Fundraiser Event in York for King Richard’s Voice
For all near and in available distance to York, the project “A Voice For Richard” has a special fundraising event in the Friargate Theatre on Saturday, 27th April 2019.
Time: 10:00 – 16:30 (9:30 a.m. registration)
We already informed you about this fascinating endeavor to reconstrue King Richard III’s voice in our last article: To Hear the Dead King Speak
But with the fascinating participants to the program for this event, we wanted to go into more detail and let you know about the contributors of this event and project:
- Philippa Langley, one of the main initiators of the search for King Richard III in Leicester and well known on our website, will give an overview of “Playing Richard – How Richard III has been played on stage and on screen“.
- Yvonne Morley-Chrisholm, Voice & Text coach and specialising in vocal profiling, as well as initiator of the “A Voice for Richard” project, together with Tim Charrington, Accent and Dialect specialist, will explain “Pronunciation and personality” and give an introduction into building King Richard III vocal profile.
More details and the full program of the day here in this pdf-file. A registration form can be downloaded here.
Date: | 27th April 2019 |
Time: | 10:00 – 16:00 (9:30 a.m. for registration) |
Location: | Friargate TheatreLower FriargateYorkYO1 9SLU.K. |
Costs: | £ 25 per Person (includes teas and coffees).Additional £ 7 for picnic lunch if required. |
Tickets & Enquiries: | A Voice for Richard28, Hanworth RoadHamptonMiddlesex.TW12 3DLE-mail: yvonne@yourvoicebox.co.ukTel.: +44 (0) 77 14 66 19 39 |
To Hear the Dead King Speak …
Hearing someone speak who no longer is alive, normally is a hard thing to achieve and necessitates special esoteric and transcendental abilities of a medium.
But with King Richard III, this could be made possible for everyone of us and we won’t even need special abilities to connect with the otherworld. No, nothing like that.
A group of researchers and specialists might make it possible for us to hear an authentic reconstruction of King Richard III’s voice.
The research takes into account what words the dead king used in his writing, but also from the reconstruction of his skeleton and facial reconstruction, how his larynx would have built his sounds and his facial muscles have formed the vowels and consonants. This way, the most likely reconstruction of the king’s voice will be rebuilt and made audible.
The finding of the king’s bones now might help to not only re-create his history, but also be able to give him back his own voice. Something so many think Shakespeare took away from King Richard III by reducing him to an unrecognizable, though most famous villain.
But what abilities are necessary, to reconstrue something that is already gone and thought forever lost?
- The choice of words – Through King Richard III own writing and handwritten comments and annotations in his own library of books
- The dialect and historic pronunciation – through linguistic research into the regionalism and change of language usage over time
- The articulation – by reconstruing his throat, cheeks, lips and mouth to re-create his linguistic organs. But also his lungs and body size play a role in the acoustics and resonance of a human body.
Kudos to this project. It is an ambitious endeavor, as so many techniques and expertises are necessary, to create already believed lost sound.
Having already been closely following the reconstruction of a dead man’s voice before, I am really looking forward to the execution of this project “A Voice for Richard”.
(I don’t know if many of you remember the earlier endeavor I refer to: The re-creation of the voice of one of the most famous singers in the 18th century, Farinelli, who even in old age, had a significant influence on Mozart and his music. The voice was re-created by overlaying the voices of a tenor/countertenor and an alto-singer, who were modulated in a very specific way to create a singular hearing experience. The results can be heard in the film about this singer “Farinelli” (1994).)
Let King Richard III speak for himself!
To find out more about this project and to potentially support it, here come more details for you:
Address: | A Voice for Richard28, Hanworth RoadHamptonMiddlesex.TW12 3DL U.K. |
Website: | https://yourvoicebox.co.uk/a-voice-for-richard/ |
Contact: | E-mail: yvonne@yourvoicebox.co.uk Tel.: +44 (0)7714661939 |
The “A Voice for Richard” project has a fundraising event coming up in York soon. We will let you know about it in a separate post with more details.
