Sir Winston Churchill was the greatest orator of his day, the greatest leader of the Second World War, the greatest statesman of his age, and the greatest Englishman of the 20th century. The debt owed to him by the free world remains immensurable.

Yet at the heart of this often intimidating colossus lay a man of vast humanity, enormous wit and boundless humour, much of it mischievous. His most famous speeches and sayings have passed into history and into everyday language, but many of his aphorisms, puns, "bons mots", jokes - often at his own or others' expense - are less well known.

This enchanting collection gathers hundreds of his funniest and wickedest quips in tribute to the exhilarating wit of this great-hearted, infuriatingly conceited, wildly funny, and brilliantly talented Englishman.