Charge of the Light Brigade recalled in memorial

Exactly 150 years after the Charge of the Light Brigade, more than 200 British ex-soldiers, enthusiasts and tourists gathered near Balaclava in the Crimea to mark the British Army's most infamous blunder. A service was held to remember the dead.

Among the party was Lord Cardigan, a descendant of the brigade commander, who said that history had been unfair to his ancestor.

"No military historian thinks Lord Cardigan was to blame for the foul-up," said the present Earl.

In less than 20 minutes more than 200 horsemen were killed or wounded as they rode up a valley surrounded on three sides by Russian guns.