23. Immediately After Making His Famous "We Shall Fight Them On The Beaches" Speech, Churchill Muttered "With The Butt-Ends Of Broken Beer Bottles Because That's Bloody Well All We've Got"
"We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender..."
These are the words uttered by Sir Winston Churchill during his famous "We Shall Fight on the Beaches" speech, given to the House of Commons on June 4, 1940. Interestingly, despite the fact he made this speech with such passion and defiance, as soon as he finished talking he turned and muttered to a fellow MP:
"And we'll fight them with the butt-ends of broken beer bottles because that's bloody well all we've got!"
Despite this his words were extremely well received and - along with his "Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat" and "This Was Their Finest Hour" speeches - this is considered to have been his most important public address.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
