Scandal was nothing new to the Lucan family. Lord Lucan's great-great-grandfather, the Third Earl of Lucan, was the man widely blamed for one of the biggest blunders in British military history – the calamitous Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava in 1854 during the Crimean War. If the Seventh Earl of Lucan had made a bungled attempt at murdering his wife, well, such inept behaviour would be in keeping with a family tradition laid down by previous generations.

Lord Lucan was born on 18 December 1934 and christened Richard John Bingham. His development took a path well-trodden by the English upper class – nannies and maids, parents rarely seen, Eton education, national service as an officer in the Coldstream Guards, and a stint at a merchant bank. Outside work, his interests included bobsleigh and powerboat racing.

But his one true passion was gambling. Lucan's social scene centred on exclusive Mayfair casinos, where he rubbed shoulders with fellow earls, dukes, and business tycoons like Tiny Rowland and James Goldsmith. The Hamilton Club, off Park Lane, and John Aspinall's Clermont Club, in Berkeley Square, were two of his favourite haunts. When a two-day winning spree in the card game chemin de fer earned him £26,000 (about £380,000 in today's money) Lucan quit his job, convinced that he could make a living as a professional gambler. In the 1960s, the Clermont became Lucan's second home, where all-night gambling, fuelled by vodka and lamb cutlets, was the norm.

Lucan met his wife, Veronica Duncan, at a golfing tournament in March 1963. Married the following November, the couple moved to London's Lower Belgrave Street, where they had three children – Frances, George and Camilla. But Veronica's post-natal depression put a strain on the marriage, and Lucan's gambling addiction and heavy drinking only made matters worse. By 1973 they were separated, and an expensive courtroom battle saw Veronica Duncan take custody of the children. Lucan, facing financial ruin, was devastated and, perhaps, bent on revenge.

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