Please help with the understanding of the following paragraph.
Puzzled and a little annoyed, but still not greatly disturbed, he signed the autograph books that had been sent to the studio for that purpose, decided what was to be done in the case of (a) a request for his presence at a christening, (b) a request for one of his ties, (c) nineteen requests to appear on his programme, and (d) seven requests for financial loans; and turned his face homewards. As an afterthought he turned back and bought a pound boot of chocolate dragées for Liz. As he tucked it into the glove compartment it occurred to him that it must be some time since he took Liz something on his way home. It was a pleasant habit; he must do it more often. (Chapter 5 To Love and Be Wise, http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800551h.html#ch05)
Q1: What are 'financial loans' here? Does it mean that someone is trying to sponsor Walter's broadcast?
Q2: What does 'boot' mean in 'a pound boot of chocolate dragees;?

Question

Answer

1.  The requests for financial loans are letters from members of the radio audience asking to borrow money from Walter. That part of the paragraph, from a to d, basically tells you that audience requests can be very crazy.  It is meant to sound funny.  It is also a true reflection of the behaviour of British audience at that time.

2.  A pound boot of chocolate dragées is a boot-shaped jar that contains one pound in weight of chocolate-coated nuts.

Answer

It's in a list of requests for him from others, so I assume it's requests for money from him. He must be wealthy or his company is. I don't know what "boot" means, I would guess it's British English slang since some of the spelling is British instead of American spelling (as in "programme" instead of "program").