Why was Churchill given the Nobel Prize for Literature for his work as a writer and speaker in 1953?
A. In a publication of the Nobel Prize Library, published under the Sponsorship of the Nobel Foundation and the Swedish Academy, Kjell Stromberg tells the story of the 1953 award. Usually government leaders were not honoured, but Churchill had already been considered twice. Support for him had come from around the world, particularly from within Sweden. In 1946 a report found that Savrola was without literary merit, My Early Life was charming, but only Marlborough rough could serve as a basis for winning. The World Crisis was dismissed as history and historians did not win (only Theodor Mommsen was a previous winner). In 1948 another report committee consulted G.M. Trevelyan who, despite their disagreements over Macaulay, endorsed Churchill. The World Crisis carried great weight this time because in no other work could “the true pulse of the age be sensed so well or the direct breath of the great events be felt so clearly.” This report called Churchill “the incomparable painter of the
