“The father of Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, saved a young Winston Churchill from drowning. In gratitude, Churchill’s father paid for Fleming’s education. Later on, Fleming’s penicillin saved Winston Churchill’s life from pneumonia.”
What FACTLY found
This story about Winston Churchill and Alexander Fleming is not true; it is a fictional tale. There is no historical evidence to support the claim that Alexander Fleming or his father saved Churchill’s life. Churchill’s official biographers and medical records indicate that he was treated with sulfa drugs (sulphonamides), not penicillin, during his illness. In the book ‘Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution’, a biography of Alexander Fleming, the author, Kevin Brown,...
Their words, from the summary they publish with the rating.
In short
This claim spread on social media around 6 March 2025. FACTLY (India) looked into it and published its finding on 13 March 2025, 7 days later. Its rating was “FALSE”.
Where the claim appeared
- Facebook posthttps://www.facebook.com/reel/1749390308958142
Links recorded by FACTLY. Some posts may have been deleted since.
This check was done by FACTLY, not by DoesItStand. We list it so you can find it. Their full evidence and reasoning are in their article.