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Only in the artillery and engineers was this system not applied. These were servants of the Board of Ordnance and their commissions were granted by the Master General of Ordnance, and Gunners, Engineers and Signallers were trained at Woolwich in The Royal Military Academy.

Then, in 1799, a small college in High Wycombe was set up for the education of young Army officers. It was known as the Royal Military College which, subsequently, moved to Sand-hurst. It had many famous old boys including Churchill, Roberts, Allenby, Haig, Alexander, Auchinleck and Mont-gomery.

Both establishments were closed in 1939 on the outbreak of war. They re-opened in 1947, combined as one estab-lishment, with the old gentlemen cadets replaced by officer cadets, paid and dis-ciplined as soldiers The new Academy was able to draw on the experience and traditions of both its famous predeces-sors and was able also to make use of the successful training methods used during World War Two.

The unifying process was continued when Mons Officer Cadet School, which had trained candidates  for National Service, Short Service and TA commissions, closed in 1972 and it was decided that all young officers being commissioned into the Army would pass through Sandhurst. In 1981, the Women's Royal Army Corps was incor-porated into Sandhurst and its college near Bagshot was later closed and by 1984 WRAC training was completely established at Sandhurst. Since 1992 female cadets have been fully integrated into the training courses there.

Since the war cadets have come from more than 1300 British schools and overseas cadets from more than 75 foreign and Commonwealth countries. These have included such figures as King Hussein of Jordan, the Sultans of Oman and of Brunei and one or two African dictators who perhaps are best forgotten.

There are several courses available and the training is tough, technical and physical. Academic subjects like mili-tary history, defence and international affairs, war studies and communication studies are covered and the academy has a distinguished staff of civilian experts.

Sport is an important part of Sand-hurst activities, as is adventure training and military field work. The curriculum is bang up to date and covers all the hi-tech aspects of modern warfare. It is a mixture of the traditional and the contemporary - it has moved with the times and will continue to do so.

The courses it provides are constantly under review and being modified in the light of present day rapid advances in science and technology. It does not run courses for sluggards. The Sandhurst motto is "Serve to Lead" and its interna-tional reputation has never been higher, nor the reputation of the officers that emerge from its gruelling training.