I'm looking forward to the film, which will be here in a week or so. For anyone who hasn't read the books, I will reinforce the advice to start with Master and Commander and read the rest in order. They make a remarkable series.

Actually, Nelson wasn't born that far away from Diss, a place in his native county, Norfolk. And while I'm having a go, it's not the English navy, but the Royal Navy (or perhaps the British Navy) and in those days they did all the glorifying themselves. If you read books about the naval actions of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars they sound just like Hollywood fiction!