Martin Gilbert began work on Winston Churchill’s biography, initially as Randolph Churchill’s assistant, in 1962 on his 26th birthday. By 1992 he had himself written six of the total eight volumes and edited ten documentary volumes of a projected 15. This book is the story of Gilbert’s 30-year quest for his subject. He reveals the extent of his historical labour, and shares with the reader some of the great moments in his pursuit. It is also the story of those who have helped Gilbert along his way, as they had earlier helped Churchill on his. Secretaries, assistants, diarists, correspondents, soldiers, politicians, civil servants, the eminent and the humble - all of them had tales to tell, many of them published for the first time. Martin Gilbert is the author of The Holocaust .