I take your point Al. I think the point that an earlier poster made was that Churchill's speeches were mainly designed to instill calm among the civilian population. This seems to be born out by what you say about your mother in law. Oddly enough, my Mum, who was a Tory out of a sense of loyalty to her "betters" (quite misplaced in my view) did not like Churchill, although she conceded that he was the right man for the job at the time.