h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Framework (so I don't have to keep skipping back and forth)

Who is Sharpe? (header)

Bit on Cornwell,
Bit on character's background?

Sharpe's Allies and Enemies (header)

Bits on Arthur Wellesley, Patrick Harper, Dan Hagman, Obidaiah Hakeswill, etc.

Sharpe's Adventures (header)

Brief summary of each book/tv episode in chronological (Tiger -> Devil) order.
EG: Sharpe's Waterloo (1812) Book/TV - Sharpe & Harper rejoin Wellington to fight at the decisive battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo. Although the day is won by the allies, "Chosen Man" Daniel Hagman is greivously wounded and dies in Sharpe's arms.

Afterword:
Bits in Sharpe Companion book about his life after war and his eventual death.

Right I've put in the basic headers. I'll try and do a bit on how how Cornwell created Sharpe, and that side of things. Do you think you would be able to give a bit of a character bio and history?

Or would you prefer to do it the other way around?

I can do the bio no problems.

Richard Sharpe was an infantryman in the British Army of the late 1700's and early 1800's. Rising through the ranks to hold a final commission of Lieutanant Colonel, he fought for King, Country and more usually for his own honour in India, Holland, Flanders, Portugal, Spain, Belgium and finally Chile. Along the way meeting amongst others Sir Arthur Wellesley and Napoleon Bonaparte.

Will finish later.

Right here's my bit about Bernard Cornwell. I could probably write more about the man himself, but I felt I should centre it around Sharpe since thats why we're here


"Richard Sharpe is the creation of a man by the name of Bernard Cornwell.

"In 1980, Bernard Cornwell lived in a London basement flat and was due to marry an American woman, and move there to live with her. Unfortunately he could not get a work permit, and so decided to become a writer, as it was a profession that did not require a work permit (or green card as it is known). It was there in London, that Sharpe was first created, before he moved to America.

"He wanted to write a land based version of C.S.Forester’s Hornblower, and tried to think of a name for his character that would be as dramatic as Horatio Hornblower. He however could not think of one, and so decided to give him a temporary name, until he could think of a better one.

"He decided to name his main character after a famous rugby player Richard Sharp, but simply added an 'e' to the end of his surname. However the name stuck, and Richard Sharpe was born"

I can't see any problem with sticking that straight in!

"The character Richard Sharpe was a London born infantryman in the British Army of the late 1700's and early 1800's. He first saw action in Holland at the age of just 17 and then shot, stabbed and hacked his way through India, Portugal, France and Belgium before his final action in Chile at the stately age of 42."

"By actions such as saving Sir Arthur Wellesley's life at Assaye, taking the wall at Badajoz, and performing above and beyond the call of duty, Sharpe rose from the ranks of the 33rd Foot in Holland to become a Lieutenant-Colonel during the Waterloo campaign, also serving in the 74th of foot, and most prolifically the 95th South Essex regiment, leading his crack squad of riflemen"

"In his 25 years as a proffessional soldier, Sharpe suffered eleven serious wounds, including pistol wounds inflicted by the woman who would become his third wife, Lucille Castineau. Despite these, Sharpe always came out on top with 65 confirmed kills with either his heavy cavalry sword, a "brown bess musket" or the state of the art Baker rifle."

What do you think of that as an introduction to the character?

That looks great

I'll put it in.

The only thing I can think that you add it to it really would be to mention that it was Wellsley himself that promoted him to lieutenant after he had saved his life. But it already sound great, so it may not need it. What do you think?

If you can find a way to work it into the sentence structure, feel free to put it in. I'll have a quick flick through Sharpe's Enemy tonight and write a bit on Hakeswill.

For the Allies and Enemies do you think we should do the chosen men (excluding Pat Harper) individually or singly?

And if there's any characters you want to write about for the A&E (Hakeswill is a favourite of mine), let me know and I'll make sure I leave them for you.

Thanks, I'll see what I can do

Well I don't think we need to write about every member of the chosen men. Though I do think we need something about Daniel Hagman & Harris.

I wouldn't actually mind doing a bit about the character of Daniel Hagman and the actor/singer/songwriter John Tams, as he had quite an influence on the TV series.

Perhaps we could have a sub section for the chosen men? I think we should probably cover a number of the chosen men individually, and perhaps just list others, and then do a brief explination of what the chosen men actually are. There is a good explination at this link : <./>http://www.boothill.demon.co.uk/sharpe/chosen_men.htm</.>

I'm not sure how many other characters you are planning on doing, but I could probably do something on Sir Henry Simmerson, Harper, Jane Gibbons, Hagman (as I suggested) or Harris. Do you think we should include Wellington?

Though I'm flexible, so I'll leave it at your discretion

Sir Henry Simmerson, Harper, Jane Gibbons, Hagman (as I suggested) or Harris. Do you think we should include Wellington?

If we divide it up into three categories:

Allies

Harper
Hagman
Chosen Men (Harris, Perkins and Cooper are prominent in TV and in Sharpe's Havoc)
Wellington

Enemies

Hakeswill
Ducot

(Simmerson, where does he fit? )

Women (his three wives)
Teresa
Jane Gibbons
Lucille

Actually, if we just touch on Wellington, and then see if we can find something to link to for more information.

Thats sound fair

And some how I think Simmerson is probably an enemy

Well, an enemy in the camp, so on paper he's an ally....

Confusing isn't it.

How are we going to divide up the characters between us?

Yes, but he's an enemy of Sharpe, so I think it would not be out of place to stick him in as an enemy.

And as for characters, I think it is probably best if we just say the characters we want to do, and then we can work it out from there.

I wouldn't mind doing any of these:-

Harper
Hagman
Harris
Simmerson

and I could probably write any of the wives as well


Now if you can say which ones you'd like to do, we can split them up between us. Of course, I'll probably be able to do ones I haven't mentioned if it comes to that.

Ok, so if you do those four and Jane Gibbons, and I'll do the rest?

Would you be happy doing that?

If you are, I'll do that

Im cool with that, I'll make a start either tomorrow or monday.

I'll be on hold for a while due to personal events. I'll still be able to check in with you, but not write much..

Sorry to hear your having problems.

But don't worry take all the time you need