly_Army_List_45"/>

===Yugoslavia===
Randolph had encountered [[Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 1st Baronet|Fitzroy Maclean]] in the [[Western Desert Campaign]]. Winston Churchill agreed to Randolph accepting Maclean's offer to join his [[Maclean Mission (Macmis)|military and diplomatic mission (Macmis)]] to [[Tito]]'s Partisans in [[Yugoslavia]], warning him not to get captured in case the [[Gestapo]] sent him Randolph's fingers one by one.<ref>Lovell 2012, p. 469.</ref> He returned to England for training<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 471–76">Lovell 2012, pp. 471–76.</ref> then on January 20th 1944 he parachuted into Yugoslavia.<ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 389–90">Soames 2003, pp. 389–90.</ref><ref name="Matthew 2004, pp. 637–38"/><ref name="SOE Personnel File HS 3/916/2">https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9277679</ref> Tom Mitford was also present in the group.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 471–76"/> He was later joined in Yugoslavia by Evelyn Waugh and Freddie Birkenhead. Round about this time he lost a bet to read various books of the Bible without speaking, but never paid up.<ref name="Matthew 2004, pp. 637–38"/>

After the German airdrop outside Tito's [[Drvar]] headquarters in June 1944 ("[[Operation Knight's Leap]]") Randolph was awarded the [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]] in August,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=36679 |date=29 August 1944 |page=4043 |supp=y}}</ref> having been recommended for a [[Military Cross]]. Fitzroy Maclean reported highly of his abilities at this stage.<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 249.</ref> However, Maclean wrote of their adventures together, and some of the problems Churchill caused him, in his memoir ''[[Eastern Approaches]]''.<ref name="Churchill 1997, p. 252">Churchill 1997, p. 252.</ref> Tito had barely managed to evade the Germans and Churchill and [[Evelyn Waugh]] arrived on the island of [[Vis (island)|Vis]] and met him on 10 July.<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 251.</ref> In July 1944 he and Waugh were among the ten survivors of a Dakota crash. He suffered spinal and knee injuries. He cried when he learned that his servant had been killed, but behaved with "his usual loud rudeness" as an invalid.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 471–76"/><ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 389–90"/> After discharge from hospital in [[Bari]] (in the "heel" of Italy), he convalesced with Duff and Diana Cooper in Algiers. His father visited him in Algiers on his way to Italy—they discussed French and British politics.<ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 389–90"/>

Randolph was ordered by Maclean to take charge of the military mission in Croatia.<ref name="Churchill 1997, p. 252"/> By September he was back in Yugoslavia, where Waugh recorded that he was drunk most days, needed to have things repeated back to him when sober, and behaved awfully even when sober. Waugh described him as "a flabby bully who rejoices in blustering and shouting down anyone weaker than himself and starts squealing as soon as he meets anyone as strong—he is a bore—with no intellectual invention or agility. He has a childlike retentive memory, and repetition takes the place of thought. He has set himself very low aims and has not the self-control to pursue them steadfastly." Lovell wrote that every observer, including Duff Cooper and Anita Leslie, recorded frequent "drunken ranting" from him at this period. On good days he could be excellent company.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 471–76"/> With Waugh he established a military mission at [[Topusko]] on 16 September 1944.<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 256.</ref> One outcome was a formidable report detailing Tito's persecution of the clergy. It was "buried" by Foreign Secretary [[Anthony Eden]] (who also attempted to discredit Waugh) to save diplomatic embarrassment, as Tito was then seen as a required ally of Britain and an official "friend".<ref>Hastings 1994, pp. 268–91.</ref><ref>Stannard 1994, pp. 138–48.</ref><ref>Sykes 1975, p. 273.</ref>

Tom Mitford, one of Randolph's few close friends, was killed in Burma, where [[Burma Campaign 1944-45|the campaign]] was approaching its final stages, in March 1945.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 471–76"/>

===Post-war military career===
Having been demobilised with the war-substantive rank of captain, Randolph received a reserve commission in the 4th Hussars as a second lieutenant on 28 May 1946.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=37580 |date=24 May 1946 |page=2548 |supp=y}}</ref> He was promoted to captain on 1 November 1947, and remained in the reserves for the next 14 years.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=38969 |date=18 July 1950 |page=3686 |supp=y}}</ref> He relinquished his commission on 28 May 1961, retiring an honorary major.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=42591 |date=2 February 1962 |page=997 |supp=y}}</ref>

==Loss of parliamentary seat==
Randolph's attendance in the Commons was irregular and patchy, which may have contributed to his defeat in [[1945 United Kingdom general election|July 1945]]. He had assumed he would hold his seat in 1945, but did not (he never actually won a contested election to Parliament).<ref>Soames 2003, pp. 423–24.</ref>

Randolph had a blazing row with his father and [[Brendan Bracken]] at a dinner at [[Claridge's]] on 31 August.<ref>Jenkins, pp. 797–804.</ref> The argument was about his father's planned war memoirs, and Randolph stalked off from the table as he disliked being spoken to abruptly by his father in public. His father had misunderstood him to be talking about getting the help of a literary agent, whereas Randolph was in fact urging his father to get tax advice from lawyers, as indeed he eventually did. Randolph had to write later that day explaining himself.<ref>Gilbert 1988, p. 131.</ref>

==Second marriage==
Randolph was divorced from Pamela in 1946.<ref name="Matthew 2004, pp. 637–38"/> His sister writes that after the war he led a "rampaging existence" as "he always had lances to break, and hares to start". He was loyal and affectionate, but "would pick an argument with a chair".<ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 452–54">Soames 2003, pp. 452–54.</ref> Winston declared that he had a "deep animal love" for Randolph but that "every time we meet we seem to have a bloody row". Randolph believed that he could control his temper by willpower, but he could not do this when drunk and alcohol "fuelled his sense of thwarted destiny".<ref>Lovell 2012, p. 496.</ref> His father no longer had the energy for argument, so reduced the time he spent with Randolph and the amount he confided in him. Randolph maintained good written relations with his mother, but she could not stand arguments and often retreated to her room when he visited. She was able to help him out of his financial difficulties, which he acknowledged, "spared him much humiliation".<ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 452–54"/>

