Sad News about Sharon Kay Penman
From the article on “The Poisoned Pen Bookstore“, we learned that the unforgettable author Sharon Kay Penman died on January 22nd, 2021.
Sharon Kay Penman also on our blog and website will remain unforgettable, because of her impressive and detailed work about King Richard III, which influenced and moved thousands, no millions. Because the work was not only published and distributed in English, but also translated in many more languages, where the story of King Richard III (little ‘Dickon’) reached the heart of people around the world.
Her impressive description and eye for historical detail, while creating a grabbing novel, set “The Sunne in Splendour” by Sharon Kay Penman apart.
Fanny/iz4blue on her blog DistRActed Musings of one ReAlity initiated a collective reading of “The Sunne in Splendour” back in the year 2012.
The results and pages of our following along with the reading schedule and Twitter discussions are still here on this website and available.
The main page “Fall in Splendour” and the chapter index of the book can be found in our site-menu. We also started a character index, but never got around to finish it.
R.I.P., unforgettable Sharon Kay Penman.
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.
Happy 563rd Birthday – Winners of the KRA-Quiz
Happy 563rd birthday, King Richard III!
Sorry that I am late with my congratulations and this post. Two work projects kept me awake almost around the clock lately and I must admit, I tried to catch up a bit the last days and slept through a good part of your birthday.
So the announcement of the winners of the KRA-Quiz 2015 comes a bit later than anticipated, but at least the winners already got an e-mail notification.
KRA-Quiz Champions 2015
The winners won so clearly that no drawing or ballot decision was necessary. (I am very glad about that, because I hate having to play fate. Perhaps that is the reason why I subconsciously made the quiz so difficult this time?!)
Both winners have a headstart of some points over the rest of the field, so there can be no doubt who the KRA-champions of 2015 are:
Richard III-Champion 2015
Iwona
Richard Armitage Champion 2015
Andrea Castano
Well done ! And thank you for all your participations !!!
From the feedback I got regarding the quiz, it was really tough this year. I still hope you had fun and enjoyed the questions.
So congratulations to all participants of the quiz, for taking up the challenge!
The solution of the quiz will be posted shortly. Please give me a few more days to get the page up.
Announcement – King Richard Armitage Week is Coming
Fingers are burning, heads are smoking, planning goes into the heated final stage for the
King Richard Armitage Week 2012
beginning on 22nd of August 2012!
It is the anniversary of two major events, one of which is the commemoration of the Battle of Bosworth in the year 1485, where King Richard III died. The other one, I don’t need to explain to all Richard Armitage fans. And for all who still don’t know, you can have a look at our last year’s celebrations here and here (full article list).
We will celebrate with articles full of history and great stories and a scavenger hunt (quiz) –
and don’t worry, all levels of expertise about Richard Armitage and King Richard III will get a fair chance to take part and hints will be given to solve the final big question. We will not make it all too easy for you either, because we will determine our
“King Richard Armitage Champion”
(short: KRA Champion) of the King Richard Armitage Week 2012.
Participating bloggers and blogs are:
Fabo Laktuko (White Rose: Sincere and Simple Thoughts)
Fitzg (here on the KingRichardArmitage website)
Gratiana (Something About Love)
Maria Grazia (Fly High!)
Servetus (Me + Richard Armitage)
CDoart (CDoart)
Mark the date and join us in our celebrations and online-event on KingRichardArmitage.
All news and updates about the event will be posted here: King Richard Armitage Week 2012
URGENT Richard III Archaeology Appeal – Till 20th of July, 2012
We received an urgent message from Philippa Langley, the screenwriter involved with the “King Richard III” film project that has the interest of Mr. Armitage.
We want to forward this appeal directly to you.
Please note:
Mr. Armitage has been informed about the digging project in Leicester, but he is not (!) involved in it!
This information is given, to avoid any kind of misunderstanding regarding the following appeal!
RICHARD III – URGENT ARCHAEOLOGY APPEAL
An archaeological dig is scheduled to take place this summer in Leicester, seeking the last resting place of Richard III, and hoping to find and re-inter his remains with proper solemnity. In addition it is hoped the excavations will be filmed, and then form part of a proposed landmark TV special telling Richard’s real story.
