Dear Mr Cornwell, I was very sorry that you were not able to stay in Sherborne Dorset long enough for us to meet earlier this year. I have much enjoyed reading all your books, and had hoped to speak to you at the South West writers’s Guild lunch in Sherborne. Actually this is partly why i am writing this message. This year has been the celebration in Sherborne of the 13th Century of the arrival of Bishop Aldhelm in Sherborne to found his cathedral and diocese of the South West. History has it that this became the most important theological seat, and a centre of learning, even for Alfred’s brothers. Certainly at the time of Alfred Exeter was of minor importance as far as we are concerned. Of course you are writing fiction, so you can decide about history, but all believe that Sherborne and Malmesbury were more important at that time than Exeter and Chippenham. Victor Clark