GEORGE Hart is illegitimate but with aristocratic connections in late Victorian England and he is found a place in a crack regiment.

Also part Zulu, it is ironic but almost inevitable that when his Army career fails, he takes off for South Africa just in time to re-enlist to face the Zulu hordes at Rorke’s Drift.

This is a true “washing of the spears”, a knockout of an historical which thunders along through a landscape of blood, murder, love and supreme courage on the battlefield by both sides.