Winston Churchill was a journalist, not a soldier. Nonetheless, he found himself captured in South Africa in 1899, after Boer soldiers ambushed an armored train. But Churchill, pictured at right with other prisoners, didn&amp;#39;t stay in Pretoria for long. Less than a month after his capture, he hurdled a prison wall and walked free. The episode helped catapult Churchill&amp;#39;s standing in his native Britain. But he didn&amp;#39;t stop there. Churchill went on to become one of his country&amp;#39;s most recognizable figures over the subsequent decades, including as its prime minister in the thick of World War II.