Hello Bernard, I wanted to ask a very specific question. I've read quite a few historical novels now and I have noticed a trend. This is relation to height of characters. I've noticed you and many other authors including Conn Iggulden never give specific heights of characters. Now I suspect this is because it is hard to gauge the height of a man in say Saxon times, though they tend to think that 5'7" is roughly average height of a man. But my only problem with not being specific is that it sometimes is hard to gauge the character's height. For example in your Alfred books, you have Uhtred who is referred to as a strikingly tall man, then there are other tall men that are not as tall as him like Pyrlig and Arthur himself. Then we hear of Clappa who is taller then Uhtred, then there is mighty Steappa who is head and shoulders above everyone else. Do you see what I mean? so in my mind a modern man of 5'11-6' is quite tall, 6'1-6'4 noticeably tall and anything above that freakishly tall. But it's hard to tell if say Uhtred is a tall man, like 6'1-6'4 or taller still or shorter still. You have to assume Steappa is some kind of monster, as being head and shoulders above everyone is some feat, the average head size being 9-10 inches. So is there a very specific reason for this vagueness? Ben
Well, they probably didn't have exact measurements, so I don't use them. I leave it to your imagination, where it should sit quite happily. I think I sometimes refer to a character as being the height of a bowstave, roughly six feet. Besides, all the younger generation only talk about metres these days and I don't have a clue what those are.