Leicestershire Revisited
Richard Armitage Birthday Week 2012
photo: goleicestershire
The BBC series “Kibworth”, with historian Michael Wood, (broadcast on PBS) renewed a desire to return (in cyberspace) to that midlands county. Which was already stimulated by the history of Richard III and the Battle of Bosworth. Oh, and that other Richard, of our acquaintance, celebrating a birthday this month….
richardarmitagenet Candids Gallery
Kibworth, a village a few miles outside Leicester, was revealed by Michael Wood as a complete microcosm of “the story of England”, from pre-Roman settlement to the present day. During a months’-long sojourn in the village (almost of town proportion now), Mr. Wood explored the origins and progress of this supposedly unremarkable part of the county. He did so with the enthusiastic participation of the inhabitants. Kibworth represents a microcosm of the races/nationalities who have become embedded in the DNA of England. Continuing research by DNA scientists is not conclusive yet on the subject of who is a Celt and who isn’t. No doubt that debate will continue.
Leicestershire – worth a visit? Leicester itself, now with a growing Asian population. Yet another layer of the long-existing multi-culturalism of England, with waves of settlers and invaders dating from the Bronze Age. Britain has always been a melting-pot.
Leicester Guildhall. Wikipedia: attribution: NotFromUtrecht
Digging up History… (in spades)
Sufficient research has been done to suggest that the bones of Richard III probably did not end in the River Soar, but at some point, were removed to Greyfriars in Leicester and properly interred there. Thanks to some Tudors, Greyfriars has long since been pounded into the ground. An archaeological project, sponsored by the University of Leicester, and the City Council, among other supporters, has begun a dig. If they are correct about the evidence that there was a coffin containing the remains of the last Plantagenet king, discovery, and DNA testing will add to the historical record of England.
More than five hundred years since Richard III was brutally murdered by the party of the Lancastrian invader Henry (Tudor) VII, the question of Richard’s culpability in the apparent deaths of his pre-adolescent nephews, remains disputed. The last Plantagenet died at Bosworth, Leicestershire, August 22, 1485. August 22nd. Time for celebration of life.
Henry VII
Richard III
Based on the portraits, who would you prefer?
Leicestershire and Richard Armitage
Although Mr. Armitage has grown (yes, grown. And grown (And grown…) to be a citizen of the world, as well as of London, the heart of England, no doubt, had been a good grounding site for an English actor. And Leicestershire is in the heart of England. Perhaps the heart of England. Perhaps Mr. Armitage will play the role of his namesake one day, in a realistic production of that tudorised king. For the numerous among our support group who are not overly fond of beards, they will be relieved to know that clean-shaven was the norm with the 15th C man….
And during this week, we wish Mr. Armitage :
MANY HAPPY RETURNS!
(He’s all grown-up, now. 😀 )
KRA 2012 – Day 5
♕ ♛ ♕
Before we begin with the Day 5 news…
Today we sent out the confirmation mails to the un-confirmed signers of the petition. Thank you for your help and support!
And here are the main sites, the KRA Week 2012 and the scavenger hunt.
♕ Fabo Laktuko ♕
Fabo Laktuko is an experienced King Richard III blogger and her expertise in filming and film related topics and personel is an unending source of information. She brings wonderful new perspectives into the historic topic.
Today, she has a knowledgeable review about possible producers for us, who we as fans might trust and who could support Mr. Armitage in creating his dream project:
Four Directors Richard Armitage Should Consider for His Richard III Production
Fabo Laktuko also has interesting information about other film and King Richard III related topics and especially scavenger hunters will find her previous articles very helpful:
King Richard III posts
♕ Further News of the Day ♕
- Servetus (Me + Richard Armitage) – What a thumb can tell in battle and especially regarding success – Or: Richard III thumbshot
- CDoart – Germans everywhere? And that even before a functioning tourism industry.
- The BBC History Magazine published a very interesting online article by Dr. David Hipshon about the reasons for Bosworth: “Treachery: What really brought down Richard III“
- Our special guest, the
Richard III Foundation, Inc.,
who will join in with an article during the week and are sponsoring a price for the scavenger hunt, have released a press release regarding the late Channel 4 appeal for a King Richard III documentary and their upcoming King Richard III Conference on 13th of October 2012. They welcome members and guests !!! – For more information also take a look at the program of the conference here.
♛ Scavenger Hunt ♛
Questions of Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and Day 5 are online now.
Servetus, as our quizmaster of the KRA Week 2012, has some tips and tricks for you to solve the quiz questions: Day 5 tips
Also take a look at her further articles this week. They contain hints as well and are a joy to read anyway.
