Winston Churchill wrote of alien life in a lost essay

Churchill's interest in science stemmed from his early years as an army man in British-ruled India

Even as he was preparing for the biggest struggle of his life, leading Britain in its fight against Nazi Germany, Winston Churchill had something else on his mind: extraterrestrials.

In a newly unearthed essay sent to his publisher on October 16, 1939 — just weeks after Britain entered World War II and Churchill became part of the wartime Cabinet — and later revised, he was pondering the likelihood of life on other planets.

Churchill, who went on to become prime minister during much of World War II and again from 1951 to 1955, was so enthralled by the subject that