Winston Churchill with baby Victor Lampson

During the Prime Minister’s visit to the Middle East, Winston Churchill met Sir Miles Lampson, the British ambassador to Egypt and Sudan. This photo was taken in the gardens of the British embassy in Cairo, Egypt in August 1942 and it shows Churchill with baby Victor Lampson, the ambassador’s son.

Churchill is wearing his world-famous “siren suit”, designed to be put on over normal clothes in case of an air raid. He had similar suits for various occasions, from military-style to flashy denim, pinstripe, and, of course, pretentious velvet.

Gibraltar apes

Gibraltar became a British colony in 1704 and from there on, a belied emerged that the territory would remain under British rule for as long as the Barbary apes stay on the rock. Churchill was well aware of the legend but also of their importance to British morale and so he tried to prevent the apes from disappearing.

On 2 September 1944, the Prime Minister sent a directive to the Colonial Secretary: “The establishment of the apes on Gibraltar should be twenty-four, and every effort should be made to reach this number as soon as possible and maintain it thereafter.” The members of the Gibraltar Regiment were instructed to feed the apes, check them, take care of them and their welfare.