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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| When Winston Churchill met Joseph Stalin: suckling pigs and savage brews | When Winston Churchill met Joseph Stalin: suckling pigs and savage brews |
| (4 months later) | |
| A colourful description of how Winston Churchill spent a night drinking with Joseph Stalin in Moscow during a wartime meeting is contained in a letter from Sir Alexander Cadogan, a top official at the Foreign Office, contained in a highly classified document released on Thursday. | A colourful description of how Winston Churchill spent a night drinking with Joseph Stalin in Moscow during a wartime meeting is contained in a letter from Sir Alexander Cadogan, a top official at the Foreign Office, contained in a highly classified document released on Thursday. |
| He described how at mealtimes between the meetings in August 1942, Churchill "engaged the company in irreverent and irresponsible discourse". | He described how at mealtimes between the meetings in August 1942, Churchill "engaged the company in irreverent and irresponsible discourse". |
| Cadogan's account is contained in a letter to Lord Halifax, a former foreign secretary, when he was UK ambassador in Washington in the late 1940s. | Cadogan's account is contained in a letter to Lord Halifax, a former foreign secretary, when he was UK ambassador in Washington in the late 1940s. |
| "Nothing can be imagined more awful than a Kremlin banquet, but it has to be endured," wrote Cadogan. | "Nothing can be imagined more awful than a Kremlin banquet, but it has to be endured," wrote Cadogan. |
| "Unfortunately Winston didn't suffer it gladly. However, next morning he was determined to fire his last bolt and asked for a private talk, alone with Stalin. This was fixed for 7pm." | "Unfortunately Winston didn't suffer it gladly. However, next morning he was determined to fire his last bolt and asked for a private talk, alone with Stalin. This was fixed for 7pm." |
| Cadogan said he was himself summoned to Stalin's room. "There I found Winston and Stalin … sitting with a heavily laden board between them: food of all kinds crowned by a suckling pig, and innumerable bottles." | Cadogan said he was himself summoned to Stalin's room. "There I found Winston and Stalin … sitting with a heavily laden board between them: food of all kinds crowned by a suckling pig, and innumerable bottles." |
| Cadogan continued: "What Stalin made me drink seemed pretty savage: Winston, who by that time was complaining of a slight headache, seemed wisely to be confining himself to a comparatively innocuous effervescent Caucasian red wine." | Cadogan continued: "What Stalin made me drink seemed pretty savage: Winston, who by that time was complaining of a slight headache, seemed wisely to be confining himself to a comparatively innocuous effervescent Caucasian red wine." |
| Cadogan added that "everything seemed to be as merry as a marriage-bell" as Stalin went on about the benefits of the Soviet system. The party broke up at 3am. | Cadogan added that "everything seemed to be as merry as a marriage-bell" as Stalin went on about the benefits of the Soviet system. The party broke up at 3am. |
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