Actress Lesley Sharp reading The Charge of the Light Brigade at the Hay Festival

Actress Lesley Sharp reading The Charge of the Light Brigade at the Hay Festival. Video: Hay Festival.

Transcript

00:00 Half a league, half a league, half a league onward, all in the valley of death, rode the

00:06 six hundred.

00:07 "Forward the light brigade, charge for the guns," he said, "into the valley of death,

00:14 rode the six hundred.

00:15 Forward the light brigade."

00:19 Was there a man dismayed?

00:21 Not though the soldier knew someone had blundered.

00:26 Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die, into the valley

00:33 of death, rode the six hundred.

00:37 Cannon to the right of them, cannon to the left of them, cannon in front of them, volleyed

00:43 and thundered, stormed at with shot and shell, boldly they rode, and well, into the jaws

00:50 of death, into the mouth of hell, rode the six hundred.

01:06 Flashed all their sabres bare, flashed as they turned in air, sabring the gunners there,

01:15 fighting an army while all the world wondered, plunged in the battery smoke.

01:21 Right through the line they broke, Cossack and Russian, reeled from the sabre stroke,

01:28 shattered and sundered.

01:31 Then they rode back, but not, not the six hundred.

01:38 Cannon to the right of them, cannon to the left of them, cannon behind them, volleyed

01:43 and thundered, stormed at with shot and shell, while horse and hero fell.

01:50 They that had fought so well came through the jaws of death, back from the mouth of

01:57 hell, all that was left of them, left of the six hundred.

02:06 When can their glory fade?

02:08 Oh, the wild charge they made, all the world wondered, honour the charge they made, honour

02:21 the Light Brigade, noble six hundred.

02:26 [End of recording]