Dear Mr. Cornwell, this is just a response to a question you posted .Someone asked about painting bodies etc. blue and you replied you’d never tried it. Well, as a Celtic re-enactor I can tell you, firstly, woad has to be fermented slightly to give a good colour, so it stinks! Secondly, on skin it gives a kind of greyish blue, not the beautifully royal blue so beloved of film makers, and thirdly, it’s actually an antiseptic (sort of an early form of TCP really) so it would give some protection against wounds becoming infected. It would also presumably act as a form of camouflage, breaking up outlines, for those guerilla raids so popular with leaders such as Caratacus (and maybe even Arthur?) I’m sorry, it’s just my inner anorak/geek coming out! yours, Mari Hannigan