Actors Warren Clarke and Jeremy Clyde with curator Allen Packwood at the Churchill Archive Centre, examining the diary of Jock Colville

ACTORS Warren Clarke and Jeremy Clyde, who are playing Winston Churchill and Lord Halifax respectively in Three Days in May at the Cambridge Arts Theatre this week, visited the Churchill Archive on Tuesday to see at first hand original documents from the time when the play is based.

Actors Jeremy Cllyde, left, and Warren Clarke at the Churchill Archive Centre with a cast of Churchill's hand

Among the items displayed were the Despatch Box, a cast of Churchill’s hand, and various letters, speeches and diaries.

“It’s amazing, extraordinary,” said Clarke.

One of the most fascinating documents was the ‘Finest Hour’ speech, delivered by Churchill on June 18, 1940.

“This is the final document that he would have had in his hand when he delivered the speech in the House of Commons,” said Churchill Archive curator Allen Packwood, “and these are his own last minute changes and annotations. And when you get to the end of the speech - with the Battle of Britain about to begin - he’s added in his own hand ‘All shall be restored’.”

The visit was particularly poignant for Clyde, as also on display were the diaries of Churchill’s secretary, Jock Colville, whom he knew personally, and who has a central role in the play. “He was a great friend of my grandfather,” said Clyde, “so I’ve put my own little bit in – at one point as Halifax is leaving the cabinet room, he says ‘Goodnight Jock’, just as I would have said to him when I knew him.”

There are more than a million papers relating to Churchill in the archive, and it’s very rare for them to be put on display like this. “It is a privilege to be allowed to see them,” said Clarke.

Three Days in May is at Cambridge Arts Theatre until Saturday, September 10, visit www.cambridgeartstheatre.com, 01223 503333. For more information about The Churchill Archive visit www.chu.cam.ac.uk/archives/