Dear Bernard,

I have been a Sharpe fan for many years and I thought that you might be interested in the following…
Due to my connections with Latin America (my wife is Venezuelan), I learnt recently that some of the decisive battles in Simon Bolivar’s struggle for independence from Spain were won mainly because of the assistance of British volunteers (particularly riflemen) that had previously been fighting Napoleon. According to Wikipedia ” ..The British Legions were an important part of Bolívar’s army. They played a pivotal role in the Vargas Swamp Battle on July 25, 1819, and Bolivar credited them with the victory at the subsequent Battle of Boyacá on August 7, 1819…” .   These events are not well known in the UK and the British have recently been derided by Latin American states so I thought you might be interested in writing a novel that would show how some of Sharpe’s contemporaries helped some of these countries achieve independence from Spain. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this.
Thanks.
Kind regards
Rob Clarke.