Sir Winston Churchill, along with his prodigious powers of diplomacy, was also known for his love of a good cigar. In fact, he was known to smoke as many as 10 a day, and eventually a class of cigars was named after him. On December 12th at Sotheby's of London, one of his half-smoked cigars sold for $3,585, when the predicted auction price was expected only to reach $1,100. Quite a few items of Churchill memorabilia were on the block that day, including one of his pinstriped boiler suits (sold for $47,170) and a revolver and hip flask that he had with him when he escaped from a Boer prisoner-of-war camp in South Africa, which failed to sell.

The first link leads to a Mirror news article that offers some additional details about the recent auction. The second link leads to an excellent site that serves as a good introduction to the accomplishments and life of Sir Winston Churchill, and also contains transcripts of his many speeches and information about the Churchill Center. The third and fourth sites will take visitors to audio recordings of two of Churchill's most fondly remembered speeches, the Battle of France and the radio address on the bravery of the Royal Air Force. The fifth site leads to one of the many anecdotes surrounding Churchill and his great passion for cigars. The final site takes visitors to the homepage of the Sotheby Auction house, where the final auction prices for the recent Churchill auction may be found.