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The only things I really know about Winston Churchill are that the guy crushed cigars and said, “If you’re going through hell, keep going,” because every girl posted it on her Pinterest at some point. I know he lead Britain as Prime Minister against Nazi Germany, but my recollection of history is about as good as good as my recollection of what happened after midnight two Saturdays ago. If it wasn’t a strong plotline in Band of Brothers, I’m shamefully on the fence on whether or not it actually happened.
But what I do know now is that Winston Churchill was an absolute monster when it came to partying, per Business Insider. David Lough, a retired banker and Oxford historian, wrote a book titled “No More Champagne: Churchill and His Money” that outlines the habits, debts, and extreme appetite for awesome that Churchill had in his heyday.
Outside of owing banks more than £30,000 ($2.1 million if you adjust for today’s inflation) in 1925 before his political career peaked, Churchill was forced to cut down spending on all facets of his life in order to keep his books balanced – and that meant less champagne, less port, and less cigars. For most of us, cutting our monthly spending in half means going out one less night a week and making lunch for a few days instead of going out with the guys from work, but Winston was living a much more lavish life than the rest of us.
“No more champagne is to be bought. Unless special directions are given only white or red wine, or whisky and soda will be offered at luncheon, or dinner. The Wine Book to be shown to me every week. No more port is to be opened without special instructions.”
“Cigars must be reduced to four a day. None should be put on the table; but only produced out of my case.”
If cutting your spending simply means drinking whiskey instead of champs, sign me up because that’s a pretty relaxed situation you’re finding yourself in. He also had to sell off his cattle, chickens, pigs, and ponies which sucks, but the overhead on keeping those things alive was probably a little less important than Winston keeping himself financially steady enough to become Prime Minister.
Unfortunately, his debts didn’t just stem from his time at home. It’s also reported that he traveled to Normandy to go wild pig hunting with The Duke of Westminster and his girlfriend, Coco Chanel, only to gamble away $25,000 on the trip.
And that, my friends, is exactly what I want my bachelor party to consist of. .
[via Business Insider]
Image via Olga Popova / Shutterstock.com
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Will (Twitter / Instagram) is the host of The Sunday Scaries Podcast.
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