Andy Ffrench explores secrets behind the famous wartime prime minister and his finances

In the wrong hands, this study of the war leader’s financial affairs could have consisted of a gloomy glance through the balance sheets and little else. But David Lough, who studied history at Oxford under Richard Cobb and Theodore Zeldin, ensures it is a fascinating read.

Lough reveals in forensic detail how Churchill needed to earn big bucks to continue to live in the manner to which he had become accustomed.

So he would do everything he could to bring in more funds, even if it meant risking his life as a foreign correspondent to do so. The grandson of a duke is only too quick to articulate his displeasure if he is lacking funds. In one letter from 1898 he informs his mother: “These filthy money matters are the curse of my life and my only worry. I shudder sometimes when I contemplate the abyss into which we are sinking.”

Lough, with the help of bank statements handed over by Churchill’s daughter Mary Soames, records in detail the topsy-turvy nature of the national icon’s accounts.

He lost heavily in the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and then had to balance his desire to build a career in politics with the need to devote time to his lucrative career as a writer. According to Lough, a “common thread of risk-taking unites Churchill’s financial dealings and his political career”.

The costs kept on coming – the upkeep of his country retreat Chartwell cost a small fortune but somehow he kept bouncing back from the brink of financial meltdown and, after starting the Second World War with substantial debts, he finished it with today’s equivalent of about £4 million.

It’s intriguing to discover that one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century experienced difficulties from time to time making ends meet. Lough knows where the receipts are buried and reveals them with great relish.

No More Champagne: Churchill and His Money by David Lough, Head of Zeus Books, £25