As Winston Churchill's relations with his son cooled, he lavished affection on a series of surrogate sons, including Brendan Bracken and Randolph's brothers-in-law Duncan Sandys and, from 1947, [[Christopher Soames]], as well as, to a certain extent, Anthony Eden. Randolph loathed all these men.<ref name="Bloch 2015, pp. 89–90"/> He had still not entirely abandoned his youthful fantasy of one day becoming prime minister, and resented Eden's position as his father's political heir.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 492–93">Lovell 2012, pp. 492–93.</ref> Randolph used to refer to Eden as "Jerk Eden".<ref>Thorpe 1989, p. 166.</ref>

[[Noël Coward]] quipped that Randolph was "utterly unspoiled by failure". He was blackballed from the [[Beefsteak Club]] and on one occasion was slapped twice across the face by [[Duff Cooper]] at the Paris Embassy for making an obnoxious remark. He reported on the Red Army parade from Moscow. He was still trying to persuade Laura Charteris to marry him. Although they were on–off lovers, she told friends that Randolph needed a mother rather than a wife.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 492–93"/> In 1948 he tried to persuade Pamela to take him back, but she declined and, having converted to [[Catholicism]], obtained a full annulment, soon beginning a relationship with [[Gianni Agnelli]].<ref>Lovell 2012, pp. 499–500.</ref> Randolph accepted that he could never have Laura, with whom he had been in love for much of his adult life.<ref>After Randolph's death, Laura Charteris (1915–90) eventually married his cousin the [[John Spencer-Churchill, 10th Duke of Marlborough|10th Duke of Marlborough]] in 1972.[Lovell 2012, p.572]</ref>

He courted June Osborne, his junior by eleven years. She was the daughter of Australia-born Colonel Rex Hamilton Osborne, [[Distinguished Service Order|D.S.O.]], [[Military Cross|M.C.]], of Little Ingleburn, [[Malmesbury]], Wiltshire.<ref>Winston Churchill, Henry Pelling, 1989, p. 579.</ref><ref>Political Lives, Hugo Young, Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 241.</ref><ref>Who's Who in Australia, vol. 12, 1941, p. 642.</ref><ref>The Churchills: A Family at the Heart of History, Mary S. Lovell, 2011.</ref> Mary Lovell describes her as "a vulnerable and needy girl-woman". They had a stormy three-month courtship, during which at one point in June, high on a mixture of [[Benzedrine]] and wine, she ran toward the [[River Thames]] and threatened suicide, calling the police and accusing Randolph of indecent assault when he tried to prevent her.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 505–09">Lovell 2012, pp. 505–09.</ref> Evelyn Waugh wrote to Randolph (14 October 1948) that June "must be possessed of magnificent courage" to marry him. On 23 October he wrote to June at Randolph's request,<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 288.</ref> urging her to see Randolph's good side, calling him "a domestic and home-loving character who has never had a home".<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 505–09"/> Randolph and June were married in November 1948.<ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 452–54"/><ref name="Matthew 2004, pp. 637–38"/>

Randolph's son Winston, then aged eight, remembered June as "a beautiful lady with long, blonde hair" who made an effort to bond with her young stepson.<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 289.</ref> Diana Cooper guessed at once after their honeymoon that Randolph and June were unsuited to one another. They had a daughter, [[Arabella Churchill (charity founder)|Arabella]] (1949–2007).<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 505–09"/> The marriage soon deteriorated; his sister Mary later wrote that "He does not seem to have possessed the aptitudes for marriage".<ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 452–54"/>

==1950s==
[[File:Levi Eshkol-Vera Weizmann-Randolph Churchil1955.jpg|thumb| Randolph Churchill (right) with [[Vera Weizmann]] and [[Levi Eshkol]] at the dedication of the Churchill Auditorium at the [[Technion]] in [[Haifa]], Israel.]]

===Candidate for Plymouth and Korean War===
Randolph stood unsuccessfully for the Parliamentary seat of [[Plymouth Devonport]] in [[1950 United Kingdom general election|February 1950]].<ref name="Matthew 2004, pp. 637–38"/> His opponent [[Michael Foot]] wrote that he talked as though Plymouth belonged to him, and issued "a brilliant cascade of abuse" in all directions, including his own party workers.<ref>Foot 1980, p. 162.</ref>

Randolph reported on the [[Korean War]] from August 1950, six weeks after the initial North Korean invasion of the south. The American and South Korean forces were bottled into a perimeter around [[Pusan]] and [[Taegu]]. His father gave him a handwritten letter of introduction to General [[Douglas MacArthur]].<ref name="Churchill 1997, p. 303">Churchill 1997, p. 303.</ref> This was dangerous work: 17 war correspondents were killed, either by enemy fire or in air crashes, including the correspondents of ''The Times'' and the ''Daily Telegraph''.<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 306.</ref> Randolph was wounded on patrol near the [[First Battle of Naktong Bulge|Naktong River]].<ref name="Churchill 1997, p. 303"/> Before seeking treatment he insisted on finishing his [[Copy (written)|copy]] and giving it to the crew of a plane bound for Hong Kong.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 505–09"/>

While dining in Hong Kong, he had an altercation with the restaurant staff, who then proceeded to get the manually operated lift stuck between floors, and to "accidentally" get grease on his new [[sharkskin]] suit while hauling him out. While Winston Churchill was researching his biography of his father, [[Alan Whicker]], who had been Randolph's dining companion for the evening, confirmed the account which Randolph had given to his son at the time.<ref name="Churchill 1997, p. 307">Churchill 1997, p. 307.</ref> He returned to Korea to report on the [[Inchon Landings]], the liberation of Seoul and the UN forces' crossing of the [[Division of Korea|38th Parallel]]. He then returned to the UK for an operation on his wounded leg on 6 February 1951.<ref name="Churchill 1997, p. 307"/>

[[Mary Lovell]] records that repeated stories of Randolph's drunkenness, foul temper and financial difficulties date from this period. On one occasion, probably around this time, he became drunk and abusive in the first class cabin of a [[BOAC]] flight and was removed from the plane at the earliest opportunity (the incident was hushed up to avoid embarrassing his father). Evelyn Waugh visited him in hospital, noting that there was no sign of his wife June, and observed that he had thought his own life dull, "but when I see the alternative I am consoled".<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 505–09"/>

