Dear Mr Cornwell, I enjoy your books, particularly the Mediaeval & late 18th/early 19th century tales. I’m impressed by the combination of quantity & quality, & the talent & hard work it must take to produce such a large volume of work, all of it readable. I’ve read & understand what you say on manuscripts & ideas for plots, but what about real people? I can’t imagine any way in which you could be sued for incorporating someone dead 150 years ago into one of your books, using information in the public domain. After all, you’ve done it often. I’ve just read The Fort, & encountering John Moore in it reminded me of a distant relative of mine, Thomas Washington, brother of one of my ancestors. He was wounded at Corunna, but recovered & remained in the army until 1827, spending almost 9 years in India. He had three brothers who were also soldiers, including one who may have been at Corunna & elsewhere in the Peninsula (a battalion of his regiment was), one who died in Ireland, & one who was probably at Waterloo (a battalion of his regiment was there, & there’s a matching name on the Waterloo medal roll). I realise this is rather cheeky, but if you ever feel like incorporating a real-life ordinary soldier into a Sharpe story, I’d be happy to send you the details. They’re all obtained from official documents, so public domain. Tom is the best documented by far of the brothers (though their nephew George, who was in the Afghan War of 1841-2, is even better documented), largely from his discharge papers. I can’t see any way I could sue you for using public domain information I’ve shown you, & I’d happily sign any disclaimers you might like. It’d flatter my conceit immensely to see a relative in one of your books, & that’s profit enough for me. Whether you’re interested or not, I wish you many more happy writing years. Yours, Paul Irving