Churchill's half-smoked cigar auctioned for $670

LONDON: A half-smoked cigar enjoyed by Sir Winston Churchill, Britain's war-time prime minister, was sold at auction Wednesday for 365 pounds ($670 dollars, 527 Euros).

Churchill had been puffing on the cigar when he arrived for a meeting in Blackpool, north-west England, on October 14, 1950, when he was leader of the Conservative Party in opposition, auctioneers Outhwaite and Litherland said.

Upon being told he would not be able to smoke in the ballroom where he was due to give a speech, the politician stubbed out the cigar and handed it to a special constable standing next to him.

The policeman kept the cigar as a souvenir and it stayed in the family until his relatives decided to put it up for auction.

The burnt remains were snapped up by a private collector at the sale in Liverpool, northern England.

Churchill's fondness for cigars has been well documented. He was typically caricatured with one hanging out of his mouth.

In 1947 the Romeo y Julieta cigar company in Cuba, where Churchill smoked his first cigar in 1895, named one of their cigars in his honour.

Last year a cigar case said to have belonged to the former prime minister sold for 8,700 pounds.

Churchill served as prime minister from May 1940 until July 1945, and again from October 1951 until April 1955.