Mr Cornwell, I am a 23 year old Yorkshire-man with a passion for interesting local history. A few weeks ago my older brother mentioned to me that our local, The Reservoir Tavern, Keighley, West Yorkshire, was formally owned by Sharpe. This seemed strange to me as i believe that Sharpe is a fictional character. Anyway, i thought i would look into his claims and I found that this is a view held by many locals. The landlord of the Inn back in 1864 was a man by the name of Christopher Ingham. here is a quote from a pub website “The inscription on Christopher Ingham’s grave in Utley Cemetery reads: “In memory of the late Christopher Ingham, landlord of the Reservoir Tavern, Keighley, who died September 9th, 1866, in the 80th year of his age. He was one of the heroes of the Peninsular War. For having served in the 95th regiment of Foot, for which he received the silver medal and 9 clasps for the engagements at Toulouse, Orthes, Pyranees, Vittoria, Salamanca, Badajoz, Ciudad, Rodrigo, Fuentea, D’Oner and Busaco. He also received the medal for Waterloo.” Some local historians believe Mr Ingham’s heroism may have inspired the author Bernard Cornwell’s saga about Major Richard Sharpe, played by Sheffield-born Sean Bean” did the story of Christopher Ingram provide you with the inspiration to write the Sharpe series or is this a coincidence? Thank you in advance for your response Mr Cornwell.

Lee Shaw