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Sir Winston Churchill died 60 years ago this week on 24 January 1965. His funeral took place on 30 January, following three days lying in state in the Palace of Westminster.

It was the only occasion since the Second World War when a full state funeral was held for someone who was not a member of the Royal Family.

Churchill was venerated then as the prime minister who had led Great Britain to victory over Hitler and the Nazis. He has repeatedly topped surveys asking for the “Greatest Briton” since.

In 1965, many people who had lived through the war were still alive. The Royal Mint struck a ‘Churchill Crown’, with a nominal value of five shillings, to mark his life and death. Such commemorative issues were a rarity in the 1960s.

The funeral itself was an exceptional and grand event, involving thousands of troops from all branches of the armed services. It had been planned for at least 12 years, with its ailing subject taking an active interest.

Its sombre splendour cemented Britain’s reputation for ceremonial spectacle but afterwards, French President General Charles de Gaulle, who Churchill had grudgingly allowed to be invited, commented: “Now Britain is no longer a great power.”

As remarkable as the national and international reaction at the time of his death, is the phenomenon that Sir Winston Churchill endures as an iconic figure, more than half a century later.

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Prime Minister Winston Churchill broadcasting a radio address to the British people from Washington on May 14, 1943. (AP Photo/Byron Rollins)
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Churchill endures as an iconic figure. Pic AP

Yet another drama depicting Churchill is opening on stage in London. This time Roger Allam, Inspector Thursday in the Endeavour TV series, is playing the great man in Churchill in Moscow, following in the footsteps of other stars including Brian Cox, Albert Finney, Timothy Spall, Timothy West, Robert Hardy and Richard Burton.

Bust returned twice

Meanwhile, with the inauguration of a new US president, the location of a bust of Sir Winston has once again become a hot topic, in Britain’s right-wing media outlets at least.

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Donald Trump has re-instated the bronze by Sir Jacob Epstein in a prominent position in the Oval Office. It was originally a loan from the British Embassy to President George W Bush. Both Trump’s immediate presidential predecessors, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, had it moved elsewhere in the White House. Trump has now put it back twice.

Obama put a bust of Martin Luther King Junior in pride of place. Joe Biden favoured the Irish-American Bobby Kennedy. RFK senior that is, not his son RFK junior, the Kennedy family renegade now nominated as Trump’s health secretary.

There has long been another identical copy of the Epstein bust in the presidential private quarters – a gift to Lyndon Johnson in 1965.

President Donald Trump points to the bust of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill as he poses for photographs with British Prime Minister Theresa May in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Friday, Jan. 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
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Trump proudly showed the Churchill bust to then-PM Theresa May in 2017. Pic: AP

Churchill’s grandson, Nicholas Soames, a former Conservative MP who is now in the House of Lords, is unimpressed by all the fuss. He points out: “It’s loaned. I promise you, it’s not a sign of the strength or otherwise of the special relationship, whether or not Churchill’s head is in the White House.”

Trump’s admiration for Churchill is more personal than anglophile. His glaring official photo portrait for this year’s inauguration is almost a pastiche of Churchill’s frequent “we shall never surrender” poses, just as some Trump posts on social media garble some of Churchill’s most famous quotations. The Darkest Hour, featuring Gary Oldman as Churchill, is one of the films Trump has identified as his favourite movie.

Leader comparisons

The president’s closest allies like to draw comparisons between the two men. In 2020, when Trump muscled his way to St John’s Church opposite the White House for a photo-op after it had been damaged by a firebomb, his official spokesman said it was “a message of resilience and determination, like Churchill inspecting the bombing damage”, presumably of the Blitz.

FILE - President Donald Trump holds a Bible as he visits outside St. John's Church, June 1, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
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Trump’s controversial photo-op outside St John’s – often called the Church of the Presidents. Pic: AP

After visiting his father following this summer’s deadly assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, Trump’s son Eric likened him to Churchill due to his “lack of political correctness”.

Trump is not the only US president to emulate Churchill. Both Eisenhower and George W Bush tried their hand at painting, inspired in part by Churchill’s skill with the brush.

Trump is a great admirer of pageantry and may be disappointed that, at 24.6 million, the TV audience for his second inauguration did not match either Joe Biden’s or Barack Obama’s first.

Part of the explanation may be increasing fragmentation of audiences by new media represented by the tech billionaires, who were invited to attend the ceremony in person by Trump.

In 1965 a similar number, 25 million, watched Churchill’s funeral in the UK, an overwhelming mass audience in a much smaller country than the US. There were only two TV channels then and the ceremony was broadcast live by both the BBC and ITV.

The Naval party drawing the gun carriage, bearing Sir Winston Churchill's coffin, moves slowly from Whitehall across a corner of Trafalgar Square, during the funeral procession to St. Paul's Cathedral, London, Jan. 30, 1965. (AP Photo)
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The naval party drawing the gun carriage bearing Sir Winston Churchill’s coffin during the funeral procession. Pic: AP

On the BBC, it was the last state occasion anchored by Richard Dimbleby, the patriarch of the Dimbleby broadcasting family. There were large TV audiences in the US as well. The funeral was not shown live on RTE in Ireland. Neither the Irish president nor prime minister attended the ceremony.

