CHURCHILL, Winston S.

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Typed letter signed, to Lord Beaverbrook, following a donation and annoying disclosure. Churchill thanks his old friend, the press magnate Lord Beaverbrook, for a donation while reiterating his irritation at revelations in Beaverbrook's recent book.Churchill opens, "Many thanks for the cheque for the Blind. I am so glad you were impressed by my talk". Churchill had broadcast on Christmas Day 1930 appealing for donations to the British Wireless for the Blind Fund, which sought to provide each blind person with a wireless set.He continues, "I am very sorry about the book. No amount of praise mitigates harmful disclosures". Gilbert states that this refers to Beaverbrook's Politicians and the War (1928), which upset Churchill by revealing that Beaverbrook had known in December 1916 that Lloyd George would not include Churchill in his new government (Gilbert, p. 237, where this letter is printed in full).Beaverbrook (1879-1964) was a formidable figure in British politics and a close, if sometimes volatile, ally of Churchill. As proprietor of the Daily Express, then the country's highest-circulation newspaper, he shaped conservative working-class opinion and provided crucial press support throughout Churchill's career. Churchill appointed him Minister of Aircraft Production during the Second World War.As was customary in his letters to Beaverbrook, Churchill signs familiarly, "W".Provenance: the collection of Steve Forbes, chairman of Forbes Magazine, and presidential candidate in

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