Bellerby Globemakers is launching its limited edition CHURCHILL globe, inspired by globes presented to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and US President Franklin Roosevelt.

During World War II, George Marshall – then US Army Chief of Staff – presented the globes as Christmas gifts to the two leaders. The fifty inch pieces were seen as a symbol of the cooperation and friendship between the two nations during the intensely difficult period of the war, and have since come to symbolise their owners, two of the most important figures of the twentieth century.  Roosevelt’s globe is now housed in the Roosevelt Presidential library, and Churchill’s remains at his former home at Chartwell. The globes are visited by connoisseurs, enthusiasts and historians. Bellerby Globemakers is in the process of compiling a book, to be sold with each globe, detailing the globes’ interesting history and context.

Company founder and Royal Geographical Society fellow Peter Bellerby described the original globes as being ‘a beautiful objects with a fascinating role in history. They are the inspiration and the blueprint’, he said, ‘for our production of globes of superlative craftsmanship’.
 
The Churchill globe is very closely modelled on its original namesake globe in terms of appearance and geographical, political and demographic detail. It combines the techniques used in the production of its original with the durability of modern construction. The fifty-inch globe sits in a circular base and is supported by a series of multi-directional bearings which allow it to be turned with a satisfying motion.