Edward Heath (born 1916) was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1970 to 1974. His major achievement was to gain membership for Britain in the European Common Market.

The Rt. Hon. Sir Edward Richard George Heath K.G., M.B.E., was born in Broadstairs, Kent, on July 9, 1916, the son of a builder. He won a music scholarship to Chatham House (a grammar school in Ramsgate) and attended Balliol College, Oxford, where in 1939 he received a degree in politics, philosophy, and economics. Heath's political interests developed at Oxford. He was president of the Oxford Union and of the University Conservative Association. As a student he strongly opposed the aggressive foreign policies of Hitler and Mussolini.

Heath joined the army shortly after World War II began. In 1940 he was assigned to the Royal Artillery, where he advanced to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. His distinguished war record included time spent on the Normandy...