(KAR-dih-guhn) (n.) A knitted sweater or jacket, usually collarless, that opens down the front

James Thomas Brudenell, seventh Earl of Cardigan (1797-1868) was the British soldier who led the famous charge of the Light Brigade at the battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. (You remember--he was the one ordered to charge against the Russian guns: "Their's not to make reply, Their's not to reason why, Their's but to do and die: Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred."

Although more than half of his troops were killed or wounded, the earl survived the battle. The type of woolen waistcoat he habitually wore eventually was named in his honor.

"He was in the middle of taping his show, singing his opening number, 'Won't You Be My Neighbor?' He reached into the closet for his trademark red cardigan, and out popped an inflatable rubber doll clad in little more than a garter belt and a blond wig. Mister Rogers, startled, jumped back. His television crew doubled over in laughter."--Peter Pae, profiling Fred McFeely Rogers, he of children's television fame, in the Wall Street Journal.