Monthly Archives: December 2013

Richard Armitage & Richard III & Christmas

 
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Merry Christmas, seasonal greetings

 

and happy and enjoyable festivities

 

to all our supporters, interview partners, article-authors and signers of the petition. A big Thank You and all the best wishes !

 
Now to a real Christmas treat for all Richard III and Richard Armitage ‘well-wishers‘:
 


♛ King Richard Armitage ♛


 
Richard Armitage in a late interview with Helen of Empire magazine (podcast of about 13.12.2013 – Richard III part begins at about 1:36:00)
speaking about his connection and interest in King Richard III:
 

 
Transcript of the part about King Richard III:
 
Helen (interviewer):
Is it true that you were named after Richard III?

RA: That is true. Yes.
My father was really into the history of the Plantagenets and I was born on 22nd of August which is the Battle of Bosworth Field when Richard died on the battlefield.
I was always a bit mad at my dad, because – for naming me after what was perceived to be a hunchbacked child-murderer. But then in later years I just developed a similar interest in the story, because we used to visit there every year on my birthday. Thanks, dad.
That was my birthday treat to go and look at an empty field, but – in recent months his remains had been found so it is all kind of coming to the surface again.

 
Helen: Quite literally.

RA: Literally.

Helen: When you said you began to share his interest I was worried you meant the child murdering and hunchback.

RA: No, no. No, definitely not that. Although, but the fascination with the sort of unsolved crime, I did become kind of interested in not necessarily resurrecting his heroicism, but just looking at the story again.
Because he was our last monarch that died on a battlefield and it’s interesting how I am sort of playing a character that is not dissimilar to him in Thorin. So I was using a bit of that – you know – character in Thorin. Yea.

 
 
 


♛ King Richard III ♛


 

 
To celebrate there is a new music album about King Richard III, “Loyaulte Me Lie” by Guitarist Ian Churchward.

Books & King Richard III

 
 


♛ King Richard & Books ♛


 
Christmas is coming up and as books still are one of the most favourite presents, I collect some reading tips here for you.
 
Not that I get through the multitude of new publications about King Richard right now – and some books still await me at Christmas – but there are new books I especially wanted to bring to your attention and recommend here, as I enjoyed reading them myself.
 
If you have books you would like to add to this recommendation, please feel free to either post them in the comment section of this post or send me a mail (contact form) to write and explain more about your recommendation and why you like the book(s).
 
Victoria Smith let us know her favourite King Richard III novel “The Murders of Richard III” by Elizabeth Peters and especially wrote a review for us.
 

(As usual here on KRA, earnings from embedded affiliate links on this site go to the charities recommended by actor Richard Armitage on his JustGiving page.)

 
 


♛ King Richard & Jane Shore ♛


 

Isolde Martyn – “Mistress to the Crown”

 
“Mistress to the Crown” follows the life and struggle for freedom of Jane Shore, the famous and influential mistress of King Richard III’s oldest brother, King Endward IV.
 
Her life never appeared to me as an especially romantic one, so a novel about Jane Shore coming out in a publishing house known for its extensive romantic novels instantly got my full interest.
 
From my previous comments about other works of the author Isolde Martyn, you already know that I adore her writing style.
Isolde Martyn also does not disappoint in this novel:
 

  • Her writing is fluent and gripping that once I began reading, I could not put the book down. Though I already know the story of Jane Shore, I still needed to know how her life and fate unfolds in the story.
  •  

  • The historical research which went into this novel is extensive and far beyond what I would normally expect from a historical novel. So for me, Isolde Martyn’s novels clearly are in a ‘historical novel’ class of their own.
    But the astonishing part of this for me is, that the books do not appear like a historical lecture, but unobtrusively and fluently the fate of Jane Shore unfolds in a way where I begin to care for her, while I never felt very ‘understanding’ for her and her fate before.
  •  

  • For all King Richard interested readers, of course King Richard plays his role in the book as well, though more as a background figure, but still actively influencing the fate of Jane Shore.

 
At the time of the first English publication (03/2013), we published an
interview with author Isolde Martyn (14.03.2013).
 
Now, the book is also available in a German edition:

(The print edition was not available via Amazon.de at the time of the post, but should be shortly. If you want to order it for Christmas, here is the direct link to the publisher.)
 
Links to the English version:

 
 


♛ King Richard & Art ♛


 
Author Matthew Lewis (interview of 27th of August 2013, with book links) in his novel “Loyalty” follows Jack Leslau’s (http://www.holbeinartworks.org/) research and picture analysis and brings King Richard III in connection with the Holbein household.
 

 


♛ King Richard & Research ♛


 


University of Leicester: ‘Beyond reasonable doubt’: archaeologists give first-hand account of Richard III discovery in new book, by Peter Thorley (04.11.2013)
 
From the intense research done to find and identify King Richard III, I must admit, I had expected a big volume of a book. The publication is a rather slim one, but so much filled with detail and information, that I am not the least bit disappointed.
Though much of the information and material had been published in the press already, the explanations and collection of image material and details known about King Richard III is unique and I am very glad to have this book as a valuable reference about the last days of King Richard III as well as his discovery in Leicester.
So though the book is not a detailed description about how King Richard III was found in Leicester – go to the publication by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones for that – I really can recommend this book for the invaluable collection of research results.
 


