No More Champagne

by David Lough

  45. 25 Jul 1953 LlBk investment account statement, CHUR 1/4/2226.

  46. 30 Jun, 25 Jul 1953 LlBk statements, CHUR 1/2/195, LGA B/1034/b/5.1.

  47. 4 Sep 1953 W. Graebner ltr to D. Longwell, box 2, WSCDL, CURBMSL.

  48. 29 Aug 1953 MWB ltr to WSC, CHUR 2/211/20.

  49. 16 Oct, 11 Dec 1953 WSC ltr to CSC, 8:901, LlBk statement, CHUR 1/4/206. £12,093 was credited to Churchill’s bank account on 11 December.

  50. 3 May 1954 BRB ltr to WSC, CHUR 2/212/12. In May 1954, the trust gave Christopher and Mary Soames £20,000 towards the cost of buying, ‘converting and reconditioning’ Hamsell Manor, on the border between Kent and Sussex.

  51. Houghton Mifflin & Co. Trade Sales Showings, A–F 1919–76, HMCo, HLHU; 25 April 1954 H.O.Ward Reynolds News, cited D. Reynolds In Command of History, p.489.

  52. 19 Aug 1953 Ld Moran, Winston Churchill, Struggle for Survival, p. 457.

  53. 30, 31 Dec 1953 LlBk statements, CHUR 1/2/116 (current a/c), 1/4/206 (investment a/c).

  54. 4 May 1954 LlBk ltr, statement, CHUR 1/14/269, 1/2/97.

  55. 10 Nov 1954 A. Moir ltr, schedule to WSC, CHUR 1/28/150–2. Life assurance benefits would total £27,500, free of tax.

  56. Oct 1954 Ld Moran, Struggle for Survival, p. 607.

  57. 1 Dec 1954, 12 April 1955 WSC announcement, A. Ball ltr to WSC, WSC LlBk Presentation account, J. Colville memo to WSC, CHUR 2/431/77, 47, 48; 1/5/72, 77; 2/430/2–3.

  58. 8 Dec 1954 Trust particulars, LBA B/1034/B/12. The trustees were Viscount Leathers, Baron Moynihan, J. Colville, E. D. Martell and A. Moir. 17 Feb 1956, 1958 A. Moir ltr to WSC, CHUR 4/41/386, SFT; 621 f/n. In February 1956, the trustees made grants of £36,750 (including £10,000 each to the Churchill Homes, Bristol University, Harrow School and £5,000 to the Professional Classes Aid Council). In 1958 they contributed £25,000 towards the £3,500,000 appeal for the foundation of Churchill College, Cambridge.

  59. 31 Dec 1954 LlBk statements, CHUR 1/2/62; 1/4/149, 1/5/72; 25 Dec 1954, 4 Jan 1955 WSC ltrs to CSC, SFT:589, LlBk statement, CHUR 1/2/174.

  60. 17 Jan 1955 BRB ltr to MWB, cited K. Young, Churchill & Beaverbrook, p. 305.

  61. A. Montague Browne, Long Sunset, p. 182.

  26. A Third and Final Retirement, 1955–7

  1. 16 Jul, 12 Sep 1955 A. Moir ltrs and schedules to WSC, McClelland & Stewart, CHUR 1/28/127–40, 136–7, 159. In Britain, Cassell paid a royalty of 20 per cent (10 per cent on Book Society or export copies), keeping the first £3,400 of royalties for each volume in recognition of the advances it had paid Churchill in the 1930s. In the US, the royalty was 10 per cent on the first 2,500 copies, 12½ per cent on the next 2,500, and 15 per cent thereafter. Dodd kept the first $7,070 of Churchill’s royalties (then the equivalent of the £2,525 it had paid Cassell in 1939); in Canada, McClelland & Stewart paid a 10 per cent royalty on the first 5,000 copies and 15 per cent thereafter (deducting C$2,950 to offset the £1,075 paid to Cassell in 1939).

  2. 11 Nov 1954 A. Moir ltr to WSC enc Wood, Willey & Co. memo, CHUR 1/8/159, 160.

