LAURENCE REES: And is he your single best leader then as well?

ANTONY BEEVOR: In terms of leadership I think there is no doubt that Churchill was the best leader in the war. He made some horrendous mistakes in terms of strategy and misjudgment, but none of them were fatal. The key decisions he made were absolutely important. He saw that Russia, despite how much he hated Stalin, had to be embraced the moment that Germany invaded it. He realised that the only chance of Britain winning the war was to bring the Americans in or to forge a very, very close alliance with the Americans, and he also foresaw that D Day would be a total disaster and he was right to persuade the Americans, even if in slightly underhand means as far as the American military was concerned, to adopt a Mediterranean strategy before tackling north-west Europe.