 

Philippa Langley/Michael Jones: The King’s Grave

 

 


 
Dr. John Ashdown-Hill did the essential research to enable the following work by the University of Leicester to find King Richard III.
His publications show the fascinating search for details so far missing or overlooked, but which proved to be exceedingly necessary to the final search:
 

 
More details about Dr. John Ashdown-Hill.
 
Just recently published:

 
Dr. John Ashdown-Hill also works on a new publication about King Richard III’s brother, George Plantagenet, the Duke of Clarence – you know the always irritating one where legend has it that he ended in a butt of Malmsey wine.
 
Announced for March 2014:

 


 
More book and author recommendations.
 
 

 
 

Book Review: Victoria Smith presents “The Murders of Richard III” by Elizabeth Peters

 

Elizabeth Peters “The Murders of Richard III”

 


♛ Review by Victoria Smith ♛


 
I love a good story. History is so often presented as a dry collection of names and dates, when in reality history is a retelling off the lives of people. And people are very rarely as dry as a list of their names and dates and would suggest.
So, when it comes to history I have learned more from well researched historical fiction than any academic tome.
 
Such was the case with The Murders of Richard the III written by Elizabeth Peters (Barbara Mertz).
She has a PhD in Egyptology and Ms. Peter’s scholastic aptitude is apparent in her historically detailed mysteries.
 
This book is set at a weekend retreat of Ricardians, who have gathered to reveal new evidence that they believe will finally exonerate Richard III of the murders of his nephews. With the media descending someone begins to recreate the murders attributed to Richard III. Debates about the legitimacy of Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, the political machinations of the Duke of Buckingham, and the fates of the princes are peppered throughout the novel as the Ricardians are torn between solving the mysterious fate of the princes or identifying who is trying to discredit them or silence them forever.
 
I read the book because Elizabeth Peters is one of my favorite authors.
But, while the book is entertaining, it caused me to question my assumptions about Richard III. Most of what I thought about Richard III seems to have been based on Shakespeare’s’ interpretation of his character. As I read, I found myself chuckling over a character’s passionate disparaging of Sir Thomas More’s biography of Richard III as Tudor propaganda and wondering about the man who, in his short reign, was the center of so much conflict both during his lifetime and ours.
Not what I expected when I picked up Ms. Peters book for a few hours of entertainment!
 
For those of you who are well versed in Ricardian lore this book will not be a source of education as it was for me but you just might enjoy the humorous and engaging read.
 

 

King Richard III News – Long Overdue Updates

 
I am most certainly behind with reporting about the King Richard news.
Real life intervenes quite heavily right now. Sorry. I will try my best to keep up with the news.
 
But now here comes the news collected in the meantime since I fell off the plateau of the earth:
(Due to its length, the articles are arranged in a changed order – from new to old news.)
 


♛ King Richard Armitage ♛


 
Our king, Richard Armitage, will visit Berlin, the German capital, for the European premiere of the second “Hobbit” film “The Desolation of Smaug” on Monday, 9th of December 2013.
 
For this event a Bavarian FanClub banner was created to welcome Richard Armitage in Germany and celebrate ‘our king’:
Bavarian Richard Armitage FanClub Munich (Creator: CDoart)
 

 
 


♛ King Richard III ♛


 

Petition - Status !

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22nd 2022, 6 p.m. (CET)
we have 2482 signatures.

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January 23, 2022

Royal Family: The deadly sickness that killed Henry VIII’s brother and thousands of others before vanishing without a trace (by Bea Isaacson, MyLondon.news)


January 8, 2022

Can new evidence clear the name of Richard III? (by Chris Lloyd, Darlington & Stockton Times)


December 29, 2021

Did Richard III actually save the boy king he’s accused of killing? (by Lydia Starbuck, Royal Central)


April 23, 2021

Steve Coogan movie The Lost King begins filming (by Comedy.co.uk, British Comedy Guide)


January 31, 2021

Barnard Castle boars date back to King Richard III (by Andrew White, The Northern Echo)


January 12, 2021

Alternate history: what if Richard III had won at Bosworth? – Professor Emeritus Michael Hicks interviewed by Jonny Wilkes (by Jonny Wilkes, Professor Emeritus Michael Hicks, BBC History Revealed)


September 11, 2020

Steve Coogan and Stephen Frears to collaborate on The Lost King (Film-News.co.uk)


April 9, 2020

Steve Coogan confirms Richard III movie ‘next year’ (by BBC East Midlands, BBC.com)


November 1, 2019

Richard III and the Battle of Bosworth – By Mike Ingram (HeritageDaily)


October 8, 2019

Painted as a villain – how the Tudors regarded Richard III (by Christina J. Faraday, APOLLO.The International Art Magazine)


 

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