He became prime minister again from 1951 to 1955, but apart from occasional prophetic warnings about the danger of nuclear devastation, he was handicapped by age and poor health from accomplishing much, and it was not an auspicious end to his long political career. After his resignation in 1955, he devoted his last years to painting and writing. He died on January 24, 1965, at the age of 90. Following a state funeral he was buried at Bladon, near Blenheim Palace, the one-time home of his ancestor John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough.

Churchill was a prolific historical writer, although much of his work was dedicated to justifying his past actions and his place in history. His most famous works are The World Crisis (4 vols., 1923-1929), My Early Life (1930), Marlborough (4 vols., 1933-1938), The Second World War (6 vols., 1948-1953), and A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (4 vols., 1956-1958). He received the Nobel Prize for Literature and a knighthood (he refused a dukedom) in 1953.

Assessment

Churchill's death in 1965 marked the end of an era in British history. Born into an aristocratic family, he participated in Britain's transformation from British Empire to Welfare State and its decline as a world power, developments which he bitterly regretted. He is particularly remembered for his courageous stand as prime minister in 1940 and 1941, when Britain stood alone against perhaps the most dangerous adversary it had faced in its long history.