Hi In response to the person who said that Sharpe is a Major in the film of Siege and a Captain in Mission, that’s not strictly true. He does appear as a captain at the beginning of Mission but that’s a sort of prologue to the main story because it shows you why he thinks Brand is a hero whilst also telling us that he’s actually a traitor. The prologue part occurs in 1810 which is when Sharpe really was a captain because it was after he’d been gazetted in 1809 (Eagle). Siege and the main part of Mission take place in 1813 after he was made major by order of the Prince Regent (Enemy). While I’m on that subject I was wondering where does the term gazette in reference to a temporary promotion come from? I know a newspaper is/was sometimes called a gazette so it seems a bit odd to me. Or were there lists of promotions appearing in the papers of the time? Marie