I was a small boy then and remember the coverage as one of the two great highlights of the black and white television era. The other was England’s World Cup victory in 1966. Extended outside broadcast from multiple locations were a rarity. Both the funeral and the cup final took place during the day on a Saturday – a time when, back then, there was usually nothing to watch on TV sets.

Rare honour of state funeral

The funeral was a television spectacular involving foot soldiers and cavalry, RAF fly-bys and travel by boat, train, manpower and hearse. The ceremonies had been in planning since Churchill had his first major stroke in 1953.

He was serving his second term as prime minister and the poor state of his health was covered up from the public, even though he was left partially paralysed. Officials in the know, working for the royals and at Westminster, set to work to prepare Operation Hope Not.

Royal Navy officers and men escort a gun carriage with the flag-draped coffin of Britain's wartime leader, Sir Winston Churchill, from St. Paul's Cathedral, London, Jan. 30, 1965. (AP Photo)
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Crowds lined the street to pay their respects. Pic: AP

Putting the plan into action required a message from the Queen to parliament and a motion in parliament the day after Churchill died to authorise a state funeral.

Full state funerals are usually reserved for heads of state. The late Queen Mother, Princess Diana, the late Duke of Edinburgh, and former prime minister Margaret Thatcher were all given ceremonial funerals in recent years – but none of these were state funeral in terms of scale or international protocol. Britain’s next state funeral was for Elizabeth II in September 2022.

Churchill’s embalmed body lay in state round the clock in Westminster Hall for three days. More than 300,000 people filed past to pay their respects. Then the funeral began when Big Ben struck 9.45am. The bell was silenced for the day after that but there was a 90-gun salute in Hyde Park, a volley for each year of Churchill’s life.

British Naval Officers stand vigil by the coffin of Sir Winston Churchill at Westminster Hall, London, before the funeral. Sir Winston Churchill was buried with full state honors, Jan. 30, 1965. (AP Photo)
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Sir Winston’s coffin lay in state before his funeral, Churchill at Westminster Hall, as Elizabeth II’s would decades later

As soldiers and spectators lined the streets of London, Churchill’s coffin was placed on a gun carriage and pulled by 98 sailors from the Royal Navy all the way to St Paul’s Cathedral. It was carried inside with honorary pallbearers including three other British prime ministers and an Australian one. Clement Attlee, aged 82, stumbled on the steps and was given a chair to rest on.

Queen broke with protocol

After the service, the catafalque was drawn to the pier by Tower Bridge and taken upriver to Waterloo Station. Dockside cranes dipped as the boat passed. There is some dispute as to how voluntary this gesture by dockers really was. Even though his final journey was by locomotive down the Great Western Railway, Churchill insisted on going via Waterloo rather than Paddington station to make a point about British historical glory.

He was buried at St Martin’s Church, Bladon, on the Blenheim estate, seat of the Duke of Marlborough, a cousin, alongside his parents and other members of the Spencer Churchill family.

Churchill was the first prime minister of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. Throughout the funeral day she broke with protocol to give him precedence. She hosted a reception for the dignitaries in attendance including the nine monarchs, 15 presidents and 14 serving prime ministers.

It is perhaps just as well that Donald Trump will not be around to see if his final obsequies beat that.

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Day 77: Q&A – Trump’s tariffs, Putin’s Arctic, and penguins

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Day 77: Q&A - Trump's tariffs, Putin's Arctic, and penguins

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On Day 77, US correspondents Mark Stone and David Blevins answer your questions on everything from Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs and their impact on American consumers, to Trump’s relationship with Putin and if they have plans for the Arctic, and penguins.

If you’ve got a question you’d like Mark, Martha, and James to answer, you can email it to trump100@sky.uk.

Don’t forget, you can also watch all episodes on our YouTube channel.

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Thousands protest against Donald Trump and Elon Musk at rallies in all 50 US states

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Thousands protest against Donald Trump and Elon Musk at rallies in all 50 US states

Thousands of people gathered in various cities across the US as protests against Donald Trump and Elon Musk took place in all 50 states on Saturday.

Around 1,200 demonstrations were planned in locations including Washington DC, New York City and West Palm Beach, Florida – just miles away from where the US president has this weekend played golf.

The “Hands Off!” protests were against the Trump administration’s handling of government downsizing, human rights and the economy, among other issues.

In Washington DC, protesters streamed on the grass in front of the Washington Monument, where one person carried a banner which read: “Make democracy great again.”

Demonstrators hold up their banners during a 'Hands Off!' protests protest against President Donald Trump at the Washington Monument in Washington, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
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Thousands gathered in Washington DC to rally against various Trump policies. Pic: AP

A demonstrator twirls a ribbon during a "Hands Off!" protest against President Donald Trump at the Washington Monument in Washington, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
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Pic: AP

Another protester took aim at Mr Trump‘s handling of Russia and Ukraine, with a placard that read: “Stop Putin’s puppets from destroying America.”

