January 1, 1970

Accompanied by his eighteen-year-old son Randolph , his brother Jack and his nephew, Churchill’s touring party set off across Canada. After a railway trip from Quebec to Vancouver, they crossed the border into the United States at Seattle and then travelled down to California. Here their hosts were the press and movie magnate William Randolph Hearst and the Hollywood studio owner, Louis Mayer, and the Churchills found themselves dining in style at the MGM (Metro-Goldwyn Mayer) studios. They were introduced to a host of Hollywood movie stars, including Charlie Chaplin (who would later visit Churchill at Chartwell).

Churchill experienced Prohibition first hand and was in New York in October 1929, just in time to observe ‘Black Thursday’ and ‘Black Tuesday’ – and to witness the Wall Street Crash. The collapse of the stock market, in which Churchill – ever the gambler – had invested (hoping to make a quick profit), lost him £10,000, more than he earned from his tour.