News & Philippa Langley about Richard Armitage
♛ King Richard III ♛
- CNN: Richard III: The mystery of the king and the car parking lot, by Bryony Jones (01.02.2013)
A detailed and detail rich article about the search for King Richard III with new quotes from the research team and screenwriter Philippa Langley, who also talks about Richard Armitage as King Richard III:She has even been in talks with Leicestershire lad turned Hollywood hero Richard Armitage — last seen as Thorin Oakenshield in “The Hobbit” — to play the king.
“He was born to play the role,” she explains. “He’s an amazing doppelganger for Richard III, he was born a couple of miles from Bosworth on the anniversary of Richard’s death, and he was even named after him.”
- Yorkshire Evening Post: Make no bones about it – find could be a king, by Stuart Robinson (02.02.2013) – About researcher in the Leicester project, Bob Woosnam-Savage (Royal Armouries’ curator of European edged weapons), who worked on a possible reconstruction of the battle events leading to King Richard III’s death. News about this reconstruction announced for the press conference on Monday, 4th of February, 2013.
- This is Leicestershire: Richard III dig: ‘R’ marks the spot where skeleton found in Leicester car park, by Peter Warzynski (02.02.2013) – King Richard III left a spooky mark in the car park?
- The Independent: Is the body in the car park really Richard III? At last, the answer, by Steve Connor (01.02.2013) – About the research and expected revelations in Monday’s press conference.
(As the article was temporarily unavailable while entering this news, here is the pdf-file of the article.) - The Telegraph: The hunchback is dead – long live Good King Richard, by Chris Skidmore (01.02.2013) . Chris Skidmore is evaluationg King Richard III in his role as a king and the blackening of his character later on. He concludes, “Richard was a formidable fighter” and will publish a book about King Richard III later this year:
‘Bosworth’ by Chris Skidmore (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, published on April 23) is available to pre-order from Telegraph Books at £18 + £1.35 p&p. Call 0844 871 1514 or go to books.telegraph.co.uk - The Telegraph: Carpark skeleton: row over new burial site for Richard III, by Nick Collins (01.02.2013) – The question about the reinterment is not solved yet. The Battle of the Cities still is going on, not to speak about the battle of confessions.
KingRichardArmitage in Interview
♛ KRA in the Media ♛
One of our leading supporters and technical brain behind the website, Roswitha, did an interview with Gemma Peplow from the Leicester Mercury about our petition efforts for the film project “Richard III” by Mr. Armitage and our website:
- ThisIsLeicestershire.com: Fans in clamour for actor to become king, by Gemma Peplow (23.01.2013)
The interview contains a nice image of King Richard as well as of ‘our’ King Richard, Mr. Armitage.
A King With Riddles
♛ King Richard Armitage ♛
- Khaosod (Thailand daily newspaper): Ali from RichardArmitageNet.com kindly alerted us to Richard Armitage mentioning “Richard III” as his intended ‘next project’ in the Thailand daily newspaper Khaosod. Here is the automatically translated passage (Google translator):
Khaosod-Thai daily newspaper (RIII remark translated 29.12.12)
♛ King Richard III ♛
- BBC News: Richard III dig: Conclusions to be revealed in weeks (09.01.2013)
Currently, many more articles are published about King Richard III and speculations about the results of the research done by the Universtity of Leicester’s research team. Though as they don’t add any more knowledge than already published and listed here on this blog, I spare you the list of those articles.
The one central thing of interest is:
The official results of the search and laboratorial examinations are announced for the
1st week of February 2013 !
(We will keep you updated.)
Reminder:
Concert to tell story of King Richard III’s life:
Drehleier / Lyra / hurdy gurdy – Source: Syntagma musicum (Wikipedia)
The concert with music of King Richard III’s lifetime is today in Leicester, Fraser Noble Hall, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
(We published the announcement and more details here.)
♛ Collective Reading of TSiS ♛
Reminder!
All future collective reading chats are re-scheduled to MONDAY, instead of Sunday evenings/nights/… (depending on where you are).
