Ever since an amazed British public was first introduced to John Steed by Independent Television in the early sixties, he has been at once one of the best known but most enigmatic figures in public life. Now for the first time the secrets of his early years are revealed: the dreadful massacre of his parents on the North West Frontier of India while he was little more than a baby; the appalling severities of his preparatory school education; expulsion from Eton; running away to war; secret service in Occupied France; doomed marriage to a beautiful childhood sweetheart; revenge.

From this gripping account of Steed's life until his first meeting with Cathy Gale (while he was still a member of a leading monastic order), our hero emerges as an Englishman's Englishman. He is utterly honourable, extraordinarily gallant, a crack shot, an uncompromisingly straight bat, and a devotee of roast beef, real ale and the verse of Sir Henry Newbolt. His story is one of epic bravery and endeavour spiced with tragedy and even disaster. Throughout it no lip could be stiffer, no jaw firmer, no gaze as unflinching. He is the last of the Bulldog breed.