LONDON — A partial set of dentures used by former British leader Winston Churchill, described as the teeth that saved the world, sold at auction Thursday for $23,723.
The upper dentures, one of several sets specially made for the wartime prime minister, were crucial for maintaining his distinctively slurred speaking style famous from World War II-era radio broadcasts.
“From childhood, Churchill had a very distinctive natural lisp; he had trouble with his S’s,” said Jane Hughes, head of learning at London’s Hunterian Museum, a medical museum run by the Royal College of Surgeons.
“He wanted to maintain [the lisp] because he was already so well known for it,” she said. “The dentures wouldn’t quite connect with the top of the mouth, but that was on purpose.”
The museum displays a duplicate set of Churchill’s dentures, with the caption “the teeth that saved the world.” They are on show in a glass cabinet alongside other famous teeth, including dentures worn by Queen Caroline, the estranged wife of King George IV.
Front Section, Pages 8 on 07/30/2010