Hello, and thank you for listening to The History of World War II podcast, Episode

83, The End of the Beginning.

It was after one year at Harrow, the Lord Randolph had decided, Winston's immediate future lay

at the military college at Sanhurst.

A lot of other fathers had come to that same conclusion, and in response, headmaster

Weldon had set up a special army class.

In essence, these selected boys were readying themselves for military exams.

Winston joined this class in September of 1889 at the age of 14.

It would be closer to the truth to say that Winston's father had put his son onto a military

path, but the details were still to be worked out.

There was Woolwich, an academy that readyed cadets for commissions in artillery and engineering,

but Winston's math was too weak to think that this was a possibility.

Instead, Master Moriarty stared the boy towards Sanhurst, its school leading to the infantry

in cavalry.

They had lower entrance requirements.

As usual, Winston wrote home of his readiness for the preliminary entrance exam.

Wisely, Weldon wouldn't allow the boy to take it.

He simply wasn't ready, but several months later, the headmaster changed his mind and

Winnie sat for the exam.

Fortune must have been waiting for the boy also, because simply, the odds were defied

at that moment.

The boy would pass this first step in December of 1890, for three main reasons, and at

...