Dear Mr Cornwell, Thank you very much for your answer to my post from 25th March, and your praise for the Polish lancers. I am sorry for the late answer but I have hardly been on the internet since(blame Uhtred! I have got through the complete Saxon Stories since then and now I am waiting for Arthur to finally appear on the pages of the Winter King). I have not read Bloodlands yet but I have put in on my list, thank you. Following your question I found comments in the internet about Bloodlands, one of them by Norman Davies which reminded me that I still have to read his book on the Warsaw uprising during WWII. Stuck between the hammer and the anvil most of our history. I have visited Auschwitz, I have listened to a German guide at a prison in Berlin talking about Stazi tortures he had to suffer and then at our wedding the father of my aunt told us I have been fighting Germans as a partizan, and now you are marrying one I am glad that I have lived long enough to see this happen. Wyrd bid ful araed, to quote a famous Ealdorman. Coming back to which& when I started The Last Kingdom, I first thought it would be like Stonehenge which to me was a bit like a peat bog fire you see some light, then the fire smoulders somewhere under the surface for 30 years, and then finally you see the flames again. But as soon as Uhtred became a bit older, the story quickly developed to reach the full Sharpesque speed of events of a bush fire and it has not stopped since! I am really looking forward to October! I was wondering who will be Uhtreds Harper after you killed poor Leofric, but with Finan and specially pater Pyrlig he is on the safe side. And I had such a good laugh when you finished the Last Kingdom with Uhtred will campaign again. Has this sentence been sponsored by Sharpe Appreciation society? ;-) 10 Brownie points for turning the boat into the current before mooring it (somewhere before Lundene in the Sword Song)! By the way, going by a narrowboat down the Thames is I think the closest you can get to Uhtreds feelings on board nowadays you can feel the current in the tiller apart from, of course, going by one of this modern archeology re-creations there was a programe on TV recently showing a Danish (or Viking) boat, re-built according to any evidence on boat building of that time they could find which made the journey from Scandinavia down to I think Ireland. When the few meter high waves came, half of the crew (archeologists and volunteers) were sick as parrots, but the boat was rolling without any problems. The archeologist said that all in all it was an amazing experience and that the confined space on the boat resulted in several relationships and 3 child births, including his owns. And if you do start the Medieval/Tudor period research they still do the swan-upping on the Thames! Again and again lots of thanks for all the marvellous books! Zuzanna

P. S. The Historic Dockyard at Chatham is absolutely dripping with history; but all I had eyes for was a big model of the Victory; have not found anybody risen from the ranks on board though (the meal with Nelson was probably over by then). P.P.S. Sweet William has made it into the bouquet of Kate Middleton! P.P.P.S Ceterum censeo please do write another Sharpe&