During his life he preferred to brush aside discussion of this talent with the comment,'My memory is very good only for a simple reason---I worked at it.'However he acquired it,there is little doubt that this capacity for remembering information of every description,from names, facts and figures to speeches and documents,was fundamental to his later political success.During his life he preferred to brush aside discussion of this talent with the comment, ‘My memory is very good only for a simple reason---I worked at it .’ However he acquired it, there is little doubt that this capacity for remembering information of every description, from names, facts and figures to speeches and documents, was fundamental to his later political success