As soon as Winston knew what money was, he spent it with astonishing excess. He was in debt most of his life. He lost a fortune in the Wall Street stock market crash of 1929 and would have been left completely bankrupt had American financier Bernard Baruch not intervened. For long periods of time his writing was motivated largely by the need to stay ahead of bills. Without the help of friends, he probably would have lost Chartwell, his beloved home.

Stephen Mansfield, 2004 Never Give In: The Extraordinary Character of Winston Churchill