On 20 September an oil painting called Windlesham Moor, in Sunningdale, Surrey will go on sale at John Dickins Auctioneers in Buckinghamshire with a guide price of between £100,000 to £150,000. The painting was kept in an attic for thirty years because the owner did not like it and refused to have it hanging in his home. Its high price is because Sir Winston Churchill painted it. The house in the picture later became the home of the Queen and Prince Philip and was painted by the future Prime Minister in 1934.
The oil painting was given to Churchill's wartime director of Home Intelligence, Baron Stephen Taylor, who later presented it to his secretary. She later gave it to her son who, taking an instant dislike to it, chose to wrap it in a bin liner and store it in his attic. The auctioneers initially could not put a name to the painter but after ten months of detective work by John Dickins its provenance has been proved. There are 175 items in their sale of paintings on 20 September.
