Sir Winston Churchill-Rare Pictures of Former British PM

Sir Winston Churchill died January 30, 1965, and to mark 50th anniversary of his funeral these images were released

Images of wartime leader Winston Churchill which are unseen in decades have been released to mark the 50th anniversary of his death.

The pictures, from the Daily Herald's archive, include images of Churchill's state funeral in 1965, have rarely been seen since they were published in the newspaper, the National Media Museum said.

Covering the period from 1911 to the mid-1960s, the archive includes photographs of Churchill from all aspects of his life including his days in the military, the highs and lows of his political career, family pictures, his fondness for animals and even boyhood portraits.

A museum spokesman said; 'The prime minister stands defiant, cigar clenched between his teeth, fingers raised in a victory salute. 

'As well as some fantastic images of his funeral, there are unusual images of Churchill feeding the albino kangaroo given to him as a gift by the Stockowner's Association of South Australia, the first image of Churchill (looking battered and bruised) after his car crash in 1931 and an image of him as a six-year-old boy.'

     

Back in time: Sir Winston Churchill is pictured posing alongside his Aunt Leslie aged just six in 1880 (left), and again as a young man in 1894 (right) with his friends at Sandhurst shortly before being commissioned into the 4th Queen's Own Hussars

Inspiration: Churchill is pictured giving a speech during his 1908 by-election campaign in North West Manchester, an election he went on to lose, before being quickly re-elected in Dundee the following month

     

Man of leisure: Churchill is pictured in 1910 relaxing on the beach in Sandwich, Kent, while on holiday with his wife Clementine. Another image from 1914 shows him posing next to an aircraft having just used it to get to Portsmouth

Bruised: In 1931 Churchill was visiting New York when he was hit by a motorcar while crossing Fifth Avenue shortly after arriving. Churchill's friend, Oxford University physicist Professor Frederick Lindemann, calculated the force of the impact and found it could have been fatal

Wartime: On June 6, 1944, the fated day of the D-Day landings in Normandy, Churchill salutes to a group of US sailors aboard a ship preparing to sail for France as part of Operation Overlord

Battle-hardened: Standing alongside General Montgomery, Churchill speaks to British troops in the city of Caen, France, in July 1944 shortly after operations Goodwood and Atlantic saw British and Canadian forces take the town from the Germans

Celebration: Churchill and members of his Cabinet wave to cheering crowds gathered along Whitehall in London on V.E. day, May 8 1945