When Winston Churchill was asked whether Downing Street personnel could have a week's holiday for Christmas, he declined immediately. It was 1940 and Churchill, "surprised" by the request, explained that he planned to work "continuously". Staff were only allowed time off to attend Divine Service, and Churchill wished them "a busy Christmas and a frantic New Year".

He only took eight days' holiday between the start and end of the war, and even then had cables delivered on at least some of those days, as Andrew Roberts recounts in his wonderful biography. Assistants would go home at 6am, before being back on duty by 10am; Cabinet meetings were routinely held well after midnight. There was a war, and it had to be won.

The Telegraph London