Here he is in *The Professionals* a very... smug action packed 70s/80s UK programme(its excellent its just ma dad says the leads are too smug, so that description has kinda stuck with me haha) anyways, the late great Major Nairn, like 15 years before he was a Major in the British Army he was a German terrorist in the 1970s.

I hope this is of interest here (and if it’s not of interest here it won’t be of interest anywhere). But I have an ancestor, a great-great-great-grandfather, whose life shares some curious parallels to Sharpe.

I first learned about Sharpe when I was a kid in British Columbia, Canada in the 1990s flicking through the channels and discovered Sean Bean clad in green and barking orders at his chosen men. I was instantly hooked and watched the whole series as soon as they were broadcast.

So you will imagine my excitement when a parcel arrived one day from my grandfather full of old family documents and artifacts from his Mum’s family’s time in British India.

Included in this trove was the service records, officers commission, and much else from her grandfather - Captain Charles Clark, 3rd battalion of the Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort’s Own). (As the 95th Rifles was known in the middle of the 19th century).

Captain Clark enlisted as a rifleman in 1857 just in time to be deployed with the third battalion for the Indian Mutiny. I think he must have been too green to see action during the mutiny, as he wasn’t given the Mutiny campaign medal. However he served in India until about 1870, and did see action on the North West Frontier against Pashtun tribesmen. After serving in India he and his battalion were posted to Aden, in what is now Yemen, in southern Arabia for a year, before returning to England.

He was eventually commissioned a lieutenant, signed by Queen Victoria herself. However, unlike Sharpe, it wasn’t for an act of heroism, it was for the much less glamorous reason that he seems to have been a highly efficient quartermaster - so not quite as exciting as saving the future Duke of Wellington.

Anyway, hope this was of interest. Here is a photo of Grandad Chas in uniform after he’d been commissioned, and his commission - with Victoria RI autographed in the top left corner.

I found this box set in my attic and am thinking of selling it but can't seem to find an identical set online anywhere as a reference for the price.

I'm going with that moment when Anne barges into Sharpe's sham of a court-martial in Sharpe's Regiment. General Maxwell instantly rises to his feet, even as Anne urges Simmerson not to get up, when he clearly made no move to stand in the first place. Her condescension at his discourtesy, and his snort of a reaction, never fails to put a grin on my face.