The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - PREVIEW： Chronicles #66 ｜ Sharpe's Tiger with Beau & Samson： Part III

00:00:00.000 hello and welcome back to chronicles friends where today we're going to be concluding

00:00:20.000 our discussion between me beau and samson all about the terrific sharps tiger by bernard

00:00:27.120 cornwell and as you can see we have come with our own chosen men all arrayed behind us on this

00:00:33.840 magnificent video wall put together one chosen woman and a very particularly well chosen woman

00:00:41.360 as well yes elizabeth hurley herself the uh yes well the woman anyway right so not got to her

00:00:49.040 part in the story yet so um okay right so where we last began uh we found sharp we found lawford

00:00:56.240 We found McCandless and we found that bastard, Obadiah Hagswell, all trapped in the Tipu Sultan's dungeons together beneath Syringapatam, this great fortress of the Mysore kingdom, just as the British forces are preparing to attack and besiege it.

00:01:18.540 And also, so there are two things that are very important about this. One, Sharp and Lawford have been trying to get a message out to the British lines to not attack the Western Wall, because actually the Western Wall is a feint.

00:01:36.220 and even though the outer mud brick wall looks very damaged and lightly defended in fact behind

00:01:44.460 that outer view of the british line there is an inner wall as well which is also stacked with

00:01:51.200 musketeers and uh indian gunmen and underneath there is an even darker surprise waiting for

00:01:58.020 them or should i say explosive yes yes and there is also between the ground of the outer wall 0.99

00:02:03.780 and the inner wall there is also a um a huge mine as well that they're waiting to blow now one thing

00:02:11.500 that's interesting is that this is not historically accurate and this is there was no mine at the siege

00:02:18.080 of syringapotam bernard conwell comments on this at the very end he says there wasn't but there was

00:02:24.480 an enormous explosion two days before the siege from inside whether a powder magazine exploded or

00:02:32.000 but just for the embellishment and the fun of the story is clench the chronology so that it

00:02:37.480 happens on the same time that at the same time the siege is happening and also it gives our boy

00:02:42.860 sharpie something heroic to do as well i like one of the great things about the sharp novels one of

00:02:48.900 the really great things i love is at the end of nearly or depends what what version what publication

00:02:55.020 you've got but most of them all the nearly all the paperbacks anyway um there'll be sort of an

00:02:59.940 an afterword or something like that where Bernard Cornwall tells you just pretty it's usually pretty

00:03:05.660 short actually I'd like more I would like a dozen pages of it but I love it it's one of my favorite

00:03:12.980 bits of the book actually weirdly to say is that at the end you get to find out what's just pure

00:03:17.940 fiction of his what's real and what is sort of an amalgam of where he's played with facts and fiction

00:03:23.620 and if you want to know more of course you can go away and look up about like the real siege of

00:03:29.560 the ring or the real the real battle of whatever it was yeah um and yeah in this one so there was

00:03:36.280 a giant explosion but it wasn't on the day that it was taken and it certainly wasn't like a

00:03:41.880 deliberate mine set by the tipu or anything so cornwall's played around with the real history

00:03:47.140 there uh but it's just a little bit of more tension the only thing actually i would say

00:03:51.000 about is when you're reading the book if you think about it for a moment it's like it would

00:03:55.120 only ever be a last ditch

00:03:57.320 Hail

00:03:59.260 Mary, shot to nothing 1.00

00:04:00.960 it wouldn't stop the British 0.96

00:04:03.140 even if it did blow up 500 men or something 0.52

00:04:05.220 it wouldn't actually stop the British 0.63

00:04:07.220 from taking Serena Pottom

00:04:08.920 but it's just a little bit more

00:04:10.800 tension or drama for our

00:04:12.980 hero Richard Sharp to save

00:04:15.240 a few hundred more Englishmen

00:04:16.960 or perhaps Irishmen or Scotsmen

00:04:19.280 or Welshmen. And the novel tells you this

00:04:21.020 at the back of every single one

00:04:22.900 it just says meet Richard Sharp

00:04:24.700 a great british hero and they all just which is uh so true he really is um there is just one more

00:04:31.120 thing as well to add about the uh the nature of the siege which is the fact that the tipu sultan

00:04:36.540 himself has been hoping praying to allah for the monsoon season to come earlier not only because

00:04:45.620 obviously dragging the guns through you know mud and just i mean also as well the syringapotam

00:04:52.060 being surrounded by three rivers as well i mean the monsoon would really uh quite literally put