Randolph was involved in an altercation on board a train at [[Nottingham]] on 22 February 1951. He was denied entry to the locked restaurant car by a railway employee, then later asked by the same man to leave the reserved seat in which he had been sitting. While he stood smoking in the corridor, the man (by Randolph's account) taunted him that he was "in the soup again". Randolph called the man "a bastard". At the next station Randolph was questioned by a plain-clothes policeman who had been summoned to board the train. The railwayman actually ''was'' illegitimate and he sued Randolph for slander, his lawyers arguing that it was "not in the public interest" for this fact to be revealed. The eminent barrister Sir [[Hartley Shawcross]] finally persuaded him to withdraw his lawsuit after eighteen months of correspondence.<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 308.</ref>

He stood for Parliament for Devonport again in [[1951 United Kingdom general election|1951]].<ref name="Matthew 2004, pp. 637–38"/> In 1951, as in 1950, Foot and Randolph exchanged invective in public, but got on well in private, often meeting for a drink at the end of the day when Randolph had been deserted by his own party workers, with whom he had a poor relationship. Foot and his wife [[Jill Craigie]] would sometimes even escort Randolph back to his train.<ref>Morgan 2008, pp. 139–41.</ref> Michael Foot later said to one of Randolph's researchers: "You and I belong to the most exclusive club in London: the friends of Randolph Churchill".<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 292.</ref>

Having lost every parliamentary contest he ever fought (he had got in unopposed in 1940), he was desperately disappointed not to be able to get back into Parliament as the Conservatives returned to power.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 505–09"/>

===Early 1950s: Winston's peacetime premiership===
In the days after the 1951 general election, while his father was forming a government, Randolph amused himself by ringing up Conservative MPs who hurried to the phone on being told that "Mr Churchill" wished to speak to them urgently, assuming that they were about to be offered a ministerial position.<ref>Thorpe 1989, p. 152.</ref> During the post-war era [[Anthony Eden]] remained the Prime Minister's designated successor, yet when Eden married [[Clarissa Churchill]] in 1952, Randolph could hardly contain his utter contempt for his cousin's new husband. He dubbed his ranting phone calls the "Eden Terror".<ref>Thorpe, Eden, p. 379.</ref> Randolph had long been jealous of Anthony Eden, and often wrote articles critical of him in the ''[[London Evening Standard]]''. These articles helped to harm Eden's reputation. Eden did not reply in public, but complained privately to John Colville.<ref name="Lovell 2012, p. 526">Lovell 2012, p. 526.</ref>

[[File:Churchillwithsonandgrandson.jpg|left|thumb|Randolph with father (seated) and son [[Winston Churchill (1940–2010)|Winston]], in the ceremonial robes of the [[Order of the Garter]] for the Queen's Coronation.]]

In 1953 Randolph was a Gold Staff Officer at the [[Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II|Coronation]].<ref>Lovell 2012, p. 515.</ref> In a speech at a Foyle's literary luncheon at the Dorchester in September 1953<ref name="Churchill 1997, p. 317">Churchill 1997, p. 317.</ref> Randolph, who "had had a few drinks" asked why a rich man like the press baron [[Esmond Harmsworth, 2nd Viscount Rothermere|Lord Rothermere]] (his former employer) needed to "[[prostitute]]" himself by printing details about the private lives of public figures, which Randolph described as "[[pornography]] for pornography's sake". Rothermere was not initially worried by this or the next speech.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 518–23"/><ref>Churchill 1997, pp. 318–19.</ref> Randolph repeated his accusation at the Manchester Publishing Association on 7 October 1953<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 319.</ref> and in another speech. His lawyer and Sir Hartley Shawcross had both urged him to go ahead.<ref name="Churchill 1997, p. 317"/>

When sober Randolph could still be excellent company, as even his mother admitted, and could even switch off his "temper" when told that lunch was ready. He was assisted by [[Alan Brien]] to write the life of Lord Derby; while researching it in 1953, Randolph and June lived at Oving House near [[Aylesbury]], which got him away from [[White's Club]] and his gambling friends. The family trustees<ref>The Churchill family had become wealthy by the late 1940s, from the royalties from Winston Churchill's [[The Second World War (book series)|history of the Second World War]], which received very favourable tax treatment</ref> agreed to buy Stour House, [[East Bergholt]], near [[Colchester]]. For the first time he had a proper home of his own.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 518–23"/>

However, his marriage continued to deteriorate, with occasional reports that he had blacked his wife's eye or that she had left to stay with friends, or that she had flung all her clothes out of a window. There was one furious row at [[Chartwell]], described as "gruesome" by June and "his familiar rudeness" by Mary Lovell. He called his brother-in-law Christopher Soames "a shit" and Eden "a jerk" while his father, still prime minister at the time, was so "shaken with fury" that he seemed about to have a seizure. Randolph retired upstairs for a further noisy row with his wife, declaring that he would never see his father again. Sir Winston patched up the argument at 1am.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 518–23"/> On one occasion he reduced Queen's Restaurant in [[Sloane Square]] to silence by shouting at June over dinner that she was "a paltry little middle-class bitch always anxious to please and failing owing to her dismal manners". Eventually another diner remonstrated with him for speaking to his wife in that way; Randolph rebuked him for interfering in a private conversation, only to be told that it sounded like a public conversation to him.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 518–23">Lovell 2012, pp. 518–23.</ref><ref>Churchill 1997, p. 343.</ref> This may well have been the final straw, and June finally left him about a year later, in the summer of 1954.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 518–23"/>

Even on the eve of his father's resignation, Randolph told his cousin Clarissa Eden that he did not approve of her husband becoming prime minister.<ref name="Lovell 2012, p. 526"/>

Winston Churchill had declined a peerage at the end of the Second World War in 1945 (being offered the [[Duke of Dover|Dukedom of Dover]]), and then did so again on his retirement in 1955 (when he was offered the [[Duke of London|Dukedom of London]]),<ref>Rasor, Eugene L. [https://archive.org/details/winstonschurchil00raso/page/205 ''Winston S. Churchill, 1874–1965: a comprehensive historiography and annotated bibliography''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160903022928/https://books.google.com/books?id=6PpNUK5u1lkC&pg=PA205&lpg=PA205 |date=3 September 2016 }}, p. 205. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000; {{ISBN|978-0-313-30546-7}}.</ref> ostensibly so as not to compromise his son's political career by preventing him from serving in the House of Commons ([[life peerages]], titles not inherited by sons, were not created until 1958). The main reason was actually that Winston himself wanted to remain in the Commons<ref name="Jenkins, Roy 2001 p. 896">R. Jenkins, ''Churchill'' (2001), p. 896.</ref>—but by 1955, when his father resigned as prime minister, Randolph's political career was "already hopeless".<ref name="Jenkins, Roy 2001 p. 896" />

