Dear Bernard,

I realise you must hear this all the time but your books are just fantastic and they truly inspired me to study history at University. Having now graduated from the University of Westminster with Honours in History my so called ‘historical’ life has been put on hold. I am currently working as a marine surveyor but am clinging onto my ambition of having a career that involves history. I loosely compare your books to the writing of my dissertation in the sense that the research takes a very long time and is absolutely crucial in producing a historically correct piece of work. Historical research and using archives to piece together history is a huge passion of mine but as of yet I am unable to find any jobs/careers that involve this type of work. I realise you are a very busy man, but if there is any advise/contacts you can give me in order for me to fulfil my passion for history I would be very grateful.

Marine surveying is not for me! The only thing getting me through work at the moment is re-reading the ‘Grail quest’ series at lunch times!

Thank you in advance for your time.

Michael