A CIGAR belonging to Winston Churchill will be among the highlights of an auction in the North-East next week.

The cellophane-wrapped El Dinamico Habana cigar is reputed to have been given to the seller’s father by the wartime Prime Minister in the late 1950s or early 1960s.

It is being sold alongside an HMV vinyl record entitled The War of the Unknown Warriors at the final Anderson and Garland Art Sale, in Newcastle, from Tuesday (December 2) to Thursday.

Stephen Down’s father, Mervyn Gordon Down, met Churchill through his work in the Press Information Department of the Metropolitan Police at New Scotland Yard, and also attended the leader’s funeral in 1965.

Mr Down, who lived in Ponteland for many years before moving to the Lake District, said: “It’s the same make of cigar that Churchill smoked and I was told by my father it was a breakfast cigar. He didn’t always use the great big ones he was famous for.

“My father said it was originally in a metal casing but that was lost when I was young. He also had the complete layout of Churchill’s funeral that was only distributed to police commanders, showing who would be stationed where, but unfortunately, that’s been lost.”

Mervyn Down met a number of celebrities of the day through his job at Scotland Yard, such as comedian Benny Hill, Goon Michael Bentine, and Shaw Taylor, who presented the Police 5 TV show that appealed for witnesses to crimes. His work also included helping journalists and authors including John Creasey and Len Deighton with their research.

Mr Down added: “My father left lots of stuff related to the police, such as signed books.

“I’m putting a few things in the Anderson and Garland sale, including some head callipers that were used to measure criminals’ heads. The theory was that criminals had different sized heads to other people.”

For more information, please visit www.andersonandgarland.com.