Collective Reading of “The Sunne in Splendour” by Sharon Kay Penman
- Twitter-Chat-Group: Twitter discussion under hashtag #RA4R3
- Facebook-Group: Institute of Armitage Studies
- Schedule on Blog: Distracted in Reality by Fanny/iz4blue
If you newly want to join in and see, where the reading is so far, see our Chapter-Index with short content overview, to help you to get into the text and reading schedule.
Waiting for King Richard
♛ King Richard ♛
- BBC Radio Leicester: Richard III: Leicester’s search for the last Plantagenet king – Documentation about the archaeological research in Leicester and King Richard III, with lots of interviews and interesting facts. (26. / 30.12.2012)
— AVAILABLE only for a limited time (about 7 more days) – So HURRY ! —
– David Baldwin (Author with publications about King Richard III)
– Andy Smith (Richard III Foundation)
– Richard Buckley (University of Leicester)
– Michael Morris (UoL – Found human remains in the trench in Leicester)
– Richard Taylor (UoL – Press conference 12.09.12)
– Sir Peter Soulsby (Mayor of Leicester)
– Prof. Lin Foxhall (UoL, 12.09.12)
– Michael Ibsen (Relative in female line with King Richard III)
– Dr. John Ashdown-Hill (Historian and key researcher in the search for King Richard III)– Philippa Langley (Initiator, Screenwriter & Member of the Richard III Society)
“It’s about time that King Richard III got his turn” [and gets his own film]. Life of King Richard III is “gold dust” for a screenwriter.
And Philippa Langley’s comment about Richard Armitage:
He [Richard Armitage] is my number one favourite for this part [as King Richard III].
[…]
He is the most incredibly talented actor. You know, I am a huge fan of the work that he has done.The relevant part is right at the end of the interview. In the version I can access right now, the end is cut off. I hope this will be corrected with the planned next airing of the documentary on 01.01.2013.
- National Geographic News: Body Under British Parking Lot May Be King Richard III, by Heather Pringle (28.12.2012)
- Yorkshire Post: Winter of discontent as we await the truth (24.12.2012)
- AsiaOne.com: Who’s Richard Armitage? – by Esther Ng, The New Paper (23.12.2012)
Plans of Richard Armitage about King Richard III:What’s new?
Armitage hopes investors will come forward to fund the filming of Richard III, a project that he has been working to get off the ground for a few years.
Armitage intends to play the 15th century English king who was believed to have murdered his nephews in a bid to grab the throne. Richard III was the last English king to be killed in battle on English soil.
Incidentally, Armitage was named Richard as he was born on the anniversary of Richard III’s death on Aug 22.
The Adventures of a King
♛ Kingly Richard ♛
After I wetted your appetite for our King in “The Hobbit” in my last post, I at least need to show you more about this wonderful training program for our hotly awaited King Richard III. Richard Armitage really impersonates a mighty and fierceful warrior and worthy leader of the dwarves, not unlike another King with rich military prowess, we await hotly to be depicted in a film:
- George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight: Video-Interview – Richard Armitage mentioning King Richard III again as inspiration for his role as Thorin Oakenshield. Especially the self awareness of having a potential of being corrupted, seems to have found its way from Shakespeare’s depiction into the interpretation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s king of the dwarves Thorin Oakenshield. (Topic starting at about [6:30] and Richard III is mentioned at about [7:00] in the video interview.)
- Tribute Entertainment Media Group, Canada: Richard Armitage (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) Interview | Movie Interview – Video interview with Richard Armitage, by Bonnie Laufer Krebs (published 13.12.12)
♛ King Richard & Music ♛
That Richard Armitage is musical is at no doubt, playing the cello and the flute and being in musical theatre for a time, though with the song “Mysty Mountain” he sang for “The Hobbit”, he repeatedly stated that the goal was to sound not like a musician, but an untrained warrior singing the song with nearly religious meaning for his dwarve-race.
Richard Armitage in the video-interview with Access Hollywood, Canada:
For me, as I thought most of my childhood I would become a musician, the connection between Richard Armitage, King Richard III and music is a very special one. So the next news really got my undivided attention and I want to present this new aspect of King Richard III research to you:
Concert to tell the story of King Richard III:
Time: Friday, January 11th, 2013, at 6:30 p.m.
