Sir Winston Churchill's funeral plans sell at auction
Image copyright
Getty Images
Meticulous plans detailing Sir Winston Churchill's funeral have been sold at auction.
They map out the procession, St Paul's Cathedral ceremony, military flypast, and the coffin's transportation on the Thames and by train to Oxfordshire.
Seller Janet Bunnett was given the plans of "Operation Hope Not" by her policeman father, who worked the day of the funeral, on 30 January 1965.
They fetched £472 at an auction in Farleigh Court Golf Course in Surrey.
Ms Bunnett, of Westerham, Kent, said her father Philip Bainbridge told her people were "running around like scolded chickens" behind the scenes on the day.
Talking of her father's role, Ms Bunnett said: "He was pretty busy.
"He didn't say an awful lot about it. I think he was sad to have to do it, because he'd been all through the war, and of course Winston Churchill was very famous.
"But he just wanted to do it well for the Old Man. So that's what they did, they worked really hard."
Ms Bunnett said she had auctioned off the documents because she could not choose which of her six grandchildren to pass them on to.
"I thought if I could sell it... I could give them £100 each," she added.
"I know it's not a lot of money, but it would be something from their great granddad."
A Winston Churchill Toby jug from 1940 was estimated to sell for between £600 and £1,000, and actually sold for £1,534.
Designed by Clarice Cliff after Churchill became prime minister, only 350 of the 31cm (12.2 in) high jugs were produced.
