On 14th October, Sir Winston Churchill's granddaughter, esteemed editor and author, Emma Soames, gave a keynote speech at the Chartered Institute of Journalists’ 2025 AGM, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the great statesman’s passing.

Soames reflected on Churchill’s journalistic legacy, highlighting his renowned coverage of the Boer War for the Morning Post, his storied tenure as editor of the British Gazette during the 1926 General Strike, as well as a clutch of regular columns for various national newspapers.

“In the course of Churchill’s life,” Soames said, “he is estimated to have written some 10,000 articles for newspapers and magazines, which represented a major source of much needed income to Churchill. He often said that he lived from pen to mouth.”

Following Soames’ grandfather’s death in 1965, the Churchill Fellowship was founded – a UK charity that funds passionate individuals to travel the world, learn from global best practices, and bring their insights home in order to help power positive change.

The Fellowship was created as the “living legacy of Sir Winston Churchill for the nation,” Soames explained, “seeking to honour his memory by reflecting his unique contribution to national life.”

Since 1965, over 6000 Churchill fellowships have been awarded, prioritising applications from underrepresented groups that would otherwise struggle to access funding.

Sir Winston Churchill’s legacy has also been immortalised by Churchill College, Cambridge. According to Soames, this was a project Churchill became engrossed by following his retirement in 1955. He served as chair of the first Board of Trustees and, while the building was being erected, planted a sapling on its grounds – now a mighty oak. This was to be his final public engagement.

“The idea, nothing if not ambitious,” said Soames, “came from his long-time interest in the sciences, and was greatly influenced by his friendship with Frederick Alexander Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell, best known as Churchill’s scientific adviser during the War.”

By 1960, the College had admitted its first 25 advanced and postgraduate students. Today, it houses almost 500 undergraduates, nearly 400 postgraduates, and has an academic body of over 250 Fellows. While the College receives students in all subjects, two-thirds of the Fellows and students must at any given moment be engaged in scientific and technological study – in line with Churchill’s wishes. A total of 33 Nobel Prize winners have been associated with Churchill College.

“As well as the distinguished Nobel Prize winners, the College every year welcomes 18 graduate students from universities across America,” said Soames. “Funded by the American Churchill Foundation, and all of them pursuing further studies or a Masters in the sciences, these young graduates spend a year living in college pursuing a project of their choice, before returning to the States for further post graduate study. They love their year in Cambridge, not just for the work in labs, but for all the social, sporting and travel opportunities it brings.”

Following this keynote speech at the CIOJ's 2025 AGM, I am proud to have sat on a panel of young journalists, alongside Emma Soames, to field questions from the audience on Churchill's legacy, the importance of war reporting, and the impact of AI on journalism.