42!!

Happy Birthday, Richard Armitage!!

Ah, 42, the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything!! :-)

Mr. Armitage, dear Richard, I hope you have a wonderful day with a nice bottle of red wine, lots of chocolate ice cream or birthday cake (or both!) and the very best of friends to sing "Happy Birthday" to you.

My birthday wish is that in your 43rd year on this earth, we will find you on stage in London's West End and I eagerly await the day when you will grace us with a musical performance on the cello ;-) . That would allow me to tick 2 important items off of my own bucket list! And maybe you'll get closer to the top of Mount Everest as well...

Happy Armitage Day to all !!

Long live King Richard!

So, The White Queen has come to an end with the death of King Richard III.

If you've read my review of episode 1, you know that I enjoyed the beginning of the seriesvery much and that I was looking forward to the rest of it. And I was especially looking forward to seeing Richard of Gloucester become Richard III, seeing him grow from a boy into a king. And although I feel the story of Richard's reign was rushed and important details forgotten or only touched upon, I was impressed by Aneurin Barnard. His portrayal of King Richard was spot on: silent, innocent, introverted, stoic, stylish and strong. Conflicted in the right place, emotional at the right time. Truly a performance fit for a king. I hope Aneurin Barnard is extremely proud of this role and I wish him all the best for the rest of his career. He can come back to play 'our Richard' anytime! ;-)

It's almost freaky how, thanks to the discovery of King Richard's remains in Leicester and the research done by the team at Leicester University, we now know exactly how accurate his portrayal was, even though Aneurin did not know that at the time when he was filming The White Queen. He was spooked by it, and so was I! Richard III's final scene was gripping...I definitely felt a chill down my spine...

Aneurin Barnard - remember that name!

But let me take you back to the main subject of this blog: have you noticed how similar Aneurin Barnard and Richard Armitage are? Yes, there's a bit of an age difference, but forget about that for a moment. No wonder I would love for Richard to get a chance to play King Richard as well... Actually, I can't believe nobody has come up with some Alternate Universe story yet in which Richard III miraculously survives Bosworth and lives on!

Let's take a look at these two Richards...

They both look good in black...

Aneurin Barnard as King Richard III

Richard Armitage as Sir Guy of Gisborne

And they both look good in candle light... They have both mastered the look of a brooding, conflicted royal prince...

 

 

And they both have that majestic style: dark hair, pale skintone, a royal grace... and piercing blue eyes!


Someone should write a great script and put them in a film together. Now there's something I would pay money to watch!!

Did you watch The White Queen? Or maybe you're watching it in the USA where it has only just started? What do you think?