Five Unusual Facts About Cigar Smoking Icon Winston Churchill

When you think of cigar smoking icons, one of the first that probably pops into your head is Winston Churchill. The no-nonsense, former British wartime prime minister was often snapped with a stogie in mouth or hand, and as such, resulted in having a variety of cigar named after him. But what about the man behind the cigars? Born on the 30^th November 1874, Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, he had an active military career before he made the leap into politics. By the age of 26, he had written five books, seen armed conflict on three different continents, won four medals and held a seat in parliament. There is a lot that is known about his life and is common knowledge, but what about the more obscure things that you might not have known? We take a look at some of these below:

1. He Escaped from Prison

In 1899, during the Second Boer War, Churchill was captured and held captive in a Boer prison camp. He wasn’t actually in active duty at the time but writing for The Morning Post and was sent to South Africa to follow the unfolding conflict. After being imprisoned for four weeks, Churchill decided to make his escape with some fellow inmates. After studying the guard patterns, he spotted a gap and made a break for freedom, scaling a wall and landing in some shrubbery on the other side. However, the guards had become suspicious of his fellow inmates, meaning they had to abort their bid for freedom.  

  To make matters worse, it was the others who had the map and compass, with Churchill only armed with £75, four slabs of chocolate and a rather dashing brown flannel suit. He spent some time hiding in freight trains and managed to make his way back to Britain where he had become quite famous, and he used this fame to help kickstart his political career.

2. He Was A Member of the Ancient Order of Druids

The Ancient Order of Druids (AOD) is a fraternal organisation that was founded in London in 1781. The group was based upon the iconography and symbolism of ancient druids, who were essentially Iron Age Celtic pagan priests. Unlike other Neo-druidic groups, the AOD is not a religious organisation; instead, its members are expected “to preserve and practise the main principles attributed to the early Druids, particularly those of justice, benevolence and friendship.” Winston Churchill was a member of the Albion Lodge of the Ancient Order of Druids of Oxford, one of nearly 200 lodges across the United Kingdom. He was initiated into the lodge in 1908 while studying at Oxford University. The AOD is similar to the Freemasons, whereby it is an exclusive club that can only be joined by invitation, where members discuss philanthropy, piety and various other high ideals of the time. However, there are those who have tried to make a connection between the AOD and Satanism and some rumours even go as far to say that Churchill hired witches and magicians to defend the southern coast of Britain during World War II!

3. He Didn’t Even Like Smoking Cigars (Kind Of…)  

As we mentioned at the start, Churchill was nearly always spotted with a stogie in hand, but he didn’t actually enjoy smoking them… or at least that’s what he told his nurse! In 1943, Churchill was in hospital being treated for pneumonia, and when asked about his smoking habits, he claimed he didn’t even like them and only smoked a quarter of one before discarding it. Doris Miles, the nurse treating Churchill at the time, wrote to her husband and said: “He tells me that he hates cigars, and never smokes more than a quarter of one! (Believe that or not).”     The letter is set to appear in an upcoming book, with Churchill’s granddaughter, Emma Soames, writing the foreword. She believes he was just doing what many of us do when questioned by health professionals, and that is stretch the truth slightly. Biographer Nicholas Shakespeare agrees, and states that Churchill would often flick lit ends into wastepaper bins, leaving his secretary scrambling to put out the fire!

4. He Wanted to Keep His Lisp

As a boy, Churchill hated his lisp. He would even practise saying tongue twisters to try and train himself to speak without it. The main phrase he said was ‘the Spanish ships I cannot see for they are sheltered’. But as he got older, he realised that his lisp was one of his defining characteristics and wanted to keep it. When it came to the time that he needed dentures, he ordered his dentists to make a special plate for his false teeth, which allowed saliva to flow under and maintained his lisp.

5. He Had Unorthodox Cigar-Smoking Rituals  

Churchill would only usually smoke half of a cigar but would keep the butts. His valet, Norman McGowan, would then be responsible for collecting all of the butts and put them in a special box. This box would then be taken back to Chartwell in Kent, and handed over to Kearns, one of the gardeners. Kearns would then take the cigar butts and smoke them in his pipe, so none of it was ever wasted! He was also said to have a cigar trick up his sleeve when it came to difficult negotiations. It is said that a hatpin would be stick into a cigar, then when he later lit it, he would smoke it until he had the attention of the entire audience staring at the impossibly long ash and not on any of the points that his opponent was trying to make! These are just five unusual facts about the great man, but are there others we missed out? Let us know in the comments or on our social channels! And if you’d like to replicate the lifestyle of the great man, why not check out our guide to Living Like Winston Churchill?