The three main characters were very appealing. Are they based on real people?
The main character and narrator, John Howard Batchelor, was a real character, but everything I wrote about him was fictional as he seems to have disappeared into the mists of time. I based Cullen Moffat on the Colour-Sergeant in the film ‘Zulu’. I’m amazed how many people have written to me asking about this particular character, although even as I was writing about him I could feel his strength of character shining through. Uriah Garrett, the scruffy, Fleet Street reporter, is not based on anybody in particular. I saw a line drawing of a journalist in a 19th century magazine and drew inspiration from that. I think the three main characters work well together because they complement each other. John Batchelor is impetuous and overwrought at times, which makes Cullen Moffat’s easy going and thoughtful persona seem even more likable. Although Uriah Garrett is intelligent and well read, as one would expect from a journalist, his manners tend to annoy everybody he meets.
