Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wanted to join the erstwhile Indian Civil Service and serve the country.

Thatcher, also known as the 'Iron Lady', told an interviewer: "I had an ambition as a child. I wanted to be part of the Indian Civil Service, because our Civil Service was the best in the world."

She added: "Now, we were brought up to believe that Britain was the best country in the world because she had standards of honesty and integrity and law. The best in the world and the Indian Civil Service was part of our Civil Service and it was the best in the world and it was to do things for the Indians and it was to help them."

"I said: 'I think, Daddy, if I manage to get to university if, it was a fantastic privilege in those days, a fantastic privilege If I manage to get to university, I think I'd like to go in the Indian Civil Service, because I will be able to do something for them!"

"I remember my father saying, this was before the World War 1, I don't think there will be one by the time you are grown up."

Though Thatcher did not join the ICS, she went on to become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990.