He then joined BBC's Nationwide and was promoted to become head of current affairs at BBC Northern Ireland.

He attempted to enlist in the British armed services at least three times but was rejected on the grounds of myopia. After he left them, he changed his name to his birth mother's maiden name, Cornwell.Ĭornwell was sent away to Monkton Combe School, attended the University of London, and after graduating, worked as a teacher. He was adopted and brought up in Essex by the Wiggins family, who were members of the Peculiar People, a strict Protestant sect who banned frivolity of all kinds and even medicine. His father was a Canadian airman, and his mother, who was English, a member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. As Cornwell says in his exclusive introduction for this edition: ‘He’s a rogue, but he’s our rogue’.Cornwell was born in London in 1944. Sharpe is an illiterate ex-thief at the beginning of Sharpe’s Tiger, however he soon shows himself to be the best of soldiers – tough, capable and able to think on his feet. Cornwell’s meticulous research and powerful storytelling put the reader in the centre of a fascinating period of history, standing shoulder to shoulder with the 33rd regiment or holding their breath in the Tippoo’s dungeon. Cornwell really makes history come alive.’ĭouglas Smith’s lively scratchboard images have been crafted with advice from both the author and the National Army Museum and, like the novels, they are full of action and suspense – droplets of blood are flung into the air as Sharpe is flogged, and the eponymous tiger is given a terrifying solidity as it hangs mid-pounce.įollowing in the footsteps of Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubrey before him, Richard Sharpe is one of the world’s best-loved historical fiction heroes. ‘The best battle scenes of any writer I’ve ever read, past or present. This lavish edition features a colour frontispiece and three black and white illustrations by award-winning scratchboard artist Douglas Smith, as well as newly redrawn maps. In an exclusive new introduction for the Folio edition Bernard Cornwell explores his passion for the period and reveals the surprising story behind the creation of historical fiction’s favourite rogue. It is here that Sharpe first shows his ingenuity and bravery, and it is also where he begins his long and bloody enmity with the odious Sergeant Hakeswill … When the acclaimed TV series starring Sean Bean gave readers an even greater appetite for Sharpe’s stories, Cornwell took him back to the conflicts in India at the very start of the 1800s – the result is an irresistible peek at the origins of a legend.

With men like Sharpe, Lawford thought, how could they lose?īernard Cornwell’s enormously popular Sharpe series follows the career of one soldier across the Napoleonic Wars as he rises through the ranks to become a highly skilled leader of men.

Sharpe's Tiger by Bernard Cornwell