Dear Bernard Cornwell, congratulations on an illuminating talk at the Cheltenham Literature Festival- I made it to a fair number of events this year and the Azincourt discussion was by far the most entertaining. I am looking forward to your book (9.99 thanks to Tesco- Sorry Waterstones), but also hanker for a bit more on Alfred The Great- will we see some more of Uhtred? I was very glad to see Arthur and Derfel made it to Haresfield Beacon in the Warlord Chronicles- It’s not far from my house and is one of the best views in the South Cotswolds- you can very often walk it alone (but for the distant grind of the M5) as it doesn’t seem to be well known like Uley or Painswick. I would like to think (?) that you made it past the National Trust sign and through the squeeze style, up the little nettled-in pathway and out onto the fort proper. (Best early eve for the Severn crossings in silhouette). I’ve often wondered if the folks of the Iron Age-and beyond-had a similarly romantic attachment to ‘views’ as we do today. The frequency of burial mounds around the Cotswold scarp would seem to bear this out and I often stumble across modern memorials in similar places. That’s all, Best Wishes Dave Warren