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Details
CHURCHILL, Winston S. Typed letter signed ("Winston S. Churchill"), to Walter Nightingall, London, 27 November 1964. 1 page, 4to, 28 Hyde Park Gate stationery, staining at upper left and lower right corners, signature in a spindly hand.
"IT IS VERY SAD FOR ME TO HAVE TO END MY RACING ACTIVITIES," Churchill tells Nightingall in this late letter, "owing to the fact that my health does not allow me to attend race meetings any more." A gravely weakened Churchill--as evidenced by the spidery signature--had less than two months to live, but his mood is nostalgic. "It does not fall to many people to start a racing career at the age of seventy-five and to reap from it such pleasure....I know that this decision will cause sorrow to you too, since we have had such a long association. My mind goes back to the spring of 1949, when Christopher persuaded me to buy Colonist. He gave us all great excitement and pleasure, and he was also the forerunner of many successes." An avid gambler and polo player in his youth, it was only fitting that Churchill took up the sport of kings late in life. Colonist II was one of numerous thoroughbreds he would own. His Labour Party opponents were not above using the horse to bait Churchill in debate in the House of Commons. A back-bencher interrupted one of his attacks on socialism with the cry of, "Why don't you sell your horse Colonist?" "I could sell him for a great deal more than I bought him for," Churchill answered, "but I am trying to rise above the profit motive."
"IT IS VERY SAD FOR ME TO HAVE TO END MY RACING ACTIVITIES," Churchill tells Nightingall in this late letter, "owing to the fact that my health does not allow me to attend race meetings any more." A gravely weakened Churchill--as evidenced by the spidery signature--had less than two months to live, but his mood is nostalgic. "It does not fall to many people to start a racing career at the age of seventy-five and to reap from it such pleasure....I know that this decision will cause sorrow to you too, since we have had such a long association. My mind goes back to the spring of 1949, when Christopher persuaded me to buy Colonist. He gave us all great excitement and pleasure, and he was also the forerunner of many successes." An avid gambler and polo player in his youth, it was only fitting that Churchill took up the sport of kings late in life. Colonist II was one of numerous thoroughbreds he would own. His Labour Party opponents were not above using the horse to bait Churchill in debate in the House of Commons. A back-bencher interrupted one of his attacks on socialism with the cry of, "Why don't you sell your horse Colonist?" "I could sell him for a great deal more than I bought him for," Churchill answered, "but I am trying to rise above the profit motive."