  3. 31 Mar 1954 M. Gilbert, Winston Churchill and Emery Reves, p. 341.

  4. 21 Nov 1954 WSC cbl to H. Luce, M. Gilbert, Winston Churchill and Emery Reves, pp. 344–5.

  5. 28 Dec 1954 WSC note to E. Gilliatt, 16 Jul 1955, A. Moir notes to WSC, CHUR 1/28/132–3, 138, 140. M. Gilbert, Winston Churchill and Emery Reves, p. 344. Reves’ payment was spread over five instalments of £8,500 each; LIFE bought US, Canadian and Spanish serial rights, spreading payment across four instalments of $37,5000 each on 1 May of 1956, 7, 8, 9.

  6. U/d post-May (probably Sep) 1955, 10 Nov 1954 A. Moir, schedule, CHUR 1/28/134–5, 152.

  7. 13 Jun 1955 Fladgate & Co. ltr to secretary, CHUR 1/37/80.

  8. 12 May 1955 WSC ltr to A. Carey Foster, CHUR 1/93/40–1.

  9. 1 Jun 1957 WSC to CSC, SFT:617–8.

  10. 5 Apr 1957, 15 Apr 1958 Wood, Willey & Co. accounts re Racing, Stud 1956/7, CHUR 1/113/58, 68.

  11. 1956–7 LlBk statements, CHUR 1/2/4, 35. Churchill reimbursed Montague Browne’s salary by paying HM Treasury £172 per month in 1956 (rising to £175 in 1957).

  12. A. Montague Browne, Long Sunset, p. 233.

  13. 31 Dec 1955 CSC & WSC ltr to J. Taylor & Sons, CHUR 1/29/82.

  14. 12, 20 Jan 1956 J. Taylor & Sons ltrs to WSC, CHUR 1/29/82, 83.

  15. 7, 8 Mar 1956 E. Woolgar ltr to L. Menzies, A. Ball ltr to WSC, LBGA, HO/O/Off/19, CHUR 1/105/26.

  16. 17 Jan 1956 WSC ltr to CSC, SFT:601–2.

  17. 19 Feb 1956 CSC ltr to WSC, SFT:603–4.

  18. 9 Mar 1956 E. Dodd ltr to WSC, CHUR 1/7/8.

  19. U/d May, 4 Jun 1956 A. Moir Instruction to Counsel; C. Graham-Dixon QC Opinion, CHUR 1/7/8–9, 11–13.

  20. 14 Sep, 12 Oct 1956 J. Wood ltr to WSC, V. Bullock ltr to A. Moir, CHUR 1/7/26, 30.

  21. 16 Oct 1956 A. Moir ltr to WSC, CHUR 1/7/32–3. £175,000-worth of publishers’ payments escaped tax – £75,000 from Cassell and £100,000 from Dodd, Mead and McClelland & Stewart.

  22. 24 Dec 1956 A. Moir ltr to WSC, CHUR 1/7/42.

  23. 31 Dec 1956 J. Wood ltr to WSC, CHUR 1/113/33–4; 1 May 1957 J. Wood ltr to WSC, CHUR 1/113/73, 76. When Wood completed the tax return for 1956/7, Churchill paid £27,000 of tax, not £50,000 as expected, because Wood explained, with evident satisfaction, he had taken advantage of a technique called a ‘spread back’, which allowed authors to spread expense claims back over three years, if works had taken more than twenty years to complete: History’s contract had been signed in 1933.

  24. 24 Aug 1955 BMB ltrs to WSC, CHUR 4/446/1–2.

  25. 13, 21 Oct, 1 Nov 1955 A. Moir ltrs to WSC, A. Korda ltr to WSC, CHUR 4/446/7–8, 9–10, 14, 17. Per 18 July 1958 A. Moir ltr to WSC, CHUR 4/446/121: Churchill’s fellow shareholders were Randolph and Christopher Soames, who each subscribed £200 alongside Churchill’s £2,098 (and the two nominee directors £1 each).