King Richard III & Envy
In my whole observations about the research concerning King Richard III, I always wonder, why everybody thinks to be able to judge him on some prejudice, rumour, envy or other motive and readily dismisses valid research done on a broad basis evaluating the available material.
A historian is bound to build as complete a basis for a research as possible and only after reviewing all (!) available sources, is allowed to come to a conclusion and has to argument from all possible angles the validity of the own conclusions.
So you will find me shaking my head in utter astonishment concerning the current discussion about King Richard III, which gets high press coverage in renowned newspapers and magazines.
I also find it hard to decide how best to present this new discussion to you, as in the major part it is so nonsensical, that I wonder why it gets so much and famous attention at all.
First I want to state that I am in no way connected to or bound to defend the University of Leicester and one certainly can argue if all researches done by them were necessary or interfered with the dignity of the person of King Richard III, but this current discussion certainly shows they were exceedingly necessary.
The argument now raised against the University of Leicester and their result to confirm the identity of the found skeleton as being of King Richard III, is that the skeleton could easily be of some other soldier buried there, just conveniently being of the direct female line leading to King Richard III’s mother.
How many unaccounted for relatives, having the exact female blood line of King Richard III, do you think are lying around somewhere? Or better are lying around at the exact spot King Richard III should be? And in addition have died in the Battle of Bosworth or by incident around that time near Leicester, so that they are buried in the Grey Friars’ Abbey? While just in the late court battle, one of the main arguments against a burial in Leicester is, that King Richard III’s family just had no connections to Leicester? So how can forgotten relatives turn up there? And were the ‘grey friars’, while so discriminating in burying people in the choir of their church, suddenly burying soldiers from the battlefield, carting them all the way from the Bosworth battlefield? Why then were only so few skeletons found and not hundreds and only one with battle marks? Oh, and what a strange method to bury them without clothes and with bound hands? Really, the ‘grey friars’ must have had no piety at all…
I could go on much longer, as a result of the conclusive multitude of researches done by the University of Leicester and though some think it may now be enough research done on the skeleton of King Richard III, still the results in their entirety (not necessarily one taken on its own) give us a very complete and convincing affirmation of the skeleton’s identity as being King Richard III.
Especially helpful in that regard to see the full picture of research results and why they were done, is the excessive pre-research done by Dr. John Ashdown-Hill, who with great determination researched the potential last burial place of King Richard III from all historical angles and laid down his progress of research as well as the conclusions he came to in his work “The Last Days of Richard III”, which we have recommended here repeatedly, as it is the go-to research which was essential in finding King Richard III.
You see, I think the counter-argument just is so far-fetched as envy possibly can make it. Perhaps, it is due to scholars feeling left out from the euphoria and joy over the find in Leicester and now try to jump on the media attention created by the extraordinary research results in Leicester.
I just don’t get it, why the media jumps on this envy train so readily and let itself be used in such a way.
The news stream includes the articles of this new conflict in the sidebar and in the 2014-archive (entries dated around the end of March 2014).
But it provides heated arguments and is one more battle area in the new “Wars of the Roses” or rather a new skirmish.
(I am quite certain the list of battles around King Richard III will have to be continued …)
But now to something creative and constructive about King Richard III:
♛ King Richard III ♛
Matt Lewis – New Podcast series about King Richard III (iTunes)
- The Richard III Podcast – A Perfect Coup (04.03.2014)
- The Richard III Podcast – Introduction (09.03.2014)
- The Richard III Podcast – Episode 2 – The Cat Who Got the Cream (18.03.2014)
Also available via the YouTube channel of Matt Lewis.
King Richard Armitage and Fan News
A big THANK YOU to Philippa Langley for keeping her believes and continuing so straightforward on her way to find and honour King Richard III.