Location: Leicester, Fraser Noble Hall
Who: Ensemble TritonE
Newly formed trio led by
Janet Forbes, a graduate of the Royal Conservatory, The Hague
Mary-Jannet Lieth, Royal College of Music, London
Elspeth Robertson, Royal College of Music, London
Ticket-Price:
£5 for general public
£3 for Society for Historical Archaeology delegates
Tickets available at:
University of Leicester Shop
Program Plans:
Works from the Glogauer Liedbuch (15th Century German manuscript collection of songs)
Franco-Flemish repertoire from the Low Countries
Jane Forbes has been researching King Richard III’s life and travels, which help her select the kind of music he would have grown up with in England as well as during his time abroad. The concert will have singing and dance music, as well as more serious pieces, to show the spectrum of the contemporary music of King Richard III.
Jane Forbes said about the discovery in Leicester:
When I first heard about the discovery it was really exciting. The music will provide an amazing context to the life of someone like Richard III. We are trying to pick music from places he visited and pieces written about things he was doing.
Now I am really sorry to live nowhere near Leicester, the heart of the research and now the place of this concert with music, which will bring King Richard III’s life back. It would be a dream to be able to hear the concert in January 2013.
Music is one of the main reasons for me, why I so much hope, a film as planned by Richard Armitage can be made about King Richard III.
As “The Hobbit” by Sir Peter Jackson so vividly shows right now, a film well made speaks to so many senses and inspires the imagination.
I hope for a revival, a shown interpretation of King Richard III’s life and times, where the music is such an essential part to bring the time to life again.
♛ Leicester News ♛
Just when I was about to close this article, news breaks that the results about King Richard III might already be definitive, but are not revealed yet, befor the TV screening of the Channel4 documentary.
As these are still rumours, I want to refrain from pronouncing, the results are in, but want to remind, that former researchers not so long ago would have had to base their results on the already revealed circumstancial evidence alone and would not have had the technical equipment we nowadays have, to find out more.
- Daily Mail Online: Human remains found in Leicester car park DO belong to Richard III… but scientists are holding back findings until Channel Four documentary is aired, claims insider – by Anthony Bond (15.12.2012)
- The Telegraph: Carpark skeleton will be confirmed as Richard III – by Nick Collins, Science Correspondent (15.12.2012)
Kingly Richard & King Richard – News
♛ Kingly Richard ♛
- TheOneRing.net: Richard Armitage talks to TheOneRing.net – mentioning King Richard III in the Shakespeare version as method to prepare for his role Thorin Oakenshield in “The Hobbit”. What characteristics did he take from the king?
[…]I ended up using Henry V, Richard III and Macbeth as soliloquies that I could use to get some vocal production going. […] the self hating deformity of Richard III was sort of relevant […].
- The Hobbit Premiere in London: I am off to go on an adventure and will see “The Hobbit” and especially ‘our’ king, today. Not in London, but almost. High frame rate 3D and in English. What a dream come true on a very special day ;o)
For all who want to join the Premiere event of “The Hobbit” in London, CinemaXX has a live stream of the event here: CinemaXX
The live stream will begin at 18:15 o’clock German time, which is 5:15 p.m. U.K. time. - TheOneRing.net: Video about the Misty Mountain “The Hobbit” song of Richard Armitage on YouTube – for all who like me can’t get enough of our king singing:
♛ King Richard ♛
- GeeksAreSexy.net: 2012 in Review: 9 Important Archaeological Discoveries – King Richard III is no. 8 of those important discoveries of the year 2012. The message, that the DNA research will take another 12 years to finish, requires to keep patient. (10.12.2012)
- Yorkshire Post: Winter of discontent as we await the truth – Among other points, poses the question if Tudor King Henry VI intentionally prevented pilgrimages to the burial place of King Richard III by placing him in a friary instead of an openly accessible parish church. (10.12.2012)
- The Guardian: Genetic testing: To catch a king, by Joanna Moorhead – How the research about King Richard III and his relatives today goes on. (08.12.2012)
- 16×9 (Global News Canada): Old Bones: Possible Richard III remains and DNA link found – Video on YouTube about the search for King Richard III in Leicester, with short interview with Dr. Ashdown-Hill and Dr. Turi King – Embedding was not possible, but the video is well worth to watch in its detailed review about the research methods. (01.12.2012)
Full article about “Old Bones” (Global News, Canada – Sean Mallen, Claude Adams, Megan Rowney, 16×9: November 26, 2012) - History Today: Richard III and the Historian’s Quest – Paul Lay about “The Daughter of Time” by Josephine Tey and “Bring Up the Bodies” by Hilary Mantel (29.11.2012)
- npr: Renee Montagne speaks with Member of Parliament Chris Skidmore of Bristol about what are likely the recently discovered remains of Richard III, and attempts to clear the ruthless reputation of the former English king. (29.11.2012)
Christmas Shopping for a Good Cause
Christmas is coming fast and this year, actor Richard Armitage with his current film project “The Hobbit”, for which he travels Canada and the U.S.A. right now, really helps us with Christmas gifts for our loved one’s.