  26. 1 May 1956, 28 Apr 1958 A. Moir ltrs to WSC, CHUR 4/446/29, 95.

  27. 12 Jul, 14 Dec 1956 C. Wick ltr to A. Moir, WSC cbl to ER, CHUR 4/46/37, M. Gilbert, Winston Churchill and Emery Reves, p. 362.

  28. 23 May 156 D. Schery ltr to WSC, CHUR 4/447/1–3.

  29. 22 Jun 1956 AMB memo to A. Moir, CHUR 4/447/11, 13.

  30. U/d Aug 1956 A. Moir memo, CHUR 4/447/38–9.

  31. 3 Jan 1957 A. Moir ltr to AMB, CHUR 4/447/72.

  32. 15 Dec 1956 AMB memo, A. Moir note, CHUR 4/447/41–2, 35–6.

  33. 21 Jan 1957 A. Moir memo, CHUR 1/7/43–4.

  34. 5 Apr 1957 Wood, Willey & Co. accounts, CHUR 1/113/58, A. Montague Browne, Long Sunset, p. 192. Churchill paid £2,000 each to Denis Kelly and Alan Hodge and £1,000 to Anthony Montague Browne for History’s ‘early completion’.

  35. 29 Jan 1957 ER ltr to WSC, M. Gilbert, Winston Churchill and Emery Reves, p. 363–4.

  36. 14, 20 Feb 1957 LlBk ltr to WSC, A. Moir ltr to WSC, CHUR 1/105/72, 1/111/195–6. Cassell’s accountants had suggested only £35,000, but Desmond Flower offered £50,000. Moir countered with £75,000, but Flower pointed out that their experience with The Second World War showed sales tailed off after the first volume. (The first volume grossed £377,250, the last £210,150: these figures imply average sales of £250,000 per volume, or £1.5 million for the series. If Churchill had earned a royalty of 20 per cent, Cassell would have paid £300,000 instead of the £40,000 Churchill and Cassell had agreed.)

  37. 4 Jan, 20 Mar, 4 Apr 1957 E. Dodd ltr to A. Moir, A. Moir ltr to WSC, LlBk ltr to WSC, CHUR 1/111/179, 199; 1/5/88. On 4 April, Dodd, Mead paid $274,675 (worth £98,851), made up of the $250,000 lump sum plus $24,675 royalties outstanding for the first volume (which had earned Churchill $60,432). In Britain, A History’s first print order was 100,000 copies, increased for later volumes to 150,0000. R. Cohen, Bibliography of the Writings of Sir Winston Churchill, A267.3(i) pp.938–9.

  38. 9 Apr 1957 S. Ball ltr to WSC, CHUR 1/105/92, 93. Churchill’s credit balances at Lloyds Bank totalled £292,862, offset by an overdraft of £18
,409 on his farm account. He held $14,500 at Morgan Guaranty of New York, 20,604 francs in his French bank account and owned securities worth £20,000 kept at Lloyds Bank.

  39. 5 Apr 1957 Wood, Willey & Co. accounts, CHUR 1/113/58. Churchill’s secretaries cost £2,402 a year; other domestic staff £17,170; food just under £4,000; motoring £2,000; telephones and telegrams £750. Transfers to Lady Churchill, ‘so far as identified’, were £5,430.

  40. 30 Apr, 12 Oct 1956 P. Cox ltrs to WSC, CHUR 1/37/63, 64–6; 30 Sep 1956 Wood, Willey & Co. schedule, 1/113/46; 1936 LlBk statements 1/4/81, 65; 1/2/19, 12, 32.

  41. 25 Oct, 1 Nov 1957 Fladgate & Co. ltr to WSC, Statement of Receipts and Purchases, CHUR 1/37/96, 102, 105. Chartwell farm (and farmhouse) fetched £37,500, livestock £13,400. Churchill repaid £16,250 to Alliance Assurance; Knight Frank & Rutley charged commission of £1,626, Fladgate a fee of £503.

