丘吉尔"拯救世界的假牙"拍卖

Getting your hands on some history, starting today. Get this,a set of false teeth worn by Winston Churchill goes up for bid, just time for Christmas.

Yow, yow.

The teeth helped the Prime Minister give some of the most inspirational speeches of WWII. And now they can be yours. The BBC's Mark Worthington reports.

"We shall fight on the seas and oceans,we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air..."

The unmistakable words of Winston Churchill, inspirational and instantly recognisable.

"We shall fight on the beaches ... "

Churchill had a natural speech impediment,they thought his distinctive voice a crucial tool in winning the Second World War.

Safe in a Norfolk vault, the unlikely weapon in the war effort, a set of gold dentures, specifically designed to preserve Churchill's lisp and to keep his voice unaltered on the airwaves.

"We shall never surrender ... "

Churchill's dentures were made by a young dental technician called Derry Cudd Lipp and they'd been in his family since Churchill's death.

My fatehr's work was very important to Churchill. And when my father's call up papers cull came through, Churchill asked for him, asked for the papers and they were torn up in front of him. And Churchill said to him, " You're going nowhere, you're staying here."

So what's making you sell these now?

They've been in thedrawer for many years. And I'd like to see them on shows to the wide public.

At the Royal College of Surgeons in London, the only other surviving set is one of the most popular exhibits. Here flanked by the teeth of royalty, Churchill's dentures have pride of place.

These are the teeth that saved the world. Without them, he wouldn't be able to deliever many of the great speeches that we know from the Second World War. So "Fight them on the beaches" would never have sounded the same.

Yes, who indeed would have thought, this is, would be the most exceptional and most talked man item I have ever sold at an auction.

Churchill's dentures are valued at 5,000 pounds. But the auctioneers say they could fetch tens of thousands when they go under the hammer.

Mark Worthington, BBC News, Norfolk.