We are appealing to you today because the project dig has encountered a sudden and unforeseen shortfall of £10,000. We are desperately trying to raise this sum and avert the closing down of the dig – that’s why we are appealing URGENTLY for pledges. Any amounts are welcome, whether large or small, whether from individuals or group collections. Please don’t send any money yet – we simply need your pledge by Friday 20 July, 2012.
Please fill in the contact form as soon as possible, and we’ll email you our appeal leaflet with full information.
N.B. If you don’t need the leaflet but would like to pledge anyway, simply fill in the contact form stating your pledge amount, and we’ll get back to you.A BIG thank-you for helping to keep this important project on track.
From Philippa Langley on behalf of the Archaeological Search for Richard III
We created an entry form here on the page, so that you can transmit a pledge directly to the “Archaeological Search for Richard III”, if you are willing to help in the endeavour.
Your help is very much appreciated to keep this far grown research project going.
Thank you for all your help!
Further information
Historical background and reading recommendations about this archaeological research are collected at the newly created page:
(Please stay tuned, we gradually will add further information.)
More details about Ms. Philippa Langley:
Philippa Langley, who inaugurated the project, has been working closely with a prominent TV production company and has garnered considerable interest from a major UK TV channel. The possibility of such a programme would ensure the opportunity to tell King Richard’s real story on screen for the very first time.
Philippa Langley is a screenwriter and founder, in 1999, of the Scottish Branch of the Richard III Society.
Her script about the real Richard III has the interest of leading actor Richard Armitage.
In Dear Memory – George Peter Algar
Today, the very sad news reached us that our supporter and presented author
George Peter Algar
died last Thursday.
We very much mourn the loss of such a wonderful person and inspiring contact.
Though we only briefly knew him and never met in person, we will greatly miss his friendly and openly helpful approach and creative ideas.
He supported us with an interview, details about his book “The Shepherd Lord“, by bringing us in contact with the Towton Battlefield Society and just with a wonderful and openminded mail correspondence.
Riikka Nikko, his contact and King Richard III artist from Finland, gave us permission to post her creation in memory of Mr. Algar. The work progressed with input by Mr. Algar.
The merciful and avenging angel King Richard, by Riikka Nikko (More details about her and her King Richard creations can be found in her artwork-portfolio and in this KRA-article):
What a hopeful image of the world that awaits us, entirely under the protection of King Richard III.
One Month Alert: August 22
Today is July 22, exactly one month until August 22, which is Richard’s 40th birthday and the anniversary of Richard III’s death.
CDoart and I are brainstorming about how we can celebrate this “dual” event over a week and broadcast this project far and wide across the Internet. We hope to have more updates very soon, but invite you all to share your ideas and plans.
How do you want to celebrate August 22?
Worldwide Support
The support and signatures for the petition are coming in bulks. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen (Yes indeed, we have some among us !!!).
Some participating countries I could already make out from the e-mail addresses of the contributors are:
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Canada
- Denmark
- France
- Germany
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Italy
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Russia
- Spain
- Taiwan
- U.K.
- U.S.A.
I am sure there are lots of others among the contributors, but from the mail address I could not make out the provenance.
I will not talk more about contributions, as your mails, participation, name, etc. remains absolutely private and is stored safely.
Please keep up the good work and advertise our collective effort.
I already started to lug in my family. They do not resist overly much ;o) and really would enjoy to see the film “Richard III”.
The Creation of an Idea
Richard Armitage, an actor with a very loyal and supportive fanbase, has had a dream for many years.
Making a film about “King Richard III”
We have started this initiative to support his dream project by collecting signatures to further his efforts and to attract the interest of producers and potential financiers.
Please take part in these efforts to support him in his efforts to find financial backing for his project.
This site does not exist to support a project of an individual wanting to gain fame. This site tries to give all of our efforts space to be heard and to expand further.
Please give the administrators feedback if you have ideas or suggestions of what you would like to see on this website or how we can best extend our efforts to support the “Richard III” project.
This site has the intention of showing the collective and manifold support of many different individuals with lots of different ideas, creative talents, and special interests with one unifying person in its center:
Richard Armitage.
Thank you for all your help and support! We welcome everyone and look forward to hearing from you.