00:04:58.100 dampener on the british siege but there's more to it than that because if it rains as well

00:05:02.720 that mud wall that is protecting the west obviously cannon fire against solid um baked mud

00:05:12.040 will just shatter it'll just explode but if it's wet and damp it'll absorb the power of the cannon

00:05:18.760 and so it'll also give the city a greater amount of resistance um against the british canon and so

00:05:27.020 but this is not happening the monsoon has not come early and this leaves him totally exposed

00:05:32.540 to uh the might of uh well uh modern european warfare um as it comes from i think it's really

00:05:40.400 interesting to point out re-point out where you mentioned he's playing praying for the monsoon

00:05:45.640 been praying to Allah yeah he's he's Muslim yeah he's not Hindu and Mysore is right in the heart

00:05:52.560 of India modern-day India or in the south even south yeah yeah so it's a long way from traditional 0.88

00:05:58.380 uh the traditional Islamic world a long way from Mecca you're right yeah exactly long way from

00:06:04.960 Mecca in southern India yeah um but yeah I mean we did talk about before I think briefly at least

00:06:09.860 in passing and the book only really talks about in passing really doesn't make a massive massive

00:06:14.620 deal about it certainly not pages and pages talking about the islamic conquest of like the

00:06:19.900 main like the decan plains and south of the decan plains and all that stuff but he is absolutely

00:06:25.600 100 muslim not hindu and this will be very important later uh because in fact actually

00:06:33.060 we should just get to that now so obviously where we last uh left sharp um he was in this jail cell

00:06:39.460 which is obviously guarded by men at day and a tiger by night,

00:06:45.640 which is obviously the more terrifying of the guards.

00:06:50.200 But whilst he's in there as well.

00:06:52.780 So I think it's important to come back to where Sharp was mentally

00:06:58.120 at the beginning of the novel, right?

00:07:00.900 He was a man who was on the brink of desertion.

00:07:03.820 Now, through this mission, through his work and his genuine,

00:07:08.280 and at this point friendship with lawford through his meeting of mccandless and mccandless explaining

00:07:14.380 to him why they're there and even if it seems a little i mean trade it all sounds a bit abstract

00:07:19.920 to sharp but sharp is now he's realized that he enjoys being a soldier and he's fully committed

00:07:28.200 again now he is the sharp who is a man of duty that we know and will continue to see throughout

00:07:36.220 the rest of his his life and his journey through all these novels i suppose this this is where he

00:07:42.600 as a almost adult adult adult sorry this is where he as an adult truly comes into being before he

00:07:50.320 was essentially a nameless nobody soldier now this is the start of him as a real human being

00:07:58.320 with a purpose yeah absolutely and um so they're being guarded and as the so the british come into

00:08:07.480 view and they just begin pounding the western wall which is a trap but they begin to start

00:08:13.640 pounding the western wall and there's these uh obviously we've got two forlorn hopes that are

00:08:19.660 both going to enter you know once the wall has been smashed two forlorn hopes will charge try

00:08:25.760 and get into the breach just hold the breach for the whilst the rest of the army what so baird

00:08:32.100 the forlorn hope are going to go then may um major general baird and his men uh arthur wells

00:08:39.240 colonel wellesley after that i might just explain what a fall on hope is just in case anyone might

00:08:45.300 have forgotten a fall on hope is essentially um as it says in the name a forlorn hope of survival

00:08:51.260 it is a is a suicide mission that essentially guarantees death the odds of survival are

00:08:59.800 basically none usually leading the charge up a breached enemy wall fortification um

00:09:05.840 it's the first body of men through a breach in the wall yeah and you're expected you may well

00:09:10.560 all die yes which is why the rewards for surviving it are so great because they never have to give

00:09:16.580 them out because most people usually die yes and we actually see that here uh genuinely historical

00:09:22.860 instance of that with a sergeant graham who led one of these two forlorn hopes in the actual

00:09:29.440 siege of syringa patam uh and he was promised that if you get through this and you survive

00:09:34.860 leading the forlorn hope you'll become a you'll become lieutenant graham now he managed to get

