James Thomas Brudenell, Seventh Earl of Cardigan (1797-1868), dragoon, hussar, huntsman, landholder, husband, adulterer, sometime Member of Parliament, duelist, probably the most hated and adulated aristocrat of his time, waited almost sixty years for his moment of glory (or disaster). When it came, it took place in an obscure Crimean valley, lasted twenty minutes, and was dubbed The Charge of the Light Brigade. In this book Donald Thomas covers Cardigan's whole life as a controversial figure in early Victorian Britain.