My kingdom for a horse
On 25th September the deferred decision about Bosworth Battle field will be readdressed. It seems ironic that Richard III, whose remains were excavated from beneath a car park, faces another imposition. Historic sites like this, once taken are forever lost https://t.co/9e7YJuTCAp
— Richard Armitage (@RCArmitage) September 20, 2018
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planning@hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk: STOP PLANS TO BUILD A HIGH SPEED TEST TRACK ON BOSWORTH BATTLEFIELD! – Sign the Petition! https://t.co/OgcHJX0lWk via @UKChange
— Richard Armitage (@RCArmitage) September 20, 2018
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ETA: check this out.
Me + Richard Armitage 
There seems to be some dispute as to whether it’s actually Richard in this photo – obviously not fans then!
As a history enthusiast, saving Bosworth Field seems worthwhile to me, I hope they do it.
Just on a side note: What do “Ricardians” think happened to the “Princes in the Tower” then? I thought the consensus was that it was overwhelmingly likely that Richard iii ordered their murders.
Just watched a good doc by Dan Jones on Richard iii, they were a murderous bunch indeed.
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Just answered my own question with a quick perusal of Phillipa Langley’s page,”revealing Richard”. New research project underway for the “missing Princes”. It doesn’t state either way what they believe but i remember she was very emotional and personally invested in defending him during the excellent “Looking for Richard” doc. Be very interesting if they found any new evidence!
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It’s hard to get research funding if you state the conclusion of your research before you do the research itself.
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I thought that discussion was hilarious (and appropriate for Ricardians).
The general position of Ricardians is that R3 has been smeared non-stop by historians, certainly didn’t do it himself, and was not responsible. If you read Josephine Tey’s book on the subject you get the chief alternative theories. I wrote about it back here: https://meandrichard.wordpress.com/2013/02/05/richard-armitage-richard-iii-rumble-week-16/ Part of the problem in answering this is that most historians think it doesn’t really matter who did it; what mattered is that it was done and how people at the time reacted to it. So in most places you will read that R3 did it or had it done.
re: the princes — iirc the Windsors have refused permission for DNA testing of the remains thought to be those of the princes repeatedly, but it’s been five years since I thought much about this.
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Thanks Serv I will check it out!
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Servetus, just out of curiosity and if too personal I totally understand did you sign the petition?
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I didn’t.
(a) I don’t live in England and I don’t think Bosworth field is a site of international historical significance
(b) i didn’t have time to look at the proposal so I don’t know what they are proposing to cover up or (more significantly) how they are proposing to do it (i.e., sometimes alternative uses for sites can be conducted in a way that leaves the original material in situ for the future)
(c) it’s a huge topic (and my first cousin is a professional historical preservationist and we talk about stuff like this all the time) but in general, the entire human past cannot be preserved, or we’d have nowhere to live ourselves. We have to pick and choose — which gets me back to (a) and (b) — I don’t have the knowledge or the standing to be involved in influencing the decision.
I just read Esther’s piece and if she’s correct about the extent of the coverage I tend to agree with her: https://bookesther.wordpress.com/2018/09/21/bosworth-and-berlin/
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Thank you for the explanation and Esther’s piece which I enjoyed reading. She does have some good points..
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My gawd. Richard resembles Richard III so much in that edit. Drove me crazy when Martin Freeman played that role at the same time Richard was John Proctor at the Old Vic.
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I was in a way more bothered by Cumberbatch doing it for the Hollow Crown. I had wondered at the time if Armitage were being considered — he’d always said he didn’t want to do Shakespeare’s R3, and then there was one interview in 2014 where he said he’d do Shakespeare, about at the time when they would have had to cast THC. And then that ship sailed and I only recall one time since then when he’s mentioned doing any R3 project.
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What a great picture. There’s something really touching about his speaking out about a cause that he feels so personally connected to.
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And he counts as a local person and their voices should be taken more seriously, I think.
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regarding people saying it doesn’t look like Richard-obviously it is him-but he does bear an uncanny resemblance to Welsh comedian Rhod Gilbert there!
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LOL.
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It was really good to see RA adding his voice to the cause yesterday. I had already been wondering whether he was aware of the latest development. The pic is neat – looks like a selfie to me, maybe even taken in the visitor centre in Leicester?, where he is jutting out his chin and pressing his lips together to look like RIII?
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I like the jumper he has on looks uber comfy
Any idea when it was taken?
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Guessing from the hairstyle sometime this year, after January.
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It made me wonder. If it were new, then it would suggest he was still shooting “My Zoe” for his eyes look definitely brown.
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good point.
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re: his awareness — people have been tweeting at him about it pretty regularly, but I suspect the conduit would have been either his father or Langley.
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As a non UK citizen I do not see what good it would do to sign the petition and unfortunately we seem to lose so much of “history” to what is considered progress. It is obviously an important site to save to RA and I am assuming others in the UK. I hope they can do it if it is possible.
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I’m a Non UK citizen too but I did sign it mainly because it does mean something very special to Richard and the community where he was born and grew up in. That may be a very superficial reason and the points pro and against are all very compelling brought up here. In the end I just wanted to taste a little bit of what is important to him..
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arguably the people who are granting the exception are also people from the area (the local authority). So I don’t have the impression that something is being imposed on them by outsiders. They do have to consent and the responsible people have consented.
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There’s a UK interest group, The Battlefields Trust, that’s involved in contesting it. As I understand it legislative attempts to protect English battlefield sites are relatively recent and relate heavily to mass graves. (I’m not an expert on this)
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Hello I’ve often wondered what Richard felt about Cumberbatch playing Richard III in the Hollow Crown and also reading at the reburial service in Leicester, particularly as they worked together on the Hobbit, I wonder if they spoke about R3 and if Richard went for the part /speech or was offered it and wasn’t available (I think at least he was making Hannibal when R3 was reburied).
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re: the memorial — someone from Leicester (maybe from the cathedral?) tweeted (long after it had happened) that Armitage had been asked to participate. I assume other commitments prevented it.
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Oh thanks, I’m glad the Lad from Leicesterish was asked
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👍😛😀yes indeed
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Avant-hier j’ai discuté de ce sujet avec une archéologue conférencière retraitée. Selon elle, en France il est admis par les spécialistes qu’il vaut mieux recouvrir un tel site de 20 à 30 cm de bitume. Cela suffit pour protéger le sous sol. Il ne faut pas creuser, souvent les vestiges sont à quelques dizaines de centimètres sous terre…
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interesting.
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