I hope this find will motivate researchers of all scientific subjects and also especially historians, to now have a closer and more extended look at the material, in cooperation of disciplines, with now available new technologies, in a digital and globally connected world where worldwide archives become more and more easily available.
♛ King Richard & His Fans ♛
Before I start with selected fan- and King Richard-news, I must ask for a bit of patience.
KRA was so overwhelmed with comments, requests and messages that currently we are still sorting through all the mails. We try to get up to date as fast as possible, but it might still take a few days, till all requests and mails can be answered. So please stay with us, we will answer every mail and contact form request sent in.
We very much cherish your feedback and offers of help and thank you very much for getting in contact with us !
Now to King Richard and his Fans:
- Servetus – Me&RichardArmitage: Servetus on Richard Plantagenet’s remains – A historian’s perpective and analysis of the ‘rewriting of history’ through the current finds.
- Fedoralady – The Armitage Effect: In the shadows no more; or the Return of the King
- JasRangoon – Me, My Thoughts, and Richard Armitage: Richard III Trending – About Twitter and other Trends.
- Fabolaktuko – White Rose Writings: We have Richard III – Just want to specially bring your attention to the name of this blog and its connection to King Richard III.
- Fedoralady – The Armitage Effect: More thoughts on a face from out of the past
- IngeD3 – Crispin’s Eclipse: Random Thoughts: Coming clean – Why Mr. Armitage really should play King Richard III.
- Mulubinba – An RA viewer’s perspective…: Richard III – excited for the King Richard III members of the RABlogosphere – About the find in Leicester and our KRA interview in the Leicester Mercury.
BBC Radio Leicester announced that Philippa Langley will join them for a live interview this week, Thursday, 07.02.2013, after 3 p.m.
On Monday, 04.02.2013, there had been an open Q&A session with Prof. Lin Foxhall and Philippa Langley about the researches in Leicester. The Q&As still are open to see here:
Channel4 – Q&A with Prof. Lin Foxhall and Philippa Langley
I unfortunately did not get my questions answered and so, for completion’s sake, post them here:
I had hoped for much more details about the King in the documentary by Channel4, but the documentary showed, that the film team had not really believed to find King Richard III and so had swapped the deeper research into the topic.
A big THANK YOU to Philippa Langley for not letting anything deter her from her way to find King Richard III.
♛ King Richard III ♛
- University of Leicester: The Search for King Richard III – The Scientific Outcome (04.02.2013) – Part of the Press Conference announcing the results of the Search for King Richard III. So if you did not have a chance to listen directly, here is the sound file to do so now.
- Radio Times: Meet Philippa Langley: the woman who discovered Richard III in a car park, E. Jane Dickson (04.02.2013) – The story about how Philippa Langley reached her wonderful research project. Don’t miss this article!
- BBC News: Richard III dig: Facial reconstruction shows how king may have looked (04.02.2013) – Very realistic looking facial reconstruction of King Richard III.
- History Extra: Leicester car park skeleton ‘is that of Richard III’, by mattelton (04.02.2013) – Confirmation of identity of the human remains in Leicester as King Richard III.
- The New York Times: Bones Under Parking Lot Belonged to Richard III, by John F. Burns, Alan Cowell (04.02.2013) – Very good overview over researches and research results.
- The Colorado Gambler: The War of the Roses & Resolving Questions Regarding King Richard III, by Anna Lee Ames Frolich (04.02.2013) – An article which came to our notice because of linking to our website. What makes it specially interesting is that it is written by a relative of King Richard III. Though, please let Ms. Frolich explain the connection.
- ThisIsLeicester.co.uk: King Richard III’s face revealed at last, by Tom Pegden (05.02.2013)
- Philly.com (Philadelphia): Found: Richard III. Not found: Hump, by John Timpane (05.02.2013)
[…] all the world knows Richard, while . . . who the heck knows from Henry of Richmond?
