Cigars And Casinos – A look at Winston Churchill’s unorthodox lifestyle

Winston Churchill is largely considered to be the UK’s most successful Prime Minister – and, in fact, the only person to have held the position twice; first between 1940 and 1945 and, then again between 1951 and 1955.

While there’s no doubt that Churchill was an influential and much loved leader, he was also dogged by addictions – some of which we’ll take a look at in this article:

No smoke without fire

In an extraordinary number of photographs, we see Winston Churchill smoking a cigar – an image which has become synonymous with this famous Prime Minister – but smoking was far from Winston’s only vice:

Eat, drink and be merry

We know for certain that Winston liked a drink and, legend has it that he would begin his morning with a whiskey ‘mouthwash’, followed by a bottle of champagne at lunch and wine and Scotch in the evening.

Despite this enormous intake of alcohol, Churchill lived to the grand old age of 90, however, while his health may have flourished, his bank account didn’t and, it’s thought that his lifestyle brought him perilously close to bankruptcy numerous times – but drinking wasn’t the only thing that caused mounting debts for the Prime Minister…

On the table

As well as alcohol, rich food and expensive cigars, Winston Churchill was a regular visitor to casinos – particularly the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo. From the early 1920s onwards, Churchill was a familiar face at the casino – but he wasn’t always lucky.

n 1922, it was reported that he lost the equivalent of £90,000 in today’s money – something that his wife, Clementine, had, apparently, predicted. Not to be put off his favorite hobby, Winston continued to gamble at the casino undeterred and, by 1938, he was said to be on the brink of bankruptcy.

Sleight of hand

While the threat of bankruptcy would mean a complete change of lifestyle for most people, Churchill’s bad luck at the casino was matched by good luck in his personal life as Sir Henry Strakosch, a fan of the popular Prime Minister, gave Winston a loan with which to repay his debt to the casino.

Once the debt was squared away, he continued to frequent the casino and, in 1939, a fellow gambler witnessed Churchill, cigar in place, bellowing ‘Nothing is going right!’ during an evening at the Hotel de Paris.

It appears that this was something of an understatement as, that evening, after promising the Casino Director that he pay his outstanding debs the following morning, Churchill instead fled the country back to the UK and was never seen inside the casino again.

Stopping addiction in its tracks

The case of Winston Churchill shows that it doesn’t matter who you are – even an influential figure such as a Prime Minister can fall victim to a gambling addiction.  Should you find that your gambling is getting out of control, you should always seek help; either from your GP or from an organization such as GamCare. To be sure your casino is not trying to throw you into addiction, you should always play in reliable casinos with licenses, such as LVBET casinot, and use the tools available to put yourself into control with budget and time limits.