£1m expected for Churchill memorabilia

A huge private collection of memorabilia celebrating Winston Churchill, from diary entries and letters to an unsmoked cigar, is set to raise £1m when the first part of it is sold next month.

Christie's auctioneers described the material as the most important and wide-ranging of its kind. It was amassed over more than 30 years by Forbes Inc chief executive Malcolm Forbes Jr, grandson of Forbes magazine founder BC Forbes.

It will be sold in three parts, the first in London on 2 June. The star lot is Churchill's engagement diary kept during the Second World War, which gives daily details of appointments. It is expected to raise between £80,000 and £120,000.