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Winston Churchill’s secret documents auctioned for 7,400 pounds

Secret documents signed by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, including one discussing plans to build a tunnel between England…

Winston Churchill’s secret documents auctioned for 7,400 pounds

(PHOTO: AFP)

Secret documents signed by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, including one discussing plans to build a tunnel between England and France in 1914, have been sold for a total of 7,400 pounds at an auction in the UK.

The original printed note 'The Channel Tunnel document' by Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty discussing the feasibility of building a tunnel and considering the risks posed if France were to become England's enemy in 1914 was sold for 2,400 pounds.

In the document, dated June 12, 1914, Churchill expresses his opinion as to how the country could be defended in the event of an attack, according to the Mullocks auction house.

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“The tunnel should be brought to the surface of the sea not less than a quarter of a mile from the shore and the railway should run from the tunnel mouth to the shore on a bridge,” he wrote in the document.

No other version of this document signed by Churchill is in existence. The Churchill Archives in Cambridge have a copy of this document but is unsigned, according to the auction house.

Other documents included an original telegram dated April 1945 to the editor of the New Republic Magazine, relaying Churchill's personal message on the death of US President Franklin Roosevelt and a historic letter written 1908 to then UK Prime Minister Herbert Asquith accepting the post as the President of the Board of Trade.

The documents were sold for 600 and 4,400 pounds respectively.

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