Sharing anecdotes about Winston Churchill's (1874-1965) fondness for alcohol is a way to impress any dining companion. His prescription from a doctor in 1931 during the US Prohibition era is famous, stating that the patient's recovery "required the use of alcoholic beverages, especially during meals", with a minimum quantity of 250 cubic centimeters. [It is worth mentioning that as early as 1927, the maestro Penella had resorted to the same method, as recounted in the song En tierra extraña immortalized by doña Concha Piquer]. His witty response to Bessie Braddock - or was it Nancy Astor - at a dinner, who accused him of being disgustingly drunk, was: "And you, madam, are ugly, disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow I will be sober".
There are many stories that fuel the legend of the gargantuan alcohol consumption of the former British Prime Minister during World War II. Now, this reputation has a new addition. According to The Daily Telegraph, Churchill had to detail his habits in a life insurance proposal he signed on December 19, 1913, when he was 39 years old, serving as First Lord of the Admiralty and a Liberal MP for Dundee.
In the document, Churchill stated that he drank "whisky and champagne during meals", but "nothing in between". This detail clarifies the legend of his famous mouthwash - a very diluted whisky and soda that he started sipping mid-morning and lasted for hours - a habit that, as historian Richard Langworth has documented, Churchill did not adopt until World War II: "He would have it in bed while reading the newspapers. By eleven in the morning, he had already risen and would have another whisky and soda before accompanying lunch with a pint (568 ml) of Pol Roger champagne". After lunch, a brandy, followed by a nap that he did not give up even during the bombings of London. At dinner, another pint of Pol Roger and, before bed, a bit more brandy. It is likely that the conservative politician would have changed to a policy that assumed greater risks. Or not.
Pol Roger, one of the oldest champagne houses in the world, estimates that Churchill drank around 42,000 bottles throughout his life. Today, the winery's most prestigious cuvée is named Sir Winston Churchill. "In victory, I deserve it; in defeat, I need it," the premier said about champagne. Perhaps this is one of the many witty phrases attributed to him, but the records of his cellar and the preserved invoices are not fake: cases of Pol Roger, Hine cognac, Johnnie Walker red and black label whisky.
The document has been stored for decades in a bunker beneath Goodge Street, London, and is expected to fetch a price between £200 and £300. In the same auction, a unsigned mortgage application can be purchased for an additional £25,000 plus interest, intended to buy the Chartwell Farm, Parkside Farm, and Bardogs estates in Kent.
Doctors nowadays are not like those of the past. And patients neither: today, no one would confess to their GP that their diet consists of whisky and champagne. Although Churchill himself once said that he had "gotten more out of alcohol than alcohol had gotten out of him".
It is unknown what Sir Winston would think of those who believe that not even a glass of wine is good for health.