  42. 11, 12 April, 20 Jun 1957 S. Ball letters to WSC, CHUR 1/105/94, 97, 153, 140. £25,000 was invested in Treasury Bills; £35,000 spread across seven building societies; and £25,000 in 4 per cent Victory Bonds, which cost 94? each but were accepted at par value of 100 after six months’ ownership for death duty payment. Churchill sold them after ten weeks at 92¾.

  43. 18, 21 May 1957 WSC corresp with S. Ball, CHUR 1/105/126, 128–30.

  44. 12, 13, 20 Jun 1957 T. Hazlerigg ltrs to WSC, CHUR 1/108/13, 19, 25, 26, 27. Hazlerigg spent £10,000 on shares and £5,000 on debentures in Quebec Natural Gas; £21,000 on four investment trusts, including the Philip Hill Investment Trust (Churchill’s major post-retirement investment success); £4,600 on West Coast Transmission; and £9,650 on Steep Rock Mines (a small iron-ore producer).

  45. 5, 27 Jul 1957 D. Pugh notes to WSC, CHUR 1/110/3, 6.

  46. 25, 28 Oct, 1 Nov 1957, 3 Jan 1958 WSC corresp with S. Ball, CHUR. 1/105/183,184; CHUR1/110/26, 37. In January 1958, Churchill’s current account held £15,068, the investment deposit account £124,487. The combined value of his bond and share investments was £116,300.

  27. Sunset, 1958–65

  1. 5, 16 Sep, 30 Oct 1957 A. Moir, M. Thorson ltrs to AMB, CHUR 4/447/116, 93, 99–101. Churchill was offered 35 per cent of ‘distributor gross receipts’ instead of 50 per cent of ‘net profits’.

  2. 28 Aug, 4 Sep 1958 M. Thorson cbls to A. Moir, CHUR 4/448/124, 150.

  3. 5 Feb, 5 Mar, 10, 16 May 1957 A. Moir corresp with AMB, WSC, CHUR 4/446/79, 85, 101, 102.

  4. 1, 18 Jul 1958 A. Moir ltrs to WSC, CHUR 4/446/114, 121. Towers Films was to buy M & P’s shares over five instalments, so that Churchill received his £21,000, and Randolph and Christopher Soames £2,000 each for their shares, without liability to tax. M & P’s shareholders formed a new company, S & M Investments, to take over any remaining rights after Towers had made his programmes.

  5. Jan, 11 Feb, 22 Apr, 16 May 1959, 16 Feb 1961, 22 Sep 1964, A. Moir ltrs to WSC, AMB, CHUR 4/446/143–4, 173–182–3, 188, 209, 295. Towers Films paid £20,000 in February and £7,500 in October 1959; then an extra £5,000 early in 1960, when it set out a programme for paying the outstanding £20,000 with the help of Associated British Pictures Corporation. Complications followed when Sir David Cunynghame put London Film into liquidation during April 1959 to help sort out Sir Alexander Korda’s complex estate, suggesting (unsuccessfully) that Churchill bought out the liquidator’s share of M & P. Towers paid one more instalment, taking his total to £35,000, but made no more and History’s film rights remained unexploited at Churchill’s death.

  6. C. Lysaght, Brendan Bracken, pp. 327–8. Bracken left an estate of £145,000, mainly to Churchill College, Cambridge. 12, 19 November 1958 WSC ltrs to J. Colville, LlBk, CHUR 1/212/105, 1/3/32: Churchill subscribed £1,000 towards Bracken’s memorial fund.

  7. 23 Sep 1958 J. Wood ltr & accounts, CHUR 1/113/80–8.

  8. Sep 1958 LlBk statement, CHUR 1/3/43.

  9. E. Murray, I was Churchill’s Bodyguard, p. 216.

  10. A. Montague Browne, Long Sunset, p. 237; Cassell Papers, SWW Abridgement, cited Reynolds, In Command of History, p. 508.

  11. 7 Feb 1959 AMB note to WSC, CHUR 4/448/245–6.

  12. 17, 23 Sep 1958 J. Le Vien corresp with AMB, A. Moir, CHUR 4/452/34, 36.

