On this day, 30 January 1965, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s funeral took place. One of its most memorable moments was when cranes on the London docks dipped as his funeral barge went past. However it later emerged that the dockworkers had originally refused to dip the cranes as they “didn’t like” Churchill, and had to be paid extra to do it. While presented as a national hero today, in fact Churchill was hated by many, especially working class people, hence why he lost the 1945 election. A raving racist, he supported using poison gas on civilians, sent troops against striking workers and helped kill up to 4 million Bengalis in an enforced famine.
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