- Detroit Free Press: Scientists use Richard III skeleton to reconstruct king’s face (05.02.2013) – Video about the revealing of the facial reconstruction of King Richard III by Philippa Langley.
Facial reconstruction:
- ITV: Extended interviews with those behind Richard III (05.02.2013) – With short video statements by Philippa Langley, Michael Ibsen, Dr. Phil Stone (Chairman of the Richard III Society).
- ITV: Richard III’s face revealed (05.02.2013) – ITV even created a special topic page for today’s news about King Richard III.
- ThisIsLeicester.co.uk: Richard III’s reconstructed face to go on show in Leicester, by (05.02.2013) – King Richard III facial reconstruction comes to Leicester, but be patient. It comes next year, 2014.
- Vulpes Libris (Blog): Vulpes Randoms – Richard III’s Day 4th February 2013, by Hilary (05.02.2013) – Vulpes Libris, famous for their early interview with Richard Armitage, present the research results of the University of Leicester on their blog with many interesting observations and links.
- The Sun: I’ll give my kingbrum for a horse yow lot, by Andrew Parker (06.02.2013) – Sound reconstruction or how Dr. Shaw can distinguish the dialect of long dead King Richard III.
- University of Leicester: Soundfile of the Dialect reconstruction by Dr. Philip Shaw
- Herald Sun: New hunt for Richard Third lookalikes as face put to long-lost King, by Chris Bartlett (06.02.2013) – Our Facebook page is mentioned in the news. Though Christ Bartlett dismisses the likeness between King Richard III and Mr. Armitage. Mr. Bartlett obviously has not seen “The Hobbit” yet, though he mentiones the film.
♛ Battle of the Cities ♛
- BBC News: York fights Leicester for right to Richard III remains, by (05.02.2013) – Article about the Battle of the Cities with an interesting introductory video about the unveiling of the facial reconstruction of King Richard III by Philippa Langley and the Richard III Society.
- ThisIsLeicester.co.uk: York launches battle with Leicester over Richard III’s remains, by Laura Elvin (05.02.2013)
As those two articles show, the Battle of the Cities did not come to an end with the official declaration of Leicester Cathedral as last burial place for King Richard III, confirmed by the Ministry of Justice.
Our poll about the cities gets attention once again.
We want to mention, as also comments flood in about this topic here on divers places, that the KingRichardArmitage website is neutral in this question.
Many supporters of King Richard III take the position that his written instruction to hold sermons for him and his family in York Minster reveal his wish to be buried there. This is one of the possible interpretation of his actions, while the burial places of his wife and son might contradict this interpretation to some extent.
We will report about news regarding this topic, but won’t take sides.
We welcome ‘non-discriminating’ discussions and comments on our poll page, especially created for this topic, but also need to state that personal attacks will be deleted or withheld from being published, here and on our related Facebook site Richard III for Richard Armitage!
Thank you for all your support and help !
If you miss interesting articles here, please let us know. We continue to build the Press Coverage pages
and will specially create an area about the researches and research results around King Richard III.
King Richard III – News
♕ King Richard Live on Radio 4 ♕
You think it is not possible to hear King Richard III live on Radio 4?
Steven Berkoff made it possible over the weekend.
Listen for yourself:
Richard the Third: My Car Park Years, by Steven Berkoff on BBC Radio 4
You still don’t believe me?
King Richard III is even up to modern challenges and mastered the Twitter technology: Richard_third
♕ Further News ♕
- Richard lll state funeral after car park skeleton found? – Video interview with Professor Lyn Foxhall (BBC News, 17.09.2012) – Though a rude interviewer, worth to wait through the advertisement at the beginning of the video, because of the answers of Prof. Lyn Foxhall.
- Richard III: The truth may yet be discovered, by Lisa Hilton (The Independent, 16.09.2012)
- Richard III, the great villain of English history, is due a makeover, by Robert McCrum (The Guardian, 15.09.2012) – Richard III and his opportunity to fight the image created by Shakespeare.