  13. 15, 20 May, 29 July 1959 AMB correspondence with J. Le Vien, A. Moir letter to WSC, CHUR 4/452/63, 68, 131. Churchill’s bank account was credited with the first instalment of £17,783 on 30 July 1959. LlBk statement, CHUR 1/106/124.

  14. 21 May 1960 Daily Sketch.

  15. 26 May 1960 AMB ltr to E. Peterson, CHUR 4/453/64.

  16. 4 Jul 1960 AMB memo to WSC, CHUR 4/451/64.

  17. 5, 17, 19 Aug 1960 AMB ltr to A. Moir, memo to WSC, H. French ltr to AMB, CHUR 4/449/89, 111; 4/451/88.

  18. 21 Oct 1960 A. Moir ltrs to G. Brownell, A. Moir, CHUR 4/449/266, 277.

  19. 21 Aug 1960 ER ltr to WSC, M. Gilbert WSC & ER pp. 385–7.

  20. 5 Feb 1960 D. Pugh note, CHUR 1/110/147.

  21. 16, 18, 29 June 1960 Simon & Coates ltr to LlBk, WSC ltr to Rea Bros, LlBk schedule, CHUR 1/109/9–10, 15, 95.

  22. 29 Jun 1960 LlBk schedule, CHUR 1/109/95. The Philip Hill Investment Trust holding was worth £20,000, ICI £15,000.

  23. 16 May 1960, 9 Jan 1961 A. Moir ltr to WSC, J. Wood accounts, CHUR 1/111/127, 1/114/13. The previous year’s total of £37,504 included $50,000 or £17,783 from Le Vien for The Second World War rights, £4,200 from M & P for History of the English-Speaking Peoples and £5,498 from Hallmark Cards; the next year’s estimate of £20,000 was made up by another £4,500 from Hallmark Cards, the final £9,000 from The Second World War and £6,300 for A History of the English-Speaking Peoples.

  24. 10 Feb 1953 Lord Camrose note, Political Memoranda, Lunch at 10 Downing Street, Camrose Papers.

  25. C & T Publications Ltd. 1985 Accounts, Companies House. C & T Publications paid Randolph £9,000 a year (to include the costs of his researchers ands secretaries) but he completed only two volumes before his death in 1968. The task of writing the further six volumes required, each with its own companion volume of documents, fell to one of his researchers Martin Gilbert. Gilbert earned £133,000 from C&T for twenty years of work, mostly funded by the Chartwell Literary Trust.

  26. 22 Oct 1961 A. Moir ltr to WSC, CHUR 1/111/90; 22 Jan, 4 Feb 1963, 13 Jan 1964 AMB memo to WSC, ltr to LlBk, Fladgate & Co. account, CHUR 1/107/88, 95; 1/112/138–40. C & T Publications Ltd 1985 Annual Accounts, Companies House. After commission, Churchill received £47,500, spread over two instalments. C & T publications earned revenue of £530,000 from the publishing syndicate.

  27. 3 May 1961 H. French ltr to AMB, CHUR 4/450/14.

  28. 23 Oct 1961 AMB ltr to H. French, CHUR 4/450/52.

  29. 11, 18 Dec 1958, 30 Sep, 8 Dec 1959 W. Nightingall, A. Carey Foster ltrs to WSC, CHUR 1/158/131–3, 143, 1/156/86; 12 Jul, 4 Oct 1959 C. Soames ltrs to WSC, CHUR. 1/160/151, 156; J. Wood, Profit and loss account for Stud, CHUR 1/158/143, 1/114/4.

  30. 20 Apr 1960 WSC ltr to MWB, CHUR 2/519/387.

  31. U/d 1960, 1961 Racing Wins, CHUR 1/155/3, 5, 1/158/218. The stable won £13,000 of prize money in 1960 and £20,900 in 1961.

  32. 14 Jul 1961 AMB memo to WSC, CHUR 1/133/62. Carey Foster’s valuation of bloodstock and stud together came to £168,500.