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.
KRA Week – Day 4
♕ ♛ ♕
Before Day 4 information begins:
The KingRichardArmitage Petition has 900 signatures !!!
Thank you for all your support and help with spreading the word!
(We will send out reminder mails to the un-confirmed signers tomorrow, as they once again are more than 90 by now. Automated mails sometimes can go into the spam/trash-folder, so please check there, if you did not get a confirmation mail for your signature so far. Thank you!)
The main sites, the KRA Week 2012 and the scavenger hunt.
♕ Servetus – Me+Richard Armitage ♕
To all fans of Mr. Armitage, I need not introduce Servetus and her blog Me+Richard Armitage.
Her witty, thoughtful and thought-provoking articles, comments and examinations of fandom in all varieties and forms, is such an entertaining and addictive read that (Psst…, I must reveal it, I just can’t keep it a secret) she had 1.000.000 hits on her blog lately. If that is not a reason to celebRAte, especially during the KRA Week?
CongRAtulations, Servetus !
She posts about King Richard III and Richard Armitage each day of the event week, varying from historic to funny.
We have linked to her posts in the daily news (and I must give you a further recommendation – watch out for her tips to solve the scavenger hunt questions!):
Day 5 Quiz Tips
As creator of these wonderful quiz questions, she is allowed to do that. So Servetus is not only our blogger of the day, but also our quizmaster of the KRA Week 2012.
Her questions are tough, but a real champion can’t be determined by too easy questions, can he/she?
As I check the incoming results, I can further reveal, we have some who are on a really good way to become our KRA Champion 2012 !
And should I also reveal a bit about our price for the Champion? – As the final form depends a bit on the choice of the winner, we had not posted images of the price so far. We wanted to make it a badge of honour, the name of the winner will be added to one of the images on the side and the image put on a magnet, button or T-shirt, so the winner can choose what he/she prefers as a price and where best to show his/her championship.
Further articles by Servetus:
She recomments how best to Spend our Money! ?
Servetus’ analysis of a KRA-fangirl’s mind is one further example of her exceptional examinations! – Richard III won’t make me squee. Right?
And I must also reveal, Servetus gives tips and hints in her latest post to help with solving the quiz questions, so a look at all her latest posts is quite helpful, if you need tips for the scavenger hunt.
♕ Further News of the Day ♕
- ITV – report with video coverage of the location and beginning of the digging in Leicester. Please follow the link to find more details and a video report about the start of the digging here at the website of ITV:
- As the question about the sisters of King Richard III and their descendants occured in the comments, here a link to a detailed family tree of the Plantagenets.
- CDoart – as pacifist recommends the book by Mike Ingram about the Battle of Bosworth (2012)
♛ Scavenger Hunt ♛
Questions of Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4 are online now.
- The Richard III Foundation, Inc. sponsors a free conference ticket!
Free entry to their King Richard III Conference on 13th of October 2012. – More details and program of the conference here.
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.
KRA Week – Day 3
♕ ♛ ♕
Before Day 3 informations start, here are the main sites, the KRA Week 2012 and the scavenger hunt.
♕ Maria Grazia (Fly High!) ♕
RIII and Queen Anne Neville – Stained glass window at Cardiff Castle
(Source: Geoff Wheeler, Richard III Society)
Maria Grazia with her well established blog Fly High! publishes wonderful book reviews and is a great supporter of King Richard III.
We have mentioned her articles repeatedly, so when you do a search for her here on the KRA website, you will find a full list of results.
We also had an interview with Maria Grazia here on KRA, which shows her well informed approach towards the history and literary perception of King Richard III and her full list of articles, she already has published about King Richard III. Those articles can be reached via this page on her blog Fly High!
Today, Maria Grazia presents the news of the day about the archaeological search for the mortal remains of King Richard III in Leicester, and reviews the historical novel
“Some Touch of Pity” by Rhoda Edwards
Enjoy the review and I am sure, after reading it, you will try to get a hold of this book as well.
♕ Further News of the Day ♕
- The archaeological search for the burrial place of King Richard III in Leicester will be launched TODAY! So watch out for the news coverage on BBC and BBC Breakfast !
News also is posted here on the KRA page “Search for King Richard“
- Servetus (Me + Richard Armitage) – Richard III won’t make me squee. Right? Servetus in her exceptional and unique way examines the mind and reasoning of a real KRA-fangirl
- CDoart – and the Last Days of Richard III
♕ TV-Documentation – King Richard III ♕
The TV-Documentation about King Richard III needs our help
Please support a filming of a documentation about King Richard III TODAY.
Take 2 minutes and voice your opinion today and tomorrow, on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th of August, 2012 (U.K. time), to convince Channel 4 that it is a necessary endeavour and lots of people are already waiting for a documentation about King Richard III and his life, which will take into account all the new research results and finally bring some of the mis-constructions about this English king to an end.
You can put your comment here, to show your support:
http://www.channel4.com/4viewers/contact-us
Thank you !!!
♛ Scavenger Hunt ♛
Questions of Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 are online now.
- The Richard III Foundation, Inc. sponsors a free conference ticket!
Free entry to their King Richard III Conference on 13th of October 2012. – More details and program of the conference here.
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.
KRA Week – Day 2
♕ ♛ ♕
Before we begin with day 2, here it the main site of the KRA Week 2012 and the scavenger hunt.
♕ Phylly’s Faves ♕
King Richard (Source: Wikimedia.org)
Phylly is a well known blogger in the fan community, always bringing in very special angles to a topic or research.
Her last year’s article during the King Richard Week can be found here (Richard, King of Hearts) and is a real reading tip (!).
It is a wonderful review of the theatre history of King Richard III and Phylly discovers quite a change in the way King Richard III is played and interpreted in different Shakespeare versions on stage with lots of entertaining video-examples.
This year, she created a birthday list for August 22nd, 2012, where King Richard III has an (accidental ?) appearance.
A nice way to show, why we ‘celebrate’ and not only commemorate King Richard III in our KRA Week.
♕ Further News of the Day ♕
- Servetus (Me + Richard Armitage) – Spend our Money! – Explains the details behind our scavenger hunt and charity procedure to get our money to the charity the winner choses.
- Fabolaktuko (WhiteRoseWriting) – Come play with us! – Fabolaktuko shows that if you don’t want to spend our money, you still can ‘play with us’ and have fun!
- CDoart – Reviews a filmed documentation about the “Wars of the Roses” (1994)
- TV-tip: Try to keep your eyes out for the BBC news and BBC Breakfast tomorrow, Friday 24th!
♕ TV-Documentation – King Richard III ♕
The TV-Documentation about King Richard III needs our help
Please support a filming of a documentation about King Richard III.
Take 2 minutes and voice your opinion on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th of August, 2012 (U.K. time) to convince Channel 4 that it is a necessary endeavour and lots of people are already waiting for a documentation about King Richard III and his life, which will take into account all the new research results and finally bring some of the mis-constructions about this English king to an end.
You can put your comment here, to show your support:
http://www.channel4.com/4viewers/contact-us
Thank you !!!
♛ Scavenger Hunt ♛
Questions of Day 1 and Day 2 are online now!
- The Richard III Foundation, Inc. sponsors a free conference ticket!
Free entry to their King Richard III Conference on 13th of October 2012. – More details and program of the conference here.
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.
Happy Birthday to King Richard Armitage
Happy Birthday,
♛ King ♛ Richard Armitage !
No hurricane can distract you,
no mountain is too high,
no dragon poses an invincible threat
to you, our ♛ king ♛ of hearts, fans and films!
As once again the delivery of a birthday cake (see our last years attempt here) poses a few difficulties, as fans from around the world want to take part in baking it, we have the King Richard Armitage Week 2012 as our online present. Here we all can take part, share and participate in creating and celebrating.
I hope you all will join us in our event week!
♕ ♛ ♕
More details about our first day of KRA Week 2012 and what to expect during the week here:
♕ Gratiana Lovelace ♕
(Captain America-Premiere, New York) – Source: www.richardarmitagenet.com
Gratiana as our first KRA Week blogger of the day, has an interesting guest on her blog, who brings a very new perspective to King Richard III and our event week.
We announced diverse perspectives, but this one really is special and unique!
Gratiana acts as the spokesperson for Melissa the Mouse, a talented poet, who created a wonderful introduction to the event week in rhymes and verses.
Have a look for yourself, how wonderfully talented a little and cute mouse can be:
On Gratiana Lovelace’s blog Something About Love
♕ Further News of the Day ♕
- Servetus (Me + Richard Armitage) – Birthday greetings by the numbers, or why Mr. Armitage is extraordinary 41 times.
♕ Contributors of KRA Week 2012 ♕
- 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)
- We also have a wonderful special guest, the
Richard III Foundation, Inc.,
who will join in with an article during the week and sponsors a price for the scavenger hunt. – So, don’t miss the quiz questions, published each day of the event week!
They will have a King Richard III Conference on 13th of October 2012 and welcome members and guests !!! – For more information take a look at the program of the conference here.