As Zazzle allows commission fees, the idea grew to use the fandom and fan-influence for a good cause.
RichardArmitageNet.com earns fees for charities from sales through Amazon and
CDoart set up an account, to collect fees from sales through Zazzle, which the KingRichardArmitage website joins and recommends to participate, to make an impact through our collective charitable efforts.
Zazzle has a special “The Hobbit” shop, but on all products available on Zazzle and in all international Zazzle Shops, commission fees will be earned when using the given entry links.
The income will be given to the recommended charities by Richard Armitage at Just Giving.
Help us by joining our charitable efforts. Thank you !
(Image and link to Zazzle is also newly embedded in the right sidebar.)
Zazzle has quite a global representation and the links to selected local stores (with the affiliation code to generate the income for charities) are listed here:
Zazzle U.S.A. and worldwide
United Kingdom
Germany
Canada
Spain
France
Australia
New Zealand
More country links at:
Zazzle International
Individual Shops:
The Hobbit
Lord of the Rings
CDoart
♥ Richard Armitage Gift Bomb ♥
To create an impact of fandom, is also the effort of a new initiative among Richard Armitage fans, the Richard Armitage Gift Bombing of his charities, to show the enjoyment and support of his fans:
Initiated by Servetus and taken up by Judiang and established with a logo by Gratiana Lovelace, it already is a collective fan initiative:
(Please mention “gift bomb” in your message [German fans may think of creative alternatives, to show the connection to the collective fan-enjoyment/appreciation initiative.])
King Richard in Hobbit Fever?
Yesterday, November 28th 2012, the Premiere-event for “The Hobbit” by Sir Peter Jackson took place in Wellington, New Zealand.
But what can this have to do with King Richard III?
A lot, considering Mr. Armitage, the actor who plays the leading character Thorin Oakenshield in “The Hobbit” and the reason for the existence of this website, took part.
On the red carpet, Mr. Armitage was interviewed by many reporters, but the key question for us came from a fan in the crowd, who was following the red carpet event in Wellington.
Unfortunately, in the material broadcasted by TVNZ in the One News Hobbit Special, which was presented by Wendy Petrie, I can’t make out the question of the fan, though from the voice it is a woman. The reporter next to her unfortunately does not lend his microphone to her, but Mr. Armitage’s answer is recorded very well:
I would love to play King Richard. I may be a little bit too old and a little bit too tall, – but I played a dwarf.
TVNZ One News does not enable an embed code, so here comes the link to the full Hobbit Special, which takes about an hour (and has embedded advertisements).
The interview with Richard Armitage starts at about 23:30 and the quote is at 24:20.
Let’s loose no further time, let’s try to get him into the role of King Richard III by signing the petition !
Thank You for 1.000 Signatures !
It is quite difficult, to find a nice ‘Thank you’ image with a white rose.
But this symbol for King Richard III is quite necessary, to celebrate this important landmark in our petition for the film version about King Richard III’s life, as Mr. Armitage intends it to do.
Especially now, as all the press and film industry becomes aware of how much support a king from over 500 years back has today, a film and more detailed visualization of the life and circumstances of this historically ill treated king is necessary. A film version is the best way, to create his story anew for recipients of today, after Shakespeare’s version for so long dominated the perception of King Richard III.
