On Friday May 10th, Churchill went to the Palace and emerged as the new Prime Minister.

On the same day came the news that Belgium and Holland had been invaded.

Now, of course, we all know that a "Finest hour" was waiting in the wings.

But nobody knew it then, not in the merciless days of May 1940, when Britain came closer than at any other time in its history to being overwhelmed.

Belgium and Holland were going under, and France was soon about to join their fate.

A quarter of a million british troops were trapped in northern France with hardly any hope of a safe exit.

Neither the United States nor the Soviet Union were about to ride to our rescue, and hardly anyone who counted thought we could possibly get out of the military nightmare alone.

Facing catastrophe, Churchill went to the House of Commons and made a short speech, shocking in its clarity, defiant in its optimism.

I would say to the House, as I said to those who've joined the government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering.