First of all, before I start with news about King Richard III and actor Richard Armitage again in the new year 2014,
I hope you reached the year 2014 in good health and will have a wonderful and successful year!!!
 
My own beginning of the year 2014 was a bit sub-optimal in various aspects and so the year ahead has a very wide bandwidth of opportunity to get better ;o)
Hopefully your start into 2014 was better than mine and the year advances to a fantastic outcome, maybe even the hotly anticipated announcement of the King Richard Armitage – film.
 
 

♛ King Richard Armitage ♛

• The Sag Harbor Express: The Hobbit’s Hunks, Part II: Lee Pace and Richard Armitage, by Danny Peary (02.01.2014) – Interview where Richard Armitage once again mentions King Richard III as his inspiration for Thorin Oakenshield in “The Hobbit”:
  [SPOILER ALERT, as ending of “The Hobbit” trilogy/book is mentioned in the following quote!]

  Danny Peary: Would you play your character any differently if you didn’t know that at the end of Tolkien’s book he dies?

  Richard Armitage: No, probably not. His death scene was left until quite late in the shoot. We didn’t shoot it until pick-ups, which I think was a good thing because I’d almost forgotten about that moment coming. I think that part of the creation of this character is offering the audience and other characters in the movie a potential future. He had to be someone who was going to be king, he was going to sit on that throne and return the dwarves to their former glory. And in a way, his death has to come by surprise to him. Having said that, I think one of the things – talking about Shakespeare again – that I admire about Richard the III is that he rides across the battlefield to fight, single-handedly, for his kingdom, for his crown. In the Battle of the Five Armies, Thorin is going to do something like that. It’s fatalistic. It’s fatalistic. It’s almost an act of suicide. Playing it, it’s good I forgot I needed to die!

 
 
But now to the late news and, you will almost expect it already, a new petition about King Richard III:
 
 

♛ King Richard III ♛

 
New Petition about King Richard III’s remains and their interim resting place:
Justice Review panel on the subject of Richard III, London,England.: Remove the remains of King Richard III to a neutral site
 
The current treatment of King Richard III’s bones reveals much about our modern attitude and lax treatment of death and the dead.
While such a treatment would have been seen as denigrating and demeaning to a person of King Richard III’s time, when the body was seen as a sacred unity given by God. Even medical research into the inner parts and structure of the body was met with great aversion and even banned by the church as it was destroying the God given ‘body’. Though it could be argued that King Richard III with his connections to scholars of the university of Padua might have had a more pro-active approach. Only a time-traveler might find out the truth and I hope he will then let us know …
Please take part in the petition(s) as you see fit and your belief dictates you.
 

• Saint Louis University (Event): Richard III Archaeologists to Visit Campus (08.02.2014) – At Saint Louis University, Missouri, U.S.A.
  Livestream of the event at the St. Louis University will be accessible 10:00 AM Central Time (11:00 AM EST) under the following link:
  http://richard3.slu.edu/

 

• Gloucester Citizen: Richard III Exhibition in the City Proves Popular, by nwilder (06.02.2014) – The exhibition regarding Richard III in Gloucester will be in the City Council’s City Museum and Art Gallery (Brunswick Road) from 19th – 30th March 2014. Read more about the anticipated experts and exhibits joining the exhibition in the article.

 

• BBC News: Richard III: Call for holy place for bones before reburial (05.02.2014) – Video with background and interview with Philippa Langley.

 

• White Rose: Sincere and Simple Thoughts (Blog): Richard III: Equal Time for Leicester and York, by Fabolaktuko (05.02.2014) – With a video and song to advertise each town’s claim to King Richard III.

 

• Leicester Mercury: Mercury opinion: Leicester will prevail on Richard III (05.02.2014) – Delay of burial anticipated for another year at least.

 

• Leicester Mercury: Richard III: Digging up king in Leicester car park was easier than reburial! (04.02.2014) – Looking back at a year with King Richard III found and identified in Leicester.

 

• St. Louis Public Radio: Reflection: What Is The Allure Of Richard III? By Jonathan Sawday, St. Louis University Colloquium (04.02.2014) – Article about finding King Richard III and what people anticipated to find because of an image of the king created by William Shakespeare. (With an announcement of the live stream of the St. Louis University on Saturday 8th of February 2014.)

 

• BBC News: The battle for King Richard III’s bones (03.02.2014) – Interview video with Richard Buckley from the University of Leicester.

 

• Leicester Mercury: Richard III: Website details history of king found under Leicester car park, by Peter Warzynski (03.02.2014) – Article with video about Leicester and King Richard III “Dignity and Honour” by Leicester Cofe.

 

• Nerdalicious (Blog): City of Leicester Forges Ahead with Richard III Plans, by Olga Hughes (31.01.2014)

 

• Galway Advertiser: Galway’s Quincentennial, 1984, by Tom Kenny (30.01.2014) – The connection between King Richard III and the freedom of Galway.

 

• BBC News: Richard III: New £4m visitor centre plans unveiled (28.01.2014) – With a replication of King Richard III’s skeleton on display. Sometimes I think ‘dignity’ allows quite a lot of different interpretations.

 

• Leicester Mercury: £75,000 Richard III sculpture is chosen to stand outside Leicester Cathedral, by Peter Warzynski (28.01.2014) – Modern art for King Richard III or was Medieval tapestry more modern than we think?

 

• Johnny Hewes (on SoundCloud): Let Him Come Home (28.01.2014) – Song by Johnny Hewes to promote the town of York’s claim to King Richard III. Though once again he mentions him as ‘Richard of York’, which was King Richard’s father, not Richard of Gloucester, the later King Richard III. Territorial claims as well as loyalties are a difficult thing in the late Medieval time.
  I think, King Richard III would have liked such strong support in his time as he gets now. That in itself is a quite lovely help for King Richard III, whatever the outcome of the struggle for the king’s burial.
  

 

• Leicester Mercury: Richard III: Manuscript from 15th century will help reinter king, by Peter Warzynski (27.01.2014)

 

• TheHistoryBlog.com: Richard III team members alight in the US (24.01.2014) – Dr. Turi King and Matthew Morris will represent the research in Leicester in lectures in the U.S.A. on the 5th of February (Folger Shakespeare Theatre – as part of Shakespeare’s “Richard III” tragedy performance) and in a full day lecture on the 8th of February at the St. Louis University. More details and booking links and options are mentioned in the blog article.
  Livestream of the event at the St. Louis University will be accessible 10:00 AM Central Time (11:00 AM EST) under the following link:
  http://richard3.slu.edu/

 

• Leicester Mercury: Richard III: Knighton artist Brad creating stained glass window of king for visitor centre, by Peter Warzynski (24.01.2014)

 

• Leicester Mercury: Richard III: New row over interim resting place for king found under Leicester car park, by Peter Warzynski (21.01.2014)

 

• Oxford Mail: Document draws up burial ceremony fit for Richard III (20.01.2014) – Read how the musical research of Dr. Alexandra Buckle possibly can help in determining what King Richard III himself might have wanted for his re-burrial.

 

• The York Press: 600-year-old book tells of the death of King Richard III (20.01.2014)

 

• BBC News: Richard III Visitor Centre to get life-sized window of King (18.01.2014)

 

• Bookshelf Bombshells (Blog): REVIEW: The King’s Grave by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones (17.01.2014) – Lara Little comes to the following result:
  

  […] even history-haters will enjoy it! And history-lovers, of course, will love it, too.

 

• Leicester Mercury: Richard III: King’s coffin to be adorned with gold, garnet and sapphire crown, by Peter Warzynski (15.01.2014)

 

• Nerdalicious.com.au (Blog): Just Who is the Custodian of King Richard III’s Bones? By Olga Hughes (13.01.2014) – You thought the New Wars of the Roses are over or coming to an end? No way, the battle just began and scirmishes arise on various fronts. Like in King Richard’s time, some try to define history and try to change the interpretation of events.
  This article is a very important background information about the situation in Leicester, about King Richard III’s remains and the reason for either the new petition and the disagreements and discontent. So a real reading recommendation to understand the ‘why’ behind the different movements!