===Late 1950s===
Randolph introduced his father to [[Aristotle Onassis]], on whose yacht ''Christina'' he was often to cruise, in January 1956.<ref>Soames 2003, p. 505.</ref>

He set up a private company, "Country Bumpkins", to market his pamphlet "What I said about the Press" (in his speeches in 1953), which most newsagents refused to stock, and soon found himself involved in a libel case.<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 321.</ref> He was carefully briefed on precise details both of facts and of the intricacies of the law. He was very quick-witted under cross-examination.<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 325.</ref> His political opponent Michael Foot spoke on his behalf in court in October 1956, risking his own job on the ''[[Daily Herald (United Kingdom)|Daily Herald]]''.<ref>Morgan 2008, p. 152.</ref> He was awarded £5,000 damages in 1958. His son writes that he had been "completely self-controlled".<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 328.</ref>

There is evidence that on a trip to the US in this period, he fathered a daughter, Rhonda Noonan, in Oklahoma whom he placed for a [[closed adoption]]. Paternity has not been established since no biological relative will comment on the question or provide a DNA sample to establish a likely blood relationship.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Is this woman Winston Churchill's illegitimate grand-daughter?|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/is-this-woman-winston-churchills-illegitimate-grand-daughter-2158112.html|date=2010-12-12|website=The Independent|access-date=2020-05-31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Noonan|first=Rhonda|title=The fifth and final name: memoir of an American Churchill|date=2013|publisher=Chumbolly Press|isbn=978-0-9886597-0-4|location=Sand Springs, OK|oclc=830627994}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Fifth and Final Name-Rhonda Noonan|url=https://www.blogtalkradio.com/aacadoptionnewsandviews/2013/09/20/the-fifth-and-final-name-rhonda-noonan|website=BlogTalkRadio|date=20 September 2013 |access-date=2020-05-31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Mental health worker reveals she is Winston Churchill's granddaughter|url=https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/379794/Mental-health-worker-reveals-she-is-Winston-Churchill-s-granddaughter|last=Mega|first=Marcello|date=2013-02-24|website=Express.co.uk|access-date=2020-05-31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=An American Churchill {{!}} The Oklahoma Observer|url=https://okobserver.org/an-american-churchill/|last=Hamilton|first=Arnold|date=2013-11-06|access-date=2020-05-31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=An interview with Rhonda Noonan-Churchill|url=http://www.thelostdaughters.com/2013/07/an-interview-with-rhonda-noonan.html|last=LT|access-date=2020-05-31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Fifth and Final Name – Memoir of an American Churchill|url=http://www.thefifthandfinalname.com:80/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190917234618/http://www.thefifthandfinalname.com:80/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2019-09-17|date=2019-09-17|access-date=2020-05-31}}</ref>

In January 1958 June filed for divorce from Randolph. He fell in love with [[Natalie Bevan]] when she called on him, a case of the 'thunderbolt' of sudden infatuation, witnessed by [[Patrick Kinross]] who was there at the time. She was accepted as his companion by the Churchill family, visiting Chartwell, Hyde Park Gate and the ''Christina''.<ref>Lovell 2012, pp. 541–42.</ref> Although they became lovers in the late 1950s, Natalie remained married to her husband and never lived with Randolph.<ref name="Churchill 1997, pp. 393–95">Churchill 1997, pp. 393–95.</ref>

In November 1958 he gatecrashed a dinner in his father's honour at the British Embassy in Paris (Sir Winston was receiving the [[Order of Liberation|Croix de Liberation]] from [[Charles de Gaulle]], now returned to power in France); to general relief his mother, with whom he had not spoken in two years, addressed him as "dear boy".<ref name="Lovell 2012, p. 544">Lovell 2012, p. 544.</ref>

In November and December 1958 Randolph published six articles in the ''[[Daily Express]]'' about the [[Suez Crisis]]. Soon afterward he published ''The Rise and Fall of Sir Anthony Eden'' (1959). Questions were asked about it in the House, and Evelyn Waugh called the book "despicable".<ref name="Lovell 2012, p. 544"/> [[Clement Attlee]] reviewed the book as "singularly offensive and inaccurate" and wrote that "Readers of this book will not learn much about Sir Anthony Eden, but they should get a full appreciation of Mr Randolph Churchill". Sir Winston was deeply embarrassed about the book: Attlee later told Eden that Churchill had told him that he should have made his review stronger, while Sir Winston told Eden that he saw little of Randolph these days and that whenever they met, as Eden recorded, "they only had a flaming row. Clemmie nodded sad assent".<ref>Rhodes James 1987, pp. 615–16.</ref> Eden's biographer [[Robert Rhodes James]] described the book as "a diatribe ... best forgotten".<ref>Rhodes James 1987, p. 627.</ref>

Since February 1959, as soon as it was clear that [[Nigel Nicolson]] was in trouble with his local constituency Conservative Association, Randolph's open wish to be MP for [[Bournemouth East and Christchurch (UK Parliament constituency)|Bournemouth]] was the subject of much press talk. He was interviewed for the candidacy by the local Association in May, but was not placed on the shortlist.<ref>Churchill 1997, pp. 376–77.</ref> This was his last attempt to enter Parliament; it had not helped his case that in Liverpool 25 years earlier he had said "I don't want to go into Parliament to represent a lot of stuffy old ladies in Bournemouth, I want to fight for really hard-pressed people".<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 371.</ref>

===Journalism===
Randolph inherited something of his father's literary flair, carving out a successful career for himself as a journalist. He edited the "[[Londoner's Diary]]" in the ''[[Evening Standard]]'' and was one of the best-paid gossip columnists on [[Fleet Street]]. He edited collections of his father's speeches, which were published in seven books between 1938 and 1961.<ref name="www">{{cite book |title=Who Was Who, 1961–1970 |year=1972 |publisher=A and C Black |page=[https://archive.org/details/whowaswho196119706lond/page/205 205] |isbn=978-0-7136-1202-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/whowaswho196119706lond/page/205}}</ref>

