David Lough, “No More Champagne – Churchill and His Money”

November 12, 2015 at the Boston Athenæum. David Lough’s No More Champagne: Churchill and His Money contributes to the Boston Athenæum’s impressive collection of biographies, including several on Winston Churchill. The volume also deepens the Athenæum’s collection of books that offer multiple perspectives on United States and European history. The popular image of Winston Churchill is of a life of champagne and cigars but, behind the scenes, he struggled to prevent his personal financial problems from engulfing his political career. Only fragments of this story have previously emerged, but Lough has now pieced it together with the help of unprecedented access to the private records of Churchill and his associates. Lough will discuss Churchill’s personally expensive lessons on the American economy and body politic. Churchill’s American financial losses almost brought his political career to an end in Britain and required several rescues. Yet they also gave him a unique perspective on the country’s resources and resilience, which helped him shape his strategy when he was handed Britain’s wartime leadership in 1940. In one of his greatest financial successes, Churchill shielded most of his proceeds from tax authorities on both sides of the Atlantic, allowing him to fund his extravagant lifestyle and leave his heirs a valuable legacy.