Beschreibung:

CHURCHILL, SIR WINSTON Signed photograph vintage press photograph depicting Churchill, half-length, with a macaque monkey, Gibraltar, 245 x 298mm., press stamp on the reverse ("Daily Express Photograph 15 Jul 1960"), signed on the lower left of the image in blue ink ("Winston S. Churchill"), 1960 This photograph was taken during a visit to Gibraltar during a Mediterranean cruise with Aristotle Onassis in July 1960. Churchill's fondness for the macaques of Gibraltar, evident in this charming image, had a remarkable history. There was a long-held belief that when the apes left the rock, so too would the British, so the dwindling population of macaques in the early 20th century was a cause of some concern. As Prime Minister during the Second World War, Churchill decided to act: firstly, he ordered a troop transport to Morocco to supplement the population and then, in 1944, he issued a directive that the population should be kept to a minimum of 24. He was frequently contacted with news of the growing population thereafter, and indeed by the early 1950s one of the macaques (the most popular, assured the press) was called Winston. Unfortunately Winston had died in 1955 so missed the opportunity to meet his namesake. See Fred Glueckstein, 'Churchill and the Barbary Macaques', in Finest Hour (Winter 2013/14): https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-161/curiosities-churchill-and-the-barbary-macaques-a-visit-to-gibraltar-s-fabled-rock/. PROVENANCE: Raymond Smith, valet to Lord BeaverbrookCondition reportCondition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The