How RA spent Valentine's Day

Do you celebrate Valentine's Day? For my better half and I, this is just a day like any other day. We are always kissing and cuddling and we never leave the house without saying 'I love you', so we don't need a day to remind us how happy we are together.
 
But even though we don't buy each other fancy presents or go out to dinner, I know a certain Brit who has been rather busy on Valentine's Day over the years. ;-)

In 2001, Craig Parker turned on the charm for this pretty blonde...

Richard played Craig Parker in one episode of the BBC drama Casualty

In 2004, two ladies were fighting for the honour of being RA's Valentine...

Lucy Brown (Ann Latimer), Richard Armitage (John Thornton) and Daniela Denby-Ashe (Margaret Hale)
in the BBC's adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's North & South

And although this lady may have thought she had him hooked...

 

His heart showed him his one true love with one single yellow rose...

In 2005, Richard dressed up as Guy of Gisborne to present Lady Marian with a token of his regard for her:


Richard Armitage and Lucy Griffiths as Guy of Gisborne and Lady Marian
in episode 6 of season 1 of the BBC's Robin Hood (2006)

In 2006, we fell in love with Harry Kennedy, but he fell in love with Geraldine...

Richard Armitage and Dawn French as Harry Kennedy and Geraldine Granger in The Vicar of Dibley

In 2009, our spy-cam spotted senior case officer Lucas North on a romantic date with yet another pretty blonde. Well, anything's better than Sarah Caulfield, right?

Richