Secret documents signed by Churchill up for auction

London, Jun 27 (PTI) Secret documents signed by Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, including one which discusses plans to build a tunnel between England and France in 1914, is set to be auctioned in the UK.

The original printed note by Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty ‘The Channel Tunnel document’ discusses the feasibility of building a tunnel and considers the risks posed if France were to become England’s enemy in 1914. In the document, dated June 12 in 1914, Churchill expresses his opinion as to how the nation could be defended in the event of an attack. “The tunnel should be brought to the surface of the sea not less than a quarter of a mile from the shore and the railway should run from the tunnel mouth to the shore on a bridge,” he wrote.

The document also bears the initials of various members of the Committee of Imperial Defence who sponsored the document. “No other version of this document signed by Churchill is in existence. The Churchill Archives in Cambridge have a copy of this document but is unsigned,” according to the Mullocks auction house in the UK.

Other documents include an original Telegram dated April 1945 to the Editor of the New Republic Magazine, relaying his personal message on the death of the US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and a historic Letter to Prime Minister Herbet Asquith accepting the post as President of the Board of Trade. The auction will take place on July 6 in the UK.