Their historical accuracy and the quality of the uniforms and the contrasts between lifestyles and backgrounds of the officers and PBI (poor bloody infantry - a WWI phrase that fits very nicely in all ages) is spot on, even down to the smallest button.

These were the days when you could become an officer just by having enough money to buy your way in. If your father was an officer, it was generally expected that you would also be one. Officers' sons who joined the Rank and File were considered worse than bastards and could often be cut off without a penny. The story of Sharpe could be based on one man, it could be a composite. There certainly were more men making it through the ranks as the Penninsula Campaign progressed, the accounts of promotions being won by acts of bravery/stupidity are 100% accurate, but were more often than not, posthumous.

LTS - who worked in a military museum that provided at least some of the research material for the books.....