A biography of Ewart Grogan, the founding father of Kenya, imperial adventurer, and the baddest and boldest of a bold bad gang of early settlers. He is renowned for having walked 6000 miles from Cape Town to Cairo to win the hand of his bride, after his father-in-law-to-be challenged him to do something worthwhile. By the time he was 25 he had completed his trek, defying cannibals along the way, had been elected the youngest ever member of the Alpine Club for his ascents of the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc, been sent down from Cambridge for tethering a ravenous billy goat in his tutor's rooms after a prolonged session in the Red Lion public house; and had walked out of the Slade, preferring to enlist as a trooper in the Second Matabele War rather than spend his days surrounged by long-haired lizards. When asked in later life what his secret was, he replied to smoke heavily, drink and eat very little and not take anything too seriously'.