The surprising way that Winston Churchill used to relax during WWII

Winston Churchill unwound at Chequers during the Second World War by watching battlefield dramas and Disney films, it has been revealed.

A notebook kept by Mr Churchill’s projectionist, Joseph Hill, records the movies that the then-prime minister watched between March 1942 and April 1943, along with his verdicts on them.

Mr Hill's family are now selling the notebook at auctioneers Bonhams, of Knightsbridge, London, almost half a century after his death in 1977.

Nine of Mr Churchill's half-smoked cigars, recovered after screenings, are also included in the sale, as are photographs of the Chequers home cinema set-up.

The archive is expected to sell for £6,000 to £8,000 when it goes to auction on 3 December.

The notebook shows that Churchill had a wide-ranging taste in films, watching everything from Alfred Hitchcock suspense thrillers to children's films.

Sometimes he invited guests around for larger viewing parties, and he often provided feedback on which films he rated and did not.

He watched Hitchcock's The 39 Steps and Shadow of a Doubt, but also The Jungle Book and Bambi.

Goodbye Mr Chips, Mrs Miniver and Wuthering Heights were also played for him.

On Christmas Day 1942, he watched Dumbo and The Moon and Sixpence, an adaptation of the Somerset Maugham novel.

He consumed war films including One of Our Aircraft is Missing, which he described as “exceptional”, and In Which We Serve, which he said was “one of the finest films I've seen”.

Random Harvest, a romantic drama about a shellshocked veteran who regains his memory, was deemed “one of the best yet”.

But he was less impressed by the Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth musical romantic comedy film You Were Never Lovelier, which he rated as 'quite poor'.

He also screened Lady Hamilton to 50 people at the House of Commons in March 1942.

Mr Churchill watched films almost daily in the Long Gallery at Chequers, sitting in a high-winged chair while smoking his trademark cigars and sipping gin.

Despite his incredibly busy schedule at the height of the Second World War, watching a movie appears to have been an important way for him to unwind from the pressures of war.

Many of the screenings were late-night affairs starting at around 11pm.

One viewing was interrupted while Mr Churchill received a phone call to inform him that high-profile Nazi Rudolf Hess had landed in Scotland.

Between 15-24 January 1943, there were no showings as Mr Churchill was away for the secret summit with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Morocco. Mr Hill simply wrote “Casa Blanca” in the notebook.

However, Churchill watched several war-related films ahead of his 'Four Years Plan' speech delivered in March 1943.

Simon Roberts, manuscripts specialist at Bonhams, said: “The date, time and title of the film screenings are given, alongside the initials of the one or two projectionists involved, which was often Hill as supervisor and a colleague.

“In some cases there is a note of Churchill's comment, such as 'good', 'v.g.' 'excellent' or 'poor'.

“A lot of the showings for Churchill were at 11pm and it may have been his way to get out of the zone he had been in all day.

“He would sit down with a glass of his favourite tipple and a cigar and enjoy a range of films from Hollywood to British, but also children's films.”