Iconic Churchill statue goes under the hammer

Iconic Churchill statue goes under the hammer

Do you every have one of those chilling moments when you see an item in the newspaper and it makes your heart stop for a moment? I'm being slightly over dramatic here but the picture of the famous Sir Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt statue "Allies" with text that said the famous statue was up for auction made me stop in my tracks. Bonhams will auction the famous statue in London tomorrow and it is expected to reach a price around £200,000.

Four years ago when I set too to create the Cuban Cigar Walk London I wanted a suitable starting point and after many hours researching Mayfair and St James's and planning a suitable route I decided that the junction of old and new Bond street and the iconic statue at this junction was the ideal meeting point.

More recently I have created the London Cigar Guide App which also includes the Cigar Walk and the statue is a key land mark for cigar lovers and tourists alike. It has a polished look due to the number of tourists who sit between the great men to have their pictures taken and is a major Bond Street land mark.

The statue in Bond street was unveiled on 2nd May 1995 by Her Royal Highness the Princess Margaret Countess of Snowdon and it commemorates 50 Years of Peace after the Second World War.

The British nation loved Churchill and as a man who is reputed to have smoked up to 200,000 cigars in his 90 year life you will not be surprised to find that he features frequently in both the cigar walk and the London Cigar Guide App which features many of his London homes.

The thought that I was going to have to re-record the whole of the first stage of the walk and find a new meeting point was not good news.  Only when I called the Auction house directly did I discover that the statue remains in place in Bond Street and the version that is up for auction is one of seven impressions taken. 

Churchill was a great leader and is fondly remembered on both sides of the Atlantic. His energy and oratory kept Britain motivated through the war and his relationship with Roosevelt was very special and i for one am delighted that this great statue is staying where it belongs in Bond street.

Laurence Holofcener, the sculptor was born in Baltimore Maryland and has exhibited all over the US and UK. He is know for his statues of famous people including Lawrence Olivier at the Chichester Festival Theatre.

Auction of Sir Winston Churchill's suit

Some people spend a lifetime collecting items relating to their heroes and there must be many people who collect items in the memory of the greatest Englishman of the 20th century.

On the 28th of September there will be an auction of the huge collection of Churchill memorabilia collected by one man and remarkably the auction will include one of the Sir Winston's suits together with an amazing array of letters press cuttings and other items over a total of thirty lots.

Churchill collection to be auctioned includes one of the Prime Minister's three-piece suits and hundreds of other items.

The suit is a 1950's grey pinstripe double breasted suit which comprises of a pair of trousers and two jackets each jacket is inscribed by Austin reed in the pocket with the name of sir Winston Churchill and a date.

The suit is also accompanied by a two page letter of provenance stating that the suit was given by Lady Churchill in the 1960s. There is also a letter from Austin Reed dated 1975 stating that in their opinion the labels in the suit are authentic; together with a book titled Churchill The Walk With Destiny published in 1959 in which Churchill is photographed wearing the suit whilst shaking hands with President Eisenhower at the White House on the 28th June 1954

The auction of 'Tom' Thomas's collection of Churchilliana will take place at Stride & Son, Southdown House, St John's Street, Chichester on Friday 28th September 2012.  

For full details of all the lots Visit Stride & Son Auctions and search on Churchill.

Details were published on Stride & Son's website on Friday 21st September and viewing dates are Monday 24th - Friday 28th September.

Contact details are www.stridesauctions.co.uk and  01243-780207. 

Sir Winston Churchill's cigar part of War Time bunker exhibition

The Cuban Cigar Walk London naturally has many references to the life and cigars of Sir Winston Churchill  as on our Audio guide we visit two of the Cigar stores (Robert Lewis and Alfred Dunhill) which supplied Sir Winston during his long life.

The Cuban Cigar Walk London finishes at the Churchill Museum Cabinet War Rooms just next to Downing street and a new exhibition revealing the day to day workings of life inside Sir Winston Churchill's secret World War II headquarters is being opened to the public this week.





Marking the 70th anniversary of the start of the conflict, the exhibition will showcase the stories of the people who worked alongside Churchill in the secret bunker.

For those of you who are keen Cigar smokers interested in the specific cigar that Sir Winston smoked you can see an example of one of his cigars in the museum.

It's partly smoked and well chewed but it's a contact with the great man himself.



Whether you can get to the exhibition or not I strongly recommend that you buy a copy of the book "Churchill's Cigar" by Stephen McGinty.

Stephen was kind enough to read extracts of his wonderful book for inclusion in the Cuban Cigar Walk London and it's a authorative and beautifully written book.

For more details see :

BBC News Article
Churchill Museum Cabinet War Rooms Web site.