Dear Bernard, I may be a serial offender on this page, but always try to come up with something new each time! I suddenly had the thought, and so had to ask you, why did you write Sharpe’s Devil? Seems silly, but Waterloo was a great ending, so what made you go one step further? Also, was it never discussed to put ‘Devil’ on screen like the others?

One more question I did have, is that it seems that people have looked to you as the spiritual custodian (if i may make so grand a gesture) of Flashman’s legacy since the passing of the great GMF. I wondered if you had an insight into whether the mantle of Flashman was being taken up and whether we may ever more read of his adventures, perhaps at Gettysburg? – Maybe that’s an unfair question to ask you, but it there any gossip? Oh and finally, just for laughs, but if Sharpe and Flashman ever met, how do you think they’d get on? What would a fly on the wall see, so you think? Many thanks again for years of outstanding fun, am waiting on the new book with all eagerness!! Kind regards, Ricky Phillips