  33. 14, 18 Jul 1961 A. Carey Foster ltr to C. Soames, K. Freeman ltr to WSC, CHUR 1/157/21, 23, 24.

  34. 4 Dec 1961 C. Soames ltr to WSC, CHUR 1/133/47–9.

  35. 7, 11 Dec 1961 AMB corresp with A. Moir, CHUR 1/133/51, 60.

  36. 11 December 1961 A. Moir ltr to AMB, CHUR 1/133/60.

  37. 30 Sep 1962, 21 Jun 1963 P. Cox, J. Wood ltrs to WSC, CHUR 1/158/62, 1/114/47.

  38. U/d Racing Wins, CHUR 1/155/7, 11; 22, 24 May 1962 WSC ltr to T. Rogers, A. Carey Foster ltr to WSC, CHUR 1/160/56, 1/156/106; 3 Nov 1962 LlBk ltr to WSC, CHUR 1/107/76. Six horses remained in training, winning £12,900 of prize money, led by Vienna, who won twice before being sold at the end of the season for £16,000, again to Tim Rogers.

  39. 27 Mar 1962 A. Moir corresp
with AMB, CHUR 4/454/132, 133. Signing was delayed until 28 September, in Paris, while Le Vien struggled to find larger studio backers. Churchill received further payments from Twentieth Century-Fox in 1964, but no payments under his share of gross receipts.

  40. 9 Aug 1963 AMB ltr to MWB, CHUR 2/519/232.

  41. 27, 30 Sept 1963 AMB corresp with A. Moir, CHUR 4/450/289,292.

  42. 3 Sep, 2 Oct 1963 AMB ltr to MWB, CHUR 2/519/195.

  43. 3 Oct 1963 C. Foreman ltr to AMB, CHUR 4/450/301.

  44. Anthony Montague Browne, Long Sunset, p. 236.

  45. 9 Dec 1963 D. Pugh ltr to LlBk, CHUR 1/107/140.

  46. 3, 18 Dec 1963, 18 Jan 1964 J. Le Vien ltr to AMB, AMB memo to WSC, The Finest Hours Agreement, CHUR 4/454/215,217,223. Churchill received a first cheque for $2,000 on January 1964 when the contract was signed in Paris and was due another $18,000 due as soon as shooting began in July.

  47. 15, 24 Apr, 29 Jun 1964 AMB memo to WSC, A. Moir ltr to AMB, AMB ltr to LlBk, CHUR 4/445/255,268; 4/456/104–7; 1/107/165. The £20,000 advance was against a royalty rate of 15 per cent.

  48. 23 Mar 1964 A. Moir ltr to AMB, CHUR 4/457/1.

  49. 24 Sep 1964 AMB ltr to J. Wood, CHUR 1/133/197.

  50. 15 Oct 1964 A. Moir ltr to AMB, CHUR 1/111/259. Soames was to pay 10 per cent of winnings up to £1,500; 33 per cent up to £3,000 and 50 per cent above.

  51. 21, 27 May 1964 AMB notes to WSC, CHUR 1/133/136–7, 152. The stud had been expanded in 1964 by the purchase of the neighbouring Leylands farm, complete with a bungalow for a future stud manager, for £16,000. 10 Sep 1964 A. Carey Foster ltr to WSC, CHUR 1/133/182, 186. Churchill’s final property deal was the September 1964 purchase of 4½ acres’ grazing next to the stud for £900.

  52. U/d Dec 1964 C. Soames note to WSC, CHUR 1/133/218.

  53. 19 Aug 1963 A. Moir ltr to AMB, CHUR 1/115/6.

  54. 16 Nov 1964 AMB ltr to A. Moir, CHUR 1/115/63–67.

  55. 21 Dec 1964 A. Moir ltr to Davis Polk, CHUR 1/115/102–106.

  Epilogue

  1. 20 Oct, 27 Oct 1961, 12 December 1963 WSC last will and testament, subsequent codicils, www.gov.uk.

  2. 9 Feb 1965 Grant of Probate, www.gov.uk.