00:09:41.100 there and according to

00:09:43.320 Cromwell's novel and the actual

00:09:45.060 history they seem to be the same

00:09:47.040 that Graham got to the front

00:09:49.340 managed to get his

00:09:50.800 forlorn hope up to the front

00:09:53.040 line and shouted at the top

00:09:55.000 of his breath in celebration

00:09:56.620 Lieutenant Graham

00:09:58.280 and then was immediately shot

00:10:00.660 and killed and it's like that is just

00:10:03.040 brutal

00:10:03.680 you've just been promoted 0.70

00:10:06.720 and now you're gone

00:10:08.280 you also get

00:10:10.120 I'm not sure if it's in this novel or another

00:10:12.060 Or it's just the real history

00:10:13.120 You've said certain things you were allowed to put on your uniform

00:10:16.140 After that like I think there was some sort of

00:10:18.520 Leaf

00:10:20.140 Type embroidery you allowed on your sleeve

00:10:22.420 Something like that where people that were in the know

00:10:24.580 People that were in the army that know would see at a glance

00:10:26.520 That guy was in a forlorn hope

00:10:28.080 Not necessarily let it but just to be in it

00:10:30.400 That guy survived a forlorn hope

00:10:32.360 Badass

00:10:33.180 And I think even was there even a small

00:10:35.380 I think if you were an officer you got a small amount of money

00:10:38.340 As well

00:10:38.800 but anyway

00:10:41.160 yeah

00:10:41.580 it's not that

00:10:42.760 sometimes a forlorn hope

00:10:44.020 could be

00:10:45.240 a smashing success

00:10:46.960 and nearly everyone lives

00:10:48.260 because

00:10:48.880 because there is a breach

00:10:50.520 in the wall

00:10:51.000 and the defenders decide

00:10:52.720 right that's it

00:10:53.380 stop this for a game of soldiers

00:10:54.960 we're going to run away

00:10:55.880 but

00:10:56.460 mentally they've already checked out

00:10:57.920 but you can expect

00:10:59.080 you would

00:11:00.240 you can expect 0.80

00:11:01.980 you might die

00:11:02.560 alright 0.52

00:11:03.220 it's like

00:11:03.920 sometimes a forlorn hope

00:11:05.960 was 100% casualties

00:11:07.000 yeah

00:11:07.340 in fact quite often

00:11:08.360 so

00:11:08.680 And especially when your enemy is a man like the Tipu Sultan, who believes that he is holding back the tide of Christian, you know, European imperialism, and that he is there doing Allah's will, holding it, you know, this is a man absolutely mentally committed to it, and also a man of some genuine personal bravery, as we've mentioned before.

00:11:31.700 and so he's there on the battlements

00:11:33.540 giving commands to his men

00:11:35.240 all the time this is going on

00:11:37.080 once a British cannon finally break the wall

00:11:39.540 of Syringa Patam

00:11:40.460 we then cut back to Sharp in the cell

00:11:43.080 and we cut back to the fact as well

00:11:45.460 that Aparal who was

00:11:47.320 a general of Tipu Sultan

00:11:49.280 who was a Hindu

00:11:50.880 and was a man that Colonel

00:11:53.140 McCandless first went to

00:11:54.720 towards the beginning of the novel to try and drive a wedge

00:11:57.640 to say look side with us

00:11:59.640 because we will

00:12:00.980 restore um the hindu ruler the hindu royal family who were originally you know the rulers of mysore

00:12:08.540 to them and it's like do you want to have a hindu ruler but be a british puppet or do you want to

00:12:14.640 carry on with a muslim minority ruler ruling over a mass hindu population and this works he decides

00:12:24.580 that he's going to betray Tipu Sultan.

00:12:27.440 And so what he does is he says to Kung Lao Singh,

00:12:30.320 the young Indian man who's fallen in love

00:12:32.980 with Miss Mary Bickerstaff,

00:12:35.060 who, you know, came with them into the city to begin with,

00:12:37.460 he says, go over to the cells

00:12:39.500 and release Colonel McCandless. 0.63

00:12:44.180 And so he goes over there with Mary

00:12:46.260 and they can see, hear them through the grate

00:12:50.700 and Mary drops a gun,

00:12:52.800 tries to like throw this gun 1.00

00:12:54.500 hurls it

00:12:56.080 down into the pit

00:12:58.520 and obviously they're all in locked cells

00:13:00.480 and there's this tiger and the gun

00:13:02.320 misses their cell

00:13:03.500 and it's actually just on the floor

00:13:06.240 in the same area as

00:13:08.440 the tiger so if Sharp wants

00:13:10.420 to get the gun he's got to open

00:13:12.560 the cell

00:13:13.160 and go into the same place as the tiger

00:13:16.540 itself and all the time

00:13:18.620 this is happening you've got

00:13:20.220 Obadiah just giving it this

00:13:22.500 just calling the tiger a big pussycat and everything um he's definitely afraid of this

00:13:28.080 this this part when he's trapped in the opposite cell is the real obadiah underneath the um i can

