There’s a quote among the legions of juicy aperçus attributed to Sir Winston Churchill that seems to sum up his personal style: “I am a man of simple tastes. I am easily satisfied with the best.”

Half a century after his death, amid a slew of new books and TV documentary tributes, it's clear that our fascination with Sir Winston shows no sign of abating. And a large part of that fascination is the sense that, behind his stellar achievements – revered statesman, decorated soldier, accomplished painter, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and, oh yes, arguably the greatest wartime leader of the 20th century – is someone who lived life on his own exacting terms.

“He wasn’t a dandy in the classic sense, but there was certainly an artistry in the way he conducted himself, from his dress to his accessories,” says Mr Barry Singer, author of the book Churchill Style. This, after all, was a man whose valet wielded a silver-mounted Asprey thermometer to test the temperature of his bathwater, and who always wore pale pink silk undershorts and vests bought in bulk from the Army & Navy stores, . From the start, Sir Winston had a theatrical sense of himself: “We are all worms,” he once said, “but I believe that I am a glow-worm.”