After his return to Downing Street in 1951, Churchill had a pet budgie, called Toby, who was thoroughly spoilt by his master. Alistair Lexden provided a little light holiday entertainment for readers of The Daily Telegraph by devoting his twelfth and final letter of 2014 in that paper, published on December 20, to the havoc which Toby created in Churchill’s bedroom.
Dear Sir
It was not only at meal times that Churchill’s budgie Toby left his mark (“Entertainer Churchill’s dinner table budgie trick”, Dec.13).
This much loved creature slept in a special cage in Churchill’s bedroom during his peace-time premiership in the 1950s. The cage was opened when ministers gathered for matutinal confabulations before the great man got up. In his diary, Churchill's Private Secretary, Anthony Montague Browne, gives an affectionate account of Toby “ flying round the room ,pecking at Cabinet papers, taking nips from the whisky-and-soda at the Prime Minister’s bedside and settling upon the domed head of the Chancellor of the Exchequer with the inevitable consequences”.
Rab Butler came to these meetings with a special silk handkerchief which he used to mop up after Toby, murmuring “The things I do for England”. From his master Toby received only kisses, never rebukes.
Yours faithfully
Lord Lexden
London SW1