Second World War
At the outbreak of the Second World War, Wisdom was sent to work in a communications centre in a command bunker in London where he connected telephone calls from war leaders to the prime minister. He met Winston Churchill on several occasions when asked for updates on incoming calls and once was disciplined for calling him Winnie. He joined the Royal Corps of Signals and performed a similar function with a military unit based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. After Wisdom appeared at a charity concert at the Cheltenham Town Hall, the actor Rex Harrison came backstage and urged him to become a professional entertainer.
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Famous quotes containing the words world and/or war:
“But, where the road runs near the stream,
Oft through the trees they catch a glance
Of passing troops in the sun’s beam—
Pennon, and plume, and flashing lance!
Forth to the world those soldiers fare,
To life, to cities, and to war!”
—Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)
“The poetry of heroism appeals irresistibly to those who don’t go to a war, and even more to those whom the war is making enormously wealthy. It’s always so.”
—Louis-Ferdinand Céline (1894–1961)