Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 29, 2013

The early life, business career and political rise of Neville Chamberlain culminated on 28 May 1937, when he was summoned to Buckingham Palace to "kiss hands" and become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Chamberlain was born in 1869; his father was the politician Joseph Chamberlain. After a period in a firm of chartered accountants, Neville Chamberlain spent six years in the Bahamas managing a sisal plantation. Returning to England in 1897, he became a successful businessman, and Lord Mayor, in his home city of Birmingham. He was elected to the House of Commons aged 49 in 1918, the oldest man at first election to Parliament to become prime minister. After four years on the backbenches, he saw rapid promotion, becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer after less than a year as a minister. He spent five years as Minister of Health, securing the passage of many reforming acts. After two years in opposition, he became part of Ramsay MacDonald's National Government, and spent another five years as Chancellor. Chamberlain had long been regarded as Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin's political heir, and when Baldwin announced his retirement, Chamberlain was seen as the only possible successor.

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