Said Who?

A recorded run from 12 October 2026, with 4 sites that already answer it kept out of the search.

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

Usually credited to Winston Churchill

  1. Plan

  2. Search

    5 done

  3. Read and check

    19 of 19 pages, 12 confirmed

  4. Follow citations

    2 cited works, 0 pages found

  5. Judge

About 9x cheaper than the same calls at Nemotron 3 Ultra prices

$0.0040 on Nebius (same calls at Ultra prices: $0.0362) · 7 Tavily credits · 1 call with unknown cost · 243s

correctly attributed· high confidencejudged on Nemotron 3 Super

Winston Churchill said it

Earliest trace: Winston Churchill, 1940 n2

The earliest dated evidence showing the exact wording is from n2, which presents the phrase as spoken by Winston Churchill in 1940 n2. Subsequent pages (n4 n5 n7 n10, etc.) repeatedly attribute the same wording to Churchill's House of Commons speech of 20 August 1940 n4 n5 n7 n10. No earlier or alternative source is provided in the evidence, supporting the traditional attribution.

The known answerCorrectly credited to Winston ChurchillSame verdict as this run

Earliest known: Speech to the House of Commons on the war situation (Hansard), by Winston Churchill, 1940-08-20.

Churchill was praising the RAF pilots of the Battle of Britain. The parliamentary record has the exact words.

From api.parliament.uk.

What the agents did

Who does what
Run
The run itself: when it started, which sites it left out, and when it stopped.
Planner
Writes the search: other wordings of the quote, who might have said it, and the queries.
Search
Web search through Tavily, which brings back the pages to read.
Reader
Reads one page and copies the quote word for word, with who the page credits, its date and any older work it names.
Checker
Plain code, no model. Checks every copied line against the page text, allowing small differences in wording, and crosses out what it can't find there. It also corrects a verdict's earliest date or page when the pages don't back it.
Genealogist
Picks older works the confirmed pages name and looks for them in digital libraries, for up to two rounds.
Judge
Weighs only the confirmed pages and gives the verdict, which code checks before it stands.
  1. Run

    Started. Sites that already wrote up answers are left out: quoteinvestigator.com, wikiquote.org, wikipedia.org, api.parliament.uk

  2. Planner

    Planning failed: timeout: The provider did not respond in time.

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  3. Planner

    Trying again on Nemotron 3 Super with thinking off: timeout: The provider did not respond in time.

  4. Planner

    Planned 5 searches and 2 other wordings

    Nemotron 3 Super$0.0002

  5. Search

    5 results for "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

  6. Search

    5 results for "Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few." "Churchill"

  7. Search

    5 results for earliest known use "so much owed by so many to so few"

  8. Search

    5 results for Battle of Britain speech August 20 1940 transcript "so much owed by so many to so few"

  9. Search

    5 results for Harold Nicholson "so much owed by so many to so few"

  10. Search

    13 pages to read

  11. Reader

    Found the quote on winstonchurchill.org

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning$0.0001

  12. Checker

    Confirmed n4 on winstonchurchill.org

  13. Reader

    Found the quote on ospreypublishing.com

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning$0.0001

  14. Checker

    Confirmed n2 on ospreypublishing.com

  15. Reader

    Found the quote on rafbf.org

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning$0.0001

  16. Checker

    Confirmed n3 on rafbf.org

  17. Reader

    Found the quote on parliament.uk

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning$0.0001

  18. Checker

    Confirmed n5 on parliament.uk

  19. Reader

    Found the quote on youtube.com

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning<$0.0001

  20. Checker

    Confirmed n1 on youtube.com

  21. Reader

    Found the quote on jennifermistmorgan.com

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning$0.0001

  22. Checker

    Confirmed n9 on jennifermistmorgan.com

  23. Reader

    Found the quote on airminded.org

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  24. Checker

    Confirmed n6 on airminded.org

  25. Reader

    Found the quote on aviationquotations.com

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  26. Checker

    Confirmed n10 on aviationquotations.com

  27. Reader

    Found the quote on youtube.com

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  28. Checker

    Confirmed n8 on youtube.com

  29. Reader

    Found the quote on historyhit.com

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  30. Checker

    Confirmed n7 on historyhit.com

  31. Reader

    Found the quote on artofmanliness.com

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  32. Checker

    Confirmed n12 on artofmanliness.com

  33. Reader

    No quote on oxfordreference.com

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  34. Reader

    Found the quote on winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning$0.0001

  35. Checker

    Confirmed n13 on winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu

  36. Genealogist

    Following Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches, 1897-1963 (cited by n1); Hansard Parliamentary Debates, Official Report, Fifth Series, Volume 364 (cited by n5)

    Nemotron 3 Super$0.0003

  37. Search

    5 results for Winston S. Churchill Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few

  38. Search

    5 results for Hansard Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few

  39. Genealogist

    6 new pages to read

  40. Reader

    No quote on en.wikisource.org (looking for Hansard Parliamentary Debates, Official Report, Fifth Series, Volume 364)

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning$0.0001

  41. Reader

    No quote on gutenberg.org (looking for Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches, 1897-1963)

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning$0.0001

  42. Reader

    No quote on gutenberg.org (looking for Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches, 1897-1963)

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning$0.0001

  43. Reader

    No quote on dn790003.ca.archive.org (looking for Hansard Parliamentary Debates, Official Report, Fifth Series, Volume 364)

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning$0.0001

  44. Reader

    No quote on catdir.loc.gov (looking for Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches, 1897-1963)

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning$0.0001

  45. Reader

    No quote on dn790008.ca.archive.org (looking for Hansard Parliamentary Debates, Official Report, Fifth Series, Volume 364)

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning$0.0001

  46. Genealogist

    Told the Judge: Pages found for Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches, 1897-1963 on gutenberg.org and catdir.loc.gov don't have the saying in any wording this run knows. Pages found for Hansard Parliamentary Debates, Official Report, Fifth Series, Volume 364 on en.wikisource.org and dn790003.ca.archive.org and dn790008.ca.archive.org don't have the saying in any wording this run knows.

  47. Judge

    Verdict: correctly attributed, high confidence

    Nemotron 3 Super$0.0016

  48. Run

    Done in 243s

Where the quote turns up, oldest first

  1. 1940
  2. 1953
  3. 2025
  4. No date