Mr Cornwell,

I would first like to take this opportunity to thank you for considerably more than a decade of reading pleasure and commend you for maintaining a consistently high standard of writing for a good deal longer than that.

Secondly, having only recently read Sharpe’s wikipedia article for the first time and been shocked to discover allegations of recreational cricket on his part (and I must confess only after experiencing an unseemly outburst of hilarity due to the sheer cognitive dissonance involved when coupling ‘Rough-and-Ready’ Richard Sharpe with this particular, decidedly upper-crust sport) I felt that I had no other sensible choice but to beg you for confirmation of the fact that Sharpe played cricket for FUN.

Then I took a look through those queries which you had already answered and thought it more sensible to ask instead “What in the world does Richard Sharpe do for fun?” (besides give the more egregiously elitist fits).

Thank you in advance for being patient with both my delusions of humour and my query – all my best to you and to your own.
E D