- Historian calls for Richard III state funeral, by David Hughes (The Independent, 14.09.2012)
- The people who want everyone to like Richard III, by Melissa Hogenbook (BBC News, 14.09.2012) – About the Richard III Society and their attempt to find a ballanced approach to King Richard III.
- Should Richard III get a state funeral? And if so, where? (The Week, 13.09.2012)
- Yes, he may have killed the princes in the Tower, but now we should give our last ENGLISH king a decent burial, by Simon Heffer (Daily Mail, 12.09.2012) – Starting the discussion about a state funeral
KRA has also opened a new page, to collect the press coverage. It is in no way a complete list, but tries to give an overview over current discussions.
We are very grateful for comments and further tips and links.
Thank you!
♕ Battle of the Churches ♕
Shortly after the discovery of human remains at the Greyfriars’ church in Leicester, a new discussion emerged, that of where King Richard III should find his last resting place.
To give this new discussion a neutral place, as e.g. a Leicester website would necessarily have a certain outcome, while a York-website would have another, and as the discussion already emerged here on KRA, we will host a poll, to find out what you think would be the right location for King Richard III.
Vote for your favourite resting place for King Richard III
KRA will not take an active position for one side or the other, as politicians and the tourism industry already have discovered King Richard III for themselves, now that it seems a success story.
As this is already more of a heated and fiercely fought discussion than the usual polls, e.g. about why you support the filming of King Richard III by Mr. Armitage, the poll will have more security measures, to ensure that poll fraud is minimized.
Currently the e-mail is set as limit, as also couples using the same computer should get the chance to vote individually. Should we recognize poll-fraud, we will switch to more restrictive measures, but I want to remind, this is a fun-poll, which will have no immediate influence on the decision of this question!
The entry of your mail address is necessary to take part in the poll to minimize poll-fraud. Your personal details will not be shared or used in any way, but are necessary for the safe handling of this poll. Thank you for your understanding.
As we already stated in our post of Saturday, 15th of September 2012, all places have advantages and disadvantages and I am sure, you can add some further points to the discussion.
I am really curious what you see as the most adequate resting place for King Richard III.
Please leave comments at the poll page, if you have conditions you would like to be met by either of the places or have other suggestions for a resting place.
Thank you!
King Richard III on BBC Radio
In a Classic Serial about the Plantagenets, King Richard III was featured in the third part “Richard III – The Three Brothers” by Mike Walker on BBC Radio.
The third part of the Plantagenets still is available online for 4 days via this link: BBC Radio – Plantagenet – Series 3 (on iPlayer here)
What irritated me a bit is, that though the title is Richard III – The Three Brothers, a large part of the story is told from the perspective and with the imagined comments of the Queen to King Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville.
But appart from that, a lot of possible motives and interpretations of the historic events are mentioned, which are interesting to hear, though they bring no new aspects to the well trodden path of a ‘devilish King Richard III’.
Still, I recommend the entertaining audio play, which very cleverly shows a selection of the multitude of different interests, culminating in the events during King Edward IV’s reign and the final Battle at Bosworth. It also reaches to show King Richard III as an intelligent, talended man of his time and for once not the mean and envious hunchback.
Richard III – The Three Brothers
(3rd part in the Classics Plantagenet Serial)
[58 min]
Audio play written by Mike Walker
Queen Elizabeth (Nancy Carroll)
Edward 4th (Simon Bubb)
Richard 3rd (Carl Prekopp)
Clarence (Christopher Webster)
Margaret (Aimee Ffion Edwards)
Warwick (Gerard McDermott)
Stafford (Adam Billington)
Lewis (James Lailey)
Bishop (Paul Moriarty)
Directed by Jeremy Mortimer and Sasha Yevtushenko.
BBC Radio – Plantagenet – Series 3 (on iPlayer here)
<< 4 days left to listen ! >>