Last year I put up a put up a few images that I had hoped to use in the Churchill book, but hadn't been able to track down a suitable high-resolution copy of (see here: http://christophermbell.ca/blog/more-photographs-few-got-away-0). At the top of the list of photos that had eluded me was a wonderful image of Churchill descending from HMS Victory in 1941 during a visit to the Portsmouth dockyard. I was delighted yesterday to see for the first time a high quality, uncropped copy of the image, which accompanied several news reports about a signed copy of the photograph that is coming up for auction soon. It appears that the original was taken by Captain W T Horton, an official War Office photographer, who evidently obtained Churchill's signature on a print later that year. The uncropped image also includes Admiral Sir William James, the Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that several of the articles included comments about the photograph from my blog. See here: http://artdaily.com/index_iphone.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=68536#.UxW_4fldU5J and here: http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/business/local-business/churchill-photo...

The good news in all this is that I have now learned where I can find a copy of the image (unsigned) suitable for reproduction. Unfortunately, it won't be possible to include it in the paperback edition of the book due out in a couple months. But I am sure I will find an opportunity to use it eventually.

The bad news -- for me -- is that the signed copy is expected to fetch around £3,000-4,000 at auction, so I won't be adding it to my personal collection.