Although he had no sentimental illusions about colonial peoples, he had no time for regimes based on supposed white superiority. He reported on [[Cyprus]] (where the British Army was fighting insurgents in the late 1950s) and [[Algeria]] (where French rule was coming to an end in the late 1950s and early 1960s). He particularly disliked the [[Apartheid]] state of South Africa, and on entering the country he was detained in customs for insisting on giving his thumbprint in ink (as a black person was expected to do) rather than signing the relevant entry form, until it was confirmed that he was entitled to do so. He obtained an interview with [[Hendrik Verwoerd]], who was surrounded by revolver-toting bodyguards after addressing a rally in Boer territory. He particularly abhorred the [[Sharpeville Massacre]], believing that "10 London bobbies" could have dispersed the crowd relatively peacefully.<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 382.</ref>

==1960s==

===Natalie and relations with parents===
In 1960 Randolph published the life of [[Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby]] (described by Robert Blake as "a reputable if rather dull book" about a "dull man") to prove to the trustees of his father's papers that he was fit to write his official biography.<ref name="Matthew 2004, pp. 637–38"/> In May 1960 Sir Winston Churchill approved of Randolph's writing his life. "At last his life had found a purpose" his son later wrote.<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 392.</ref>

Natalie Bevan declined his proposal of marriage in August 1960, but by then they had settled into a stable relationship. Winston Churchill (the younger) never heard Randolph have a row with her.<ref name="Churchill 1997, pp. 393–95"/> [[Jonathan Aitken]] and Michael Wolff were eyewitnesses to [[Bobby Bevan]] bringing Natalie over for the evening and waiting patiently downstairs while she and Randolph enjoyed a ''[[Cinq à sept]]''.<ref>Aitken 2006, pp. 36–37.</ref> His divorce from his wife June became final in 1961.<ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 452–54"/><ref name="Matthew 2004, pp. 637–38"/> The locals called him "the Beast of Bergholt" and he had a reputation for not paying small tradesmen. His researchers included [[Martin Gilbert]], Michael Wolff, Franklin Gannon, Milo Cripps, Michael Molian, Martin Mauthner and Andrew Kerr.<ref>{{harvp|Aitken|2006|pages=34–37}}</ref>

Jonathan Aitken first met him at [[Cherkley Court]], the home of Aitken's great-uncle Lord Beaverbrook, where he was having a stand-up blazing row with the journalist [[Hugh Cudlipp]] who had made the mistake of criticising his father.<ref>{{harvp|Aitken|2006|pages=33–34}}</ref> In the early 1960s, after they had spoken together at an Oxford Union debate the previous evening, Randolph invited Aitken to drive him back to London and join him for lunch with his parents at 28 Hyde Park Gate. After Randolph had insisted on stopping three times for drinks on the way, they arrived late and with Randolph smelling of drink. Aitken beat a hasty retreat as Randolph had a blazing row with his mother while Sir Winston, then in his late 80s, turned red, shook his legs and beat his walking sticks together with anger.<ref>{{harvp|Aitken|2006|page=30–31}}</ref>

Winston Churchill's secretary [[Anthony Montague Browne]] recorded an incident on board Aristotle Onassis's yacht in June 1963, in which Randolph "erupted like [[Stromboli]]", shouting abuse at his aged father, whom he accused of having connived for political reasons with his then wife's affair with Averell Harriman during the war, and calling a female diner who attempted to intervene "a gabby doll". Browne wrote that "[n]othing short of hitting him over the head with a bottle" would have stopped him. ... I had previously discounted the tales I had heard of Randolph. Now I believed them all." Sir Winston, too old to argue back, was physically shaking with rage, so that it was feared he might have another stroke, and afterwards made clear that he wanted his son off the boat. As he was taken off the next day (Onassis had got rid of him by arranging for him to interview the [[Paul of Greece|King of Greece]]) he was in tears, declaring his love for his father.<ref>{{harvp|Montague Browne|2009|pages=299–300}}</ref>

===Conservative leadership contest, 1963===
Randolph often reported on American politics, and in [[Washington, DC]] he often stayed with his former fiancée Kay Halle, who was by then an important Washington hostess during the Democratic administrations of the 1960s. Parties with Washington insiders were often enlivened by his displays of what Aitken describes as Randolph's "boorish aggression and drunken bad manners". The American journalist [[Joseph Alsop]] stalked off from one conversation muttering that Randolph should entitle his memoirs "[[How To Win Friends and Influence People|How to Lose Friends and Influence Nobody]]".<ref>{{harvp|Aitken|2006|pages=40–41}}</ref>

In October 1963 he was in Washington (where he phoned through the news of Prime Minister [[Harold Macmillan]]'s illness and impending resignation to President Kennedy). He flew home then travelled to Blackpool, where the Conservative Party Conference was in session. Randolph supported [[Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone|Lord Hailsham]] for the leadership rather than Macmillan's deputy [[Rab Butler]]. He knocked on the door of Butler's hotel room and urged him to withdraw from the contest, stressing the 60 telegrams which had been sent to him in support of Hailsham, many of them concocted by his team at East Bergholt. He distributed "Q" (for "Quintin", Lord Hailsham's first name) badges, pinning them on people; he tried to pin one on [[Reginald Manningham-Buller, 1st Viscount Dilhorne|Lord Dilhorne]]'s buttock without his noticing, but accidentally stabbed him with the pin, causing him to bellow with pain. After talking to Jonathan Aitken, who was working for [[Selwyn Lloyd]] at the time, he put £1,000 on the eventual winner [[Alec Douglas-Home]] at 6–1 to countervail his bet on Hailsham.<ref name="Aitken 2006, pp. 41–45">{{harvp|Aitken|2006|pages=41–45}}</ref> [[Maurice Macmillan]], [[Julian Amery]] and others were heard to say of Randolph's antics on behalf of Hailsham "if anyone can balls it up, Randolph can".<ref>{{harvp|Mount|2009|page=264}}</ref> He still hoped, somewhat unrealistically, for a peerage in Macmillan's resignation honours at the end of 1963.<ref>{{harvp|Churchill|1997|page=390}}</ref>

In 1964 Churchill published ''The Fight for the Tory Leadership''. The former Cabinet minister [[Iain Macleod]] wrote a review in ''[[The Spectator]]'' strongly critical of Randolph's book, and alleging that Macmillan had manipulated the process of "soundings" to ensure that Butler was not chosen as his successor.<ref>{{cite book |first=J. |last=Harris |title=Conservatives |page=504}}</ref> Robert Blake wrote that Randolph was "blown out of the water" by Macleod's article (17 January 1964) and "for once ... had no comeback".<ref name="Matthew 2004, pp. 637–38"/>