 

• Leicester Mercury: Michael Portillo visits Richard III grave site for his TV programme Great British Railway Journeys, by Peter Warzynski (13.01.2014)

 

• Daily Gazette: Leading historian says Richard III’s bones should be given a proper burial (10.01.2014) Dr. John Ashdown-Hill funds his own valuable contribution for a proper burial of King Richard III.

 

• Leicester Mercury: Richard III: Dig team to launch new centre (10.01.2014)

 

• In Loughborough: ‘True story’ of Richard III’s rise and fall to be told at landmark conference, by University of Leicester (09.01.2014) –
  Event-Announcement for King Richard III Conference (21. – 23. Feburary 2014 in Leicester, College Court)

 

• English Heritage: Behind the scenes in the search for Richard III (07.01.2014) – Video by English Heritage about King Richard III and the historical importance of the search for him.

 

• Mike Pitts – Digging Deeper (Blog): What’s in store for Richard III in 2014? (04.01.2014) – An inside view into King Richard’s Leicester and the previous and to anticipate developments.
  Mike Pitts also announces his new book about King Richard III coming out in May 2014:
  Digging for Richard III: How Archaeology Found the King (Thames and Hudson)
  The content certainly interests me, as I am rather not of the opinion that archaeology per se ‘found’ the king, but rather ‘unearthed’ him at a location specified by other disciplines. So I am quite curious to see what this new publication about the search for King Richard III will reveal.

 

• BBC News: Bishop of Leicester: ‘Richard III will be buried in Leicester’ (01.01.2014) – One of few men who dares a prognosis right now.

♛ King Richard III ♛

• UK Human Rights Blog: Richard III on the move again – pitched into the current judicial review debate, by David Hart QC (23.10.2013)

 

• Lancashire Evening Post: Book review: The King’s Grave: The Search for Richard III by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones, by Pam Norfolk (24.10.2013)

 

• The Times: A weekend in … Richard III’s Leicester, by Stephen McClarence (24.10.2013) – A journey through King Richard III’s Leicester and Bosworth, with good tips and recommendations, if you plan a trip yourself!

 

• The Hinckley Times: Vote on Richard III art to mark Bosworth connection, by Rachel Parish (28.10.2013)

 

• The Yorkshire Times: Philippa Langley, Michael Jones And Richard III, by Paul Morrison (28.10.2013)

 

• The Guardian: The King’s Grave: The Search for Richard III by Philippa Langley and Michael Jomes – review, by Thomas Penn (30.10.2013) – Quite detailed review about “The King’s Grave” by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones.
  Though, I must say, as one with a sibling having a similar condition as King Richard III had, just lower on the back, but almost as severe, I vehemently insist (!) on calling it a ‘condition’ and not a ‘disability’.
  The reviewer Mr. Penn should do some more medical research in this aspect, then he perhaps would recognize that this ‘condition’ not necessarily disables the afflicted from doing anything.
  In the case of King Richard III, the way and position his skeleton was found in could also have added to the severeness of the ‘condition’. So to really judge how much ‘disabled’ he was because of this ‘condition’ would necessitate a time-travel jump to see him alive.
  Seeing my sibling and comparing their ‘conditions’, I would even go so far as to think that the ‘condition’ only became known because of the exposure of his naked body after his death and posed a great opportunity to ‘bedevil’ the dead predecessor on the throne. This also would answer, why no contemporary source exists which mentions King Richard III’s ‘condition’ before his death.
  Though this is no total proof, as Henry Tudor and his minions were quite meticulous with destroying all evidence of his predecessor. So we for once might thank Henry Tudor for this cleaned up picture of King Richard III or this eternal riddle.
  Perhaps Thomas Penn, who also is the author of the book “The Winter King: Henry VII and the Dawn of Tudor England” about the reign of King Henry VII and the foundation of the Tudor dynasty, reveals more about the Tudor king’s way of transforming the perception and creating the story for history there. Though the topic of his book alone show, where his favours in the Battle of Bosworth lie.