00:13:39.540 never die i can't die i can't die belief the twitching and the spasms this is the supreme

00:13:44.680 coward that is hidden he hides from himself um yeah because he is he is still in this moment 0.67

00:13:53.060 even though that he is separated from the tiger with the bars he knows how much danger he's in 0.96

00:13:57.300 oh yeah and he knows as well that he has every there's every reason to believe that he is going

00:14:02.880 to be left behind if the others escape because uh sharp and lawford know exactly what he is

00:14:09.340 mccandlus himself a colonel someone of prestige and rank that in any other scenario obadiah would

00:14:17.100 have made every uh you know calculation to have been the perfect sergeant in front of well mccandlus

00:14:24.140 has seen his true colors now as well and so they're they've all got every reason to leave him

00:14:29.200 anyway sharp manages to get the pick lock opens the cell but there's also the question as well

00:14:36.120 the tiger is going to leap at him

00:14:38.620 and Sharp doesn't

00:14:40.540 even know if the gun is loaded

00:14:41.880 he forgot to ask before

00:14:44.420 Mary and the others have to disappear

00:14:46.280 because of a rousing suspicion

00:14:48.060 so for all Sharp knows he's

00:14:50.440 reaching towards a gun that may or may

00:14:52.560 not be loaded as

00:14:54.440 this enormous tiger

00:14:56.080 is just watching him

00:14:57.880 from the other end of the room and he's got

00:15:00.160 one shot at deer hunter

00:15:02.440 one shot if he's got one shot at all

00:15:04.720 and so he's got to make it count

00:15:06.740 and so I obviously just have to read

00:15:09.040 if we're going to talk about Sharp's tiger

00:15:10.940 have to read the passage about Sharp and the tiger

00:15:14.160 so it says 1.00

00:15:15.320 kill the bugger Sharpie 1.00

00:15:17.440 Hagswell urged 1.00

00:15:18.580 careful man

00:15:19.900 McCandless hissed 0.97

00:15:21.240 make sure of your shot

00:15:22.580 careful now

00:15:23.600 Sharp edged forward

00:15:25.200 his eyes were still fixed on the tiger's eyes

00:15:28.100 he was willing the beast to stay still

00:15:30.620 to receive its death gracefully

00:15:32.920 ten feet

00:15:34.200 The tiger was motionless, just watching him. Sweat stung Sharpe's eyes and the weight of the pistol was making his hand tremble.

00:15:43.340 Do it now, he thought. Do it now. Pull the trigger. Put the bugger down and run like shit.

00:15:48.720 He blinked, his eyes stinging with the sweat. The tiger did not even blink. Eight feet. 1.00

00:15:55.180 he could smell the beast see its unsheathed claws on the stone see the glint in its eyes

00:16:01.780 seven feet close enough he reckoned and he straightened his arm to line up the pistol's

00:16:07.360 rudimentary sights and the tiger sprang it came from the ground so fast that it was almost on

00:16:13.920 top of sharp before he even realized the beast had moved he had a wild glimpse of huge claws

00:16:19.940 stretched far out of its pants and a feral yellow teeth in a snarling mouth and he was unaware that

00:16:28.420 he had called aloud in panic he was unaware too that he had pulled the trigger not smoothly as

00:16:35.220 he had planned but in a desperate panicked jerk then instinctively he dropped to the ground and

00:16:42.480 curled tight so that the tiger's leap would pass over him lawford gasped the echo of the pistol

00:16:48.500 shot was hugely loud in the confines of the dungeon pit, which suddenly reeked with the

00:16:55.580 sulfurous smell of powder smoke. Higgswell was crouching in the corner of his cell, scarce daring

00:17:01.780 to look, whilst McCandless was mouthing a silent prayer. Sharp was on the ground, waiting for the

00:17:07.960 agony of the cause to rip him apart. But the tiger was dying. Jesus bloody wept. McCandless did not

00:17:17.120 reprove him the colonel knew a prayer when he heard one um i have only picked out a very small

00:17:26.060 extract from that entire passage this entire it is a mass it is such fantastic tension building

00:17:34.760 in cornwell's writing throughout this i know sharp's gonna survive and i'm still absolutely

00:17:40.880 on the edge over what's going to happen it's great drama if you enjoyed this piece of premium

00:17:45.840 content from the Lotus Eaters, head to our website where you can find more.

The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - October 03, 2026

PREVIEW： Chronicles #66 ｜ Sharpe's Tiger with Beau & Samson： Part III

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