===Final years and biography of his father===
In 1964 Randolph was laid low by [[bronchopneumonia]] which left him so frail he could only whisper. Later in the year he had a tumour, which turned out to be benign, removed from his lung.<ref>{{harvp|Lovell|2012|page=556}}</ref> His mother visited him frequently in hospital after his lung operation.<ref>{{harvp|Soames|2003|page=534}}</ref> Randolph and [[Evelyn Waugh]] had barely spoken for 12 years,<ref>Churchill 1997, pp. 448–89.</ref> but they restored friendly relations that spring; Waugh commented that "It was a typical triumph of modern science to find the one part of Randolph which was not malignant and to remove it."<ref>{{harvp|Lovell|2012|page=536}}</ref>{{efn|Accounts of this incident vary. Mary Lovell writes that Waugh restored friendly relations after Randolph's bronchopneumonia,<ref>{{harvp|Lovell|2012|page=556}}</ref> whereas his son Winston wrote that Randolph was amused at the jibe and they reconciled over this.<ref>{{harvp|Churchill|1997|page=448–449}}</ref>}}

At his father's funeral in January 1965 Randolph walked for an hour in the intense cold, despite being not yet fully recovered from his lung operation.<ref>Lovell 2012, p. 561.</ref> After his father's death, Randolph's relations with his mother, whose approval he had always craved, mellowed a little.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 563–64">Lovell 2012, pp. 563–64.</ref><ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 551, 559">Soames 2003, pp. 551, 559.</ref> Randolph organised a luncheon party for her 80th birthday at the Café Royal on 1 April 1965. She often sought and took his advice.<ref name="Soames 2003, pp. 551, 559"/> He wrote a memoir of his early life, ''Twenty-One Years'', published in 1965.<ref name=www />

Winston Churchill's doctor [[Charles Wilson, 1st Baron Moran|Lord Moran]] published ''The Struggle for Survival'' in May 1966. Randolph wrote to ''[[The Times]]'' criticising him for publishing within 16 months of his patient's death and contrary to the wishes of the family.<ref>{{harvp|Soames|2003|page=557}}</ref> Diana Mosley wrote to her sister [[Nancy Mitford]] that at least Moran had not told the truth about Churchill's children: "Randolph vile & making him cry" while Diana was being given electric shocks for hysteria and Sarah was frequently being arrested.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 566–68">Lovell 2012, pp. 566–68.</ref>

Randolph never fully recovered from his 1964 operation.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 566–68"/> By this time his health was in serious decline. He had been consuming 80–100 cigarettes and up to two bottles of whisky per day for 20 years, far in excess of his father's consumption.<ref>Churchill 1997, p. 389.</ref> Drink had long since destroyed his youthful good looks.<ref name="Matthew 2004, pp. 637–38"/><ref name="Bloch 2015, pp. 89–90"/> Accompanied by Natalie Bevan, he often spent winters in Marrakesh and summers in [[Monte Carlo]], sometimes visiting Switzerland. His kidneys were failing, so he seldom drank alcohol any more, and ate little, becoming emaciated. Mary Lovell writes that "though he still behaved with the arrogance of [[Louis XIV]] he was less explosive". Natalie spent the days with him before returning to her own house after helping him to bed.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 566–68"/>

In 1966 Randolph published the first volume of the official biography of his father.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 566–68"/> He and his team of researchers carried on working on his father's biography despite his being mortally ill<ref>{{harvp|Aitken|2006|pages=51–52}}</ref> and it brought him fulfilment which he had not previously known.<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 563–64"/> He had finished only the second volume and half a dozen companion volumes by the time of his death in 1968. Five volumes were planned (it eventually ran to eight, under the guidance of [[Sir Martin Gilbert]]).<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 566–68"/>

In 1966 he signed a contract with the American politician [[Robert F. Kennedy]] to write a biography of his elder brother, President [[John F. Kennedy]], who had been [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|assassinated]] in 1963.<ref name="Aitken 2006, pp. 41–45"/> As a consequence, Randolph obtained access to the Kennedy archives, but he died before beginning work, on the day that Robert was [[Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy|assassinated]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/06/12/archives/grandson-to-finish-work-on-churchill.html |title=Grandson to Finish Work on Churchill |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180723184232/https://www.nytimes.com/1968/06/12/archives/grandson-to-finish-work-on-churchill.html |archive-date=23 July 2018 |work=The New York Times |page=50 |date=12 June 1968 |access-date=16 March 2011}}</ref>

==Death==
Randolph Churchill died of a [[heart attack]] during the night at his home, Stour House, [[East Bergholt]], [[Suffolk]] and was found by one of his researchers the next morning,<ref name="Lovell 2012, pp. 566–68"/> 6 June 1968.<ref>{{cite book|title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 11|year=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=638|isbn=978-0-19-861361-9}}Article by Robert Blake.</ref> He was 57, and although he had been in poor health for years, his death was unexpected.<ref>Soames 2003, p. 559.</ref> [[Alistair Cooke]] recalled four years later that Churchill had told him the only time he would make the front page would be the day after he died. "Alas, he died the day of Robert Kennedy's assassination and he never made it."<ref>Alistair Cooke, ''The Americans: Letters from America 1969–1979'', The Charm of China, 26 February 1972</ref>

He is buried with his parents (his mother outliving him by almost a decade) and all four of his siblings (Marigold was previously interred in [[Kensal Green Cemetery]] in London) at [[St Martin's Church, Bladon]] near [[Woodstock, Oxfordshire]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Bladon (Saint Martin) Churchyard. Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer Churchill|url=http://billiongraves.com/pages/record/person/14040096#given_names=Randolph&family_names=Churchill|website=BillionGraves|access-date=27 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928142932/http://billiongraves.com/pages/record/person/14040096#given_names=Randolph&family_names=Churchill|archive-date=28 September 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> His will was valued for probate at £70,597 (equivalent to £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|70597|1968|r=0}}}} in {{Inflation-year|UK}}).{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}}<ref name="Matthew 2004, pp. 637–38"/>

