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Tue 20 Jan 2004
12:19pm (UK)
Mystery Deepens over 'Churchill's Parrot'
By John Bingham, PA News
The mystery of whether a foul-mouthed 104-year-old parrot really was
wartime prime minister Winston Churchill?s feathered friend deepened today
as experts threw doubt on the claims.
Charlie, a blue and yellow macaw thought by his owner to be the oldest bird
in Britain, has long since retired from public life and is living out his
days in a garden centre in Reigate, Surrey.
His owner, Peter Oram, claims his father-in-law Percy Dabner sold Charlie
to the future war leader at his Croydon pet shop in 1937 and later took the
bird back after Sir Winston?s death in 1965.
He says Charlie may have picked up his repertoire of swear words from the
wartime leader, who was voted the Greatest Briton in a BBC poll last year.
But the Churchill family has questioned the story and experts doubt whether
or not the former prime minister, ever owned a parrot.
Staff at Chartwell, Churchill?s country home in Kent now run by the
National Trust, have conducted painstaking search of records and
photographs without finding evidence that he even owned a parrot.
Judith Seaward, marketing manager at Chartwell, said: ?We really looked and
looked and know he had a budgerigar and all sorts of other animals.
?He loved animals, he had dogs, cats, pigs ? but there?s no record of a parrot.
?We have searched what we?ve got here and spoken to members of the family
who I really would have thought would have known.
?We do have an insight into the personal side, the more domestic side, and
can?t find any record of a parrot.?
Sylvia Martin, nursery manager at Heathfield Nurseries, where Charlie is
spending his retirement, defended his claim to wartime valour.
She said: ?He definitely did belong to Churchill.
?My boss Peter Oram?s father-in-law sold the parrot to Churchill and when
he died they were asked to go back to Chartwell and collect the birds and
brought them away.
?He had him from 1937 to 1965. When he died they were asked to go and
collect some birds and Charlie was one of them.?
Charlie then spent time at the family?s Croydon pet shop before retiring to
Mr Oram?s nursery in Reigate.
Mrs Martin added: ?He did used to swear but since he?s come to us he?s a
lot more educated.
?He doesn?t swear ? I haven?t heard him swear but Peter says he swears, his
vocabulary isn?t very extensive.?
Mr Oram?s son Mark, who still runs Dabner?s pet shop in Croydon, testified
to Charlie?s foul mouth.
?It?s mostly ?What?s my name? What?s your name?? he?ll say ?Mark?, he?ll
say ?Peter?, but he certainly does swear, he knows several swear words.?
Mr Oram junior would not be drawn on whether the parrot once belonged to
Churchill, saying he was not old enough to remember his grandfather.
?My dad had him before I was born. We?ve had him ever since I can
remember,? he said.
Whether or not Charlie really did play a part in the war effort, his
Dunkirk spirit is not in doubt.
Mr Oram said: ?A long time ago we had a break-in at the Croydon shop, they
broke all the fish tanks and were trying to kill all the animals.
?They plucked him and stabbed him. He was in the vets and at home for about
a year.
?Literally, he was lying on the floor when they came in, I was very young
at the time. Obviously he was in quite a state and we had him home for
quite a long time before he went back to the shop.?
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