The first of three programmes written by NESTA PAIN based on the biography by ELIZABETH LONGFORD with Paul Rogers as Wellington 1: The Making of the Hero
Wellington was born the same year as Napoleon. The two men were to meet only once, 46 years later, on the battlefield of Waterloo. For Wellington, Waterloo was the triumphant climax of a military career which had taken him to India, Portugal and Spain.
Tonight's programme tells the story of the years before Waterloo when Wellington to begin with was, in his mother's words, 'food for powder and nothing else.' By the eve of Waterloo, he had become the most honoured of living Englishmen.
Narrator NOEL JOHNSON
With MICHAEL BURLINGTON YSANNE CHURCHMAN
LESLIE HERITAGE. GODFREY KENTON DENIS MCCARTHY , DEBORAH PAIGE STEPHEN THORNE and GORDON GOSTELOW as Private Wheeler
Producer ALAN HAYDOCK