Tesla boss Mr Musk also featured on many signs due to his role in controversial government cuts as head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Demonstrators march during a "Hands Off!" protest against President Donald Trump on Saturday, April 5, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
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Demonstrators in NYC. Pic: AP

People take part in the nationwide anti-Trump “Hands Off” protest in Atlanta, Georgia U.S., April 5, 2025. REUTERS/ Megan Varner
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People marching in Atlanta, Georgia. Pic: Reuters

Hundreds of people show up to protest President Donald Trump at Centre Congregational Church in Brattleboro, Vt., during a national "Hands Off" protest on Saturday, April 5, 2025. (Kristopher Radder/The Brattleboro Reformer via AP)
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A rally in Vermont. Pic: The Brattleboro Reformer via AP

Terry Klein, a retired biomedical scientist, said she drove to the rally to protest Mr Trump’s policies on “everything from immigration to the DOGE stuff to the tariffs this week, to education”.

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“I mean, our whole country is under attack, all of our institutions, all the things that make America what it is,” she added.

A drone view shows a protest at the Utah State Capitol building in a demonstration that is part of larger "Hands off" events organized nationwide against U.S. President Donald Trump, in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., April 5, 2025. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
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A drone view of the protest at the Utah State Capitol building. Pic Reuters

People participate in a protest at the Utah State Capitol building in a demonstration that is part of larger "Hands off" events organized nationwide against U.S. President Donald Trump, in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., April 5, 2025. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
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A protester sports a Handmaid’s Tale costume. Pic: Reuters

People participate in a protest at the Utah State Capitol building in a demonstration that is part of larger "Hands off" events organized nationwide against U.S. President Donald Trump, in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., April 5, 2025. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
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Pic: Reuters

Some at the various protests carried Ukrainian flags, while others sported rainbow attire and waved rainbow flags in support of the LGBTQ+ community.

Other protesters wore Palestinian keffiyeh scarves and carried “Free Palestine” signs.

Protesters refuse to take Donald Trump’s policies lying down

It was built to honour George Washington, a founding father of the United States.

And in the shadow of the 555ft Washington Monument, protestors were refusing to accept Donald Trump’s policies lying down.

“Stand tall,” they chanted, again and again.

“In every city, stand tall. In every state, stand tall. In truth, stand tall. In justice, stand tall.”

Those words, shouted by thousands on the city’s iconic mall, were reinforced by the words on their placards and t-shirts.

A minister, wearing a t-shirt with ‘Troublesome Priest’ printed on it, told me she found what was happening in the US government “appalling and immortal”.

One man said he had won the long-distance award, having travelled 2,750 miles from Hawaii for the protest.

“I finally reached a breaking point,” he added. “I couldn’t take it anymore.”

Another woman said: “We have to speak up, we have to act, we have to do something, because this is not America.”

I asked her what she would say to those who argue the people did speak when they elected Donald Trump as president.

She replied: “Some people have spoken and then some people have not and those of us that have not, we need to speak now.”

Thousands marched in New York City’s midtown Manhattan and in Boston, Massachusetts, while hundreds gathered in the sunshine outside the Utah State Capitol building in Salt Lake City, and in the rain outside the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio.

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Mr Trump – who shook financial markets with his tariffs announcement this week – spent the day in Florida, playing a round of golf before returning to his Mar-a-Lago residence.

People protest in Manhattan, during a demonstration that is part of larger “Hands Off!” events organized nationwide against U.S. President Donald Trump, in New York City, New York, U.S., April 5, 2025. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
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People protest in Manhattan. Pic: Reuters

Activists protest President Donald Trump, who was a few miles away at his Trump National Golf Club, during a "Hands Off!" demonstration Saturday, April 5, 2025, in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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Activists in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Pic: AP

Some four miles from Mar-a-Lago, more than 400 people gathered – and drivers honked their horns in support of protesters who held up signs including one which read: “Markets tank, Trump golfs.”

The White House has said Mr Trump plans to go golfing again on Sunday.

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Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they’re also battling with another problem

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Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they're also battling with another problem

Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.

The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.

The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.

Tariffs latest: FTSE 100 suffers biggest daily drop since COVID

Financial investors had been gradually re-calibrating their expectations of Donald Trump over the past few months.

Hopes that his actions may not match his rhetoric were dashed on Wednesday as he imposed sweeping tariffs on the US’ trading partners, ratcheting up protectionism to a level not seen in more than a century.

Markets were always going to respond to that but they are also battling with another problem: the lack of certainty when it comes to Trump.

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He is a capricious figure and we can only guess his next move. Will he row back? How far is he willing to negotiate and offer concessions?

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There were no winners from Trump’s tariff gameshow
Trade war sparks ‘$2.2trn’ global market sell-off

These are massive unknowns, which are piled on to uncertainty about how countries will respond.

China has already retaliated and Europe has indicated it will go further.

That will compound the problems for the global economy and undoubtedly send shivers through the markets.

Much is yet to be determined, but if there’s one thing markets hate, it’s uncertainty.

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