To congratulate and thank you, yes, each single one of our wonderful followers and supporters, here comes a self created picture with a white rose and the King himself.
He still looks a bit angry, though I think he is very pleased with us 1.000 signers.
Thank you for signing and supporting us so wonderfully along the way to 1.000 signatures!
So now, what are our next steps? Should we target the next 1.000 ;o)
Yes! Together we can make that happen.
We have accumulated well over 100 unconfirmed signatures of the petition once again.
To give you, who did not confirm your signature, another chance to do so, we will send out new confirmation mails tonight.
Please look out for this mail also in your junk mail-folder, as sometimes mails with links (confirmation link) get sorted out and appear there. In general this should not happen, but sometimes it could be the case.
Thank you !
KRA Week – Day 8
♕ ♛ ♕
The KRA-Week is almost over. Where has this busy week all gone?
Before we begin with day 8 news and present an interesting new blogger, Zan, our blogger of the day,
here the main site of the KRA Week 2012 and the scavenger hunt.
The quiz questions remain open for all to try their luck,
but winners will only be drawn from entries made till the
3rd of September 2012!
As soon as the lot decided on the winners, we will contact the winners and announce them here on KRA on Wednesday 5th of August, 2012!
♕ Zan ♕
Richard III – Source: The History of England, David Hume (1826)
Zan has entered the Mr. Armitage-bloggosphere only a short while ago, but already has a lovely variety of posts and articles on her blog
Well, There You Go …
Musings, Meanderings and Mutterings.
So my tip is to go over there and have a look. Her way of seeing the fandom anew is very refreshing and brings so much heartfelt warmth into fandom and it is a joy to follow her way of discovery.
For KRA-Week, she has a special report about how she discovered Mr. Armitage and his interest for King Richard III:
The Newbie Files … King Richard Week 2012
At the end of the KRA-Week, to present a new beginning of fandom, is something special. What better way to conclude our celebrations for Mr. Armitage and King Richard III.
May many fans find the refreshing and encouraging effect of fandom and supporting Mr. Armitage and his ‘royal project’.
Thank you for celebrating KRA-Week with us!
♕ Further News of the Day ♕
- The Montreal Gazett explains the importance of the mitochondrial DNA, which will be of central importance if the mortal remains of King Richard III are found: Canadian family holds genetic key to Richard III puzzle (27th of August, 2012)
- The digging is on the right track! – Medieval walls found: Medieval clue found in search for bones of King Richard III in Leicester car park (ThisIsLeicestershire.co.uk, 29th of August, 2012)
- Our special guest of the KRA-Week 2012, the
Richard III Foundation, Inc. has two very special articles about King Richard III, sheding some more light on what person he really might have been.
Those articles wet our appetite for the conference and the interesting topics, the Richard III Foundation discusses there at Market Bosworth on Saturday 13th of October. (More details and conference program here.)
♛ Thank You ! ♛
Thank you to you all, for participating in the KRA-Week and the scavenger hunt, with commenting in all the KRA-Week 2012 articles and taking part and following the event week!
We all hope, you enjoyed the week and now wish you luck and lots of fun with solving the Scavenger Hunt!
Some of you are on a really good way to be our KRA Week 2012 – Champion and we already think about extending the prices, as we have such a lot of worthy candidates.
Here again all participating bloggers of the week:
- Phylly3 (Phylly’s Faves)
- Fabo Laktuko (White Rose: Sincere and Simple Thoughts)
- Fitzg (on the KingRichardArmitage website)
- Gratiana Lovelace (Something About Love)
- Maria Grazia (Fly High!)
- Servetus (Me + Richard Armitage)
- CDoart – (CDoart: Richard Armitage – History – Spooks)
- Zan (Zaniam)
♛ Scavenger Hunt ♛
All questions of the scavenger hunt are online now!
Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6 and the Solution Sentence.
Entries till the 3rd of September 2012 (all time zones) get a chance to win in our KRA Week 2012.
TIP for the scavenger hunt:
To make back-solving of the answers easier for you, all the solution letters arranged in the right order will result in a Solution Sentence.
The form with the right order for the letters can be reached here – or can be printed/downloaded via this pdf-file.
