Osborne Stable Block — described his five years at Osborne as horrendous. The case of George Archer-Shee from 1908, who was expelled from Osborne after being falsely accused of stealing a 5-shilling postal order, inspired the play "The Winslow Boy". In 1927 the Red Cross voluntary aid detachment nurses from all over the United Kingdom were allowed to use the old naval college buildings for their summer training camp. In 1934 the camps stopped as the former naval college dormitory blocks were being demolished. In 1942 the Stable Block was commandeered by the Government for the war effort to provide a Head Office
Terence Rattigan of the Second World War scuppered any chances of a long run. Shortly before the war, Rattigan had written (together with Anthony Goldsmith) a satire about Nazi Germany, "Follow My Leader"; the Lord Chamberlain refused to license it on grounds of offence to a foreign country, but it was performed from January 1940. During the war, Rattigan served in the Royal Air Force as a tail gunner; his experiences helped inspire "Flare Path" and he was released from the service to help rewrite it as a film screenplay (which eventually appeared as "The Way to the Stars" in 1945). He