==Media depiction==
[[H. G. Wells]] in ''[[The Shape of Things to Come]]'', published in 1934, predicted a [[Second World War]] in which Britain would not participate but would vainly try to effect a peaceful compromise. In this vision, Randolph was mentioned as one of several prominent Britons delivering "brilliant pacifist speeches [which] echo throughout Europe", but fail to end the war.<ref>[http://www.telelib.com/words/authors/W/WellsHerbertGeorge/prose/thingstocome/thingstocome22.html ''The Shape of Things to Come'' references] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029202336/http://www.telelib.com/words/authors/W/WellsHerbertGeorge/prose/thingstocome/thingstocome22.html |date=29 October 2013 }}, telelib.com; accessed 3 July 2014.</ref>

Randolph Churchill was played by [[Nigel Havers]] in the [[Southern Television]]'s 1981 drama series, ''[[Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years]]'', set in the decade Winston (played by [[Robert Hardy]]) was out of office and Randolph himself attempted to enter parliament.{{fact|date=July 2021}}

In 2002, Randolph Churchill was portrayed by actor [[Tom Hiddleston]] in ''[[The Gathering Storm (2002 film)|The Gathering Storm]]'', the [[BBC]] – [[HBO]] co-produced television biographical film about [[Winston Churchill]] in the years just prior to World War II.{{fact|date=July 2021}}

[[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] TV docudrama ''[[Churchill's Secret]]'', a screenplay based on the book ''The Churchill Secret: KBO'' by Jonathan Smith. Broadcast in 2016, it starred [[Michael Gambon]], and depicted Winston Churchill during the summer of 1953 when he suffered a severe stroke, precipitating therapy and resignation; the character of Randolph was played by the English actor [[Matthew Macfadyen]].{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}

[[Jordan Waller]] portrayed Randolph Churchill in the 2017 war drama [[Darkest Hour (film)|''Darkest Hour'']].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.metro.news/victoria-star-jordan-waller-on-his-role-in-darkest-hour-and-growing-up-with-three-mums/898844/|title=Victoria star Jordan Waller on his role in Darkest Hour – and growing up with three mums|website=Metro Newspaper UK|access-date=2019-10-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191017194042/https://www.metro.news/victoria-star-jordan-waller-on-his-role-in-darkest-hour-and-growing-up-with-three-mums/898844/|archive-date=17 October 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Ian Puleston-Davies|Ian Davies]] portrayed him in episode 5 of the 2022 TV series ''[[SAS: Rogue Heroes]]''.

==Works==
===Standalone books===
* ''The Story of the Coronation'' (1953)
* ''They Serve The Queen'' (1953)
* ''Fifteen Famous English Homes'' (1954)
* ''Churchill: His Life in Photographs'' (1955; co-edited with [[Helmut Gernsheim]])
* ''What I Said About the Press'' (1957)
* ''The Rise and Fall of Sir [[Anthony Eden]]'' (1959)
* ''[[Edward George Villiers Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby|Lord Derby]]: King of Lancashire'' (1959)
* ''The Fight for the Tory Leadership: A Contemporary Chronicle'' (1964; account of the 1963 Conservative leadership contest)
* ''Twenty-One Years'' (1965; autobiography of his youth)
* ''[[The Six Day War]]'' (1967; co-authored with his own son, [[Winston Churchill (1940–2010)|Winston S. Churchill]])

===Edited volumes of his father's speeches===
* ''Arms and The Covenant'', released in the US as ''While England Slept'' (1938; speeches October 1928 to March 1938)
* ''Into Battle'' (1940; speeches May 1938 to May 1940 – ''the first of seven volumes of Winston Churchill's wartime speeches, although the remaining six volumes were all edited by [[Charles Eade]]; Randolph Churchill resumed editing his father's speeches for the post-war volumes'')
* ''The Sinews of Peace'' (1948; speeches October 1945 to December 1946)
* ''Europe Unite'' (1950; speeches January 1947 to December 1948)
* ''In the Balance'' (1951; speeches January 1949 to December 1950)
* ''Stemming the Tide'' (1953; speeches February 1951 to December 1952)
* ''The Unwritten Alliance'' (1961; speeches January 1953 to October 1959)
===Official biography of his father===
* ''Winston S. Churchill: Volume One: Youth, 1874–1900'' (1966)
* ''Winston S. Churchill: Volume One Companion, 1874–1900'' (1966, in two parts)
* ''Winston S. Churchill: Volume Two: Young Statesman, 1901–1914'' (1967)
* ''Winston S. Churchill: Volume Two Companion, 1900–1914'' (1969, in three parts; published posthumously with the assistance of [[Martin Gilbert]], who wrote future volumes of the biography)

==See also==
* [[Yugoslavia and the Allies]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
===Footnotes===
{{Reflist}}

===Primary sources===
* TNA CAB 120/808, (March 1942 – May 1945)
* TNA FO 198/860, (1944)
* TNA HO 252/136, (1961–1962)
* [https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/9/archival_objects/446509 CUCC HNKY 24/15], (1958)
* TNA FO 271/156315, (1961)
* [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9277679 TNA HS 9/316/2], (1944)
=== Glossary ===
{{refbegin}}
* TNA – The National Archives, Kew
* CAB – British Cabinet Papers
* FO – British Foreign Office Papers
* HO – British Home Office Papers
* CUCC – Cambridge University Churchill Archive Centre
* HNKY – Collection of Maurice, Lord Hankey
{{refend}}