♛ Scavenger Hunt ♛
The quiz-parts can be reached here at this main quiz-page.
New daily installments will be opened each day at midnight (U.K. time).
The answers can be transmitted at any time till the 3rd of September 2012. (They do not need to be answered in any specific order, but please make sure you answer all parts you know, as you lose points otherwise.)
Winners & Prices:
- KRA Champion – selection via the most points achieved in the scavenger hunt. (If more than one participant have top points, the decision will be made by lot.)
- Participation price – the winner, a random participant – independent of his achieved points – selected by lot, will be able to direct the accumulated GBP 91.- to the one (or more) charity he choses from the Mr. Armitage’s Just Giving page.
- Free entry to the Conference of the Richard III Foundation, Inc. – taking place on 13th of October 2012 at the Dixie Grammar School in Market Bosworth with lots of interesting speakers and topics. More details here: Richard III Foundation-page
(To ascertain, the ticket really goes to someone who can attend the Conference in Market Bosworth, we check this with a question in the quiz-forms. The ticket will only be given to someone who indicates he can attend and the candidate will be chosen by lot.)
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.
As we want to make the quiz fun for all participants, we have some security measures in place, so that you can enjoy the participation. This also necessitates a few security questions, but we tried to keep them at a minimum.
Your mail and personal data will be deleted after the quiz and all relating procedures to execute it, are over. So you need not fear a re-use of your data in any way.
It remains for us now to wish you wonderful celebrations and a great event week!
One Week till KingRichardArmitage Week 2012
King Richard Armitage Week 2012
begins on 22nd of August 2012!
Preparations are continuing …
- The quiz questions are collected for daily installments during the KingRichardArmitage Week 2012 (Can be answered daily or in bulk till 3rd of September 2012, to be considered in the drawing)
- Prices and donations are assembled, to make your participation in the scavenger hunt worthwhile
- Heads are smoking by now, as there is only one week left to finish the participating articles.
We hope you will enjoy all contributions and will have a good chase for hints in the scavenger hunt. I have seen all the questions and I must say, they are excellent to determine this year’s King Richard Armitage Champion (short: KRA Champion).
The 22nd of August, 2012
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).
Participants:
I am very proud to present, that we will have a guest post by the
Richard III Foundation, Inc. here on the KRA-blog.
They also generously donate a price for the scavenger hunt.
(More details will follow during the event week.)
Phylly3 (Phylly’s Faves)
Fabo Laktuko (White Rose: Sincere and Simple Thoughts)
Fitzg (here on the KingRichardArmitage website)
Gratiana Lovelace (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
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
King Richard and Thorin Oakenshield
CDoart already did an analysis and a comparison between King Richard III and Thorin Oakenshield, King of the dwarves in “The Hobbit”, in connection to our poll 1 here on the KingRichardArmitage website.
A comparison between fantasy and history is not so farfetched, when we hear the latest comment by Mr. Armitage about his preparations for “The Hobbit” with King Richard III in his interview with HitFix at the ComicCon in San Diego:
HitFix – Question by Katie Hasty (?)
Oakenshield was kind of this classical lord-figure of the books [“The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien]. How do you update this character for modern audiences?
You see, I’d never really thought of updating. I actually did the opposite. I thought of it as more kind of Greek tragedy. I looked at Shakespeare, you know, a lot of my preparation, I was looking at “Henry V” and bits of “Richard III” just to find roots in British literature that were kind of deeper. But I think […] making it feel contemporary that are the big themes of the story: Loyalty and honour and trust and camaraderie. I think those themes are contemporary.
The interview by Katie Hasty from HotFix at Comic-Con in San Diego, July 24th, 2012, is available on YouTube. The quote starts at about [1:07]:
Thank You ! – The Search can Begin
The search for King Richard III can begin !
The required amount to cover the shortfall for the archaeology project in Leicester to search for King Richard III’s burrial place is reached!
Philippa Langley got in contact directly to thank all who left pledges in the name of the Archaeological Search for Richard III.
Thank you very much for all your support and pledges.
It is a wonderful chance to explore this history rich ground in Leicester and I must say, I am very curious what the archaeological team can uncover. I can’t wait for the first results and hope for good news.
Through this appeal, we from the KRA-website came in contact with the Leicester Civic Society. Their goal is, to preserve and restore historic buildings and raise the awareness for the rich history of Leicester. The Society has a very interesting website with more details and journals about their work. With the digging now starting in Leicester in August as planned, it is nice – especially for those not in or around Leicester – to be able to find out more about the town. So I want to lead your attention to their impressive efforts: Leicester Civic Society
Thank you again for all your kind help and support!
