The false teeth, specially designed to disguise Churchill's lisp, were sold by the son of the technician who was commissioned to make them. They had been expected to make a maximum of 5,000 pounds at Thursday's sale by Keys auctioneer. "The atmosphere was electric," said a Keys' spokesman.

The buyer, a collector of Churchill memorabilia from Gloucestershire, also owns the microphone with which Churchill announced the end of the war in Europe in 1945.