===Books===
* {{cite book | first= Jonathan |last=Aitken |title= Heroes and Contemporaries |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=London |date= 2006 |isbn= 978-0-8264-9441-2}}
* {{cite book|last = Bloch|first = Michael |year=2015 |title = Closet Queens: Some 20th Century British Politicians |location = London |publisher=Little, Brown Ltd |isbn = 978-1-4087-0412-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Channon |first=Sir Henry "Chips" |title=The Diaries of Sir Henry Channon |editor-first=Robert |editor-last=Rhodes James |editor-link=Robert Rhodes James |publisher=Phoenix |location=London | year=1995 |isbn=978-1-85799-493-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Churchill |first=Winston |title=His Father's Son: The Life of Randolph Churchill |publisher=Orion |location=London |
year=1997 |isbn=978-1-85799-969-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Crompton |first=Teresa |title=Adventuress: The Life and Loves of Lucy, Lady Houston |publisher=The History Press |location=London |date=2020 |isbn=978-0750993289}} (For early political career).
* {{cite book |first=Alan |last=Clark |title=The Tories: Conservatives and the Nation State 1922–1997 |place=London |date=1998 |isbn=978-0-297-81849-6 }}
* {{cite book |editor-first=Michael |editor-last=Davie |title=The Diaries of Evelyn Waugh |publisher= Penguin |date=1982 | orig-year=entries for March through September 1944}}
* {{cite book |first=Foot |last=Michael |title=Debts of Honour|place=London |date=1980 |isbn=978-0-7067-0243-9}}
* {{cite book |first=Robin |last=Harris |title=The Conservatives: A History |place=London |date=2011 |isbn=978-0-593-06511-2 }}
* {{cite book |first=Martin |last=Gilbert |title=Winston S. Churchill, Volume 8: Never Despair, 1945–1965 |place=London |date=2013 |orig-year=1988 |isbn=978-0-916-30845-2}}
* {{cite book |last= Hastings |first=Selina |author-link=Selina Hastings (writer) |title=Evelyn Waugh: A biography |publisher=[[Sinclair-Stevenson]] |location= London |year=1994 |isbn= 978-1-85619-223-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Heath |first=Edward |title=The Course of My Life |place=London |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |date=1998 |isbn= 978-0-340-70852-1}}
* Ireland, Josh ''Churchill & Son'', John Murray 2021 {{ISBN|978-1529337754}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Roy Jenkins |last=Jenkins |first=Roy |title=Churchill: A Biography |date=2001 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-374-12354-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/churchillbiograp00jenk}}
* {{cite book |first=Anita |last=Leslie |title= Cousin Randolph–Life of Randolph Churchill |date=1985 }}
* {{cite book |last=Lovell |first=Mary S. |title=The Churchills: A Family at the Heart of History – from the Duke of Marlborough to Winston Churchill |publisher=Abacus |date=5 April 2012 |isbn=978-0-349-11978-6 }}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Matthew |editor-first=Colin |editor-link=Colin Matthew |year=2004 |title=Dictionary of National Biography |volume=11 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-861411-1}}, essay on Clementine written by Brian Harrison; essay on Randolph written by [[Robert Blake, Baron Blake|Robert Blake]]
* {{cite book |last=Montague Browne |first=Anthony |title=Long Sunset: Memoirs of Winston Churchill's Last Private Secretary |publisher=Podkin Press |date=2009 |isbn=978-0-9559483-0-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Morgan |first=Kenneth O. |title=Michael Foot: A Life |publisher= Harper Perennial |date=2008 |isbn=978-0-00-717827-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Mount |first=Ferdinand |author-link=Ferdinand Mount |year=2009 |title=Cold Cream: My Early Life and Other Mistakes |edition=paperback |location=London |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-7475-9647-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780747596479}}
* {{cite book |first=Christopher |last=Ogden |title=Life of the Party: Biography of Pamela Digby Churchill |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofpartybiogr00ogde |url-access=registration |publisher=Little Brown & Company |date=1994 |isbn= 9780316633765}}
* {{cite book |last=Noonan |first=Rhonda |date=2013 |title=The Fifth and Final Name: Memoir of an American Churchill |publisher=Chombolly Press LLC|isbn=978-0988659704 }}
* {{cite book |first=Edward |author-link=Edward Pearce (journalist) |last=Pearce |title=The Golden Talking-Shop |publisher= Oxford University Press |date=2016 |isbn=978-0-19-871723-2}} (a history of the Oxford Union Society during the first half of the twentieth century, based on official minutes)
* {{cite book |first=John |last=Ramsden |title= An Appetite for Power: A History of the Conservative Party |place=London |date=1997}}
* {{cite book |last=Rhodes James |first=Robert |title= Anthony Eden |publisher=Macmillan |location=London |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-333-45503-6}}
* {{cite book |first=Andrew |last=Roberts |title=Eminent Churchillians |place=London |orig-year=1994 |date=2004}}
* {{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Andrew |title=Churchill:Walking With Destiny |publisher=Allen Lane |location=London |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-241-20563-1}}
* {{cite book |first=Anthony |last=Seldon |title=Churchill's Indian Summer: The Conservative Government, 1951–55 |place=London |date=1981}}
* {{cite book |last=Soames |first=Mary |title= Clementine Churchill |publisher=Doubleday |location=London |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-385-60741-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Stannard |first=Martin |title= Evelyn Waugh: The Later Years, 1939–1966 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |location=London |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-393-31166-2}}
* {{cite book |first=Christopher |last= Sykes |title=Evelyn Waugh – a Biography |page=273 |publisher= Collins |place= London |date=1975}}
* {{cite book |last =Thorpe |first=D. R. |author-link=D. R. Thorpe |year=1989 |title=Selwyn Lloyd |location=London |publisher=Jonathan Cape Ltd |isbn=978-0-224-02828-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/selwynlloyd0000thor}}
* {{Cite book |first=Philip |last=Ziegler |title=Mountbatten |place=London |date=1985 |isbn=978-0-00-637047-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/mountbattenoffic00phil }}

=== Videos ===
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12plFTgdgVc&t=97s KJRH 2 the Point Interview with Russ McCaskey on 21 July 2013 – FBI Cover Up of Winston Churchill's Granddaughter]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EijJ029YtUg Speech by Rhonda Noonan to Rotary Club of Tulsa, 4 December 2013]. Noonan's speech begins at 13:01.

==External links==
* [http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=randolph+churchill+son+of+winston&&view=detail&mid=B9CD5867E078F417CBD5B9CD5867E078F417CBD5&FORM=VRDGAR Randolph Churchill02]
* [http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=randolph+churchill+son+of+winston&&view=detail&mid=4C1837F7A92852CD4DB64C1837F7A92852CD4DB6&FORM=VRDGAR Randolph Churchill03]
{{Commons category|Randolph Churchill}}
* {{Hansard-contribs|mr-randolph-churchill|Randolph Churchill}}
* {{PM20|FID=pe/003272}}
* [https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/9/resources/1795 The Papers of Randolph Churchill] held at [[Churchill Archives Centre]]

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box
 | title   = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Preston (UK Parliament constituency)|Preston]]
 | with    = [[Edward Cobb (politician)|Edward Cobb]]
 | years   = [[1940 Preston by-election|1940]]–[[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945]]
 | before  = [[Edward Cobb (politician)|Edward Cobb]]
 | before2 = [[Adrian Moreing]]
 | after   = [[Samuel Segal]]
 | after2  = [[John William Sunderland|John Sunderland]]
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Winston Churchill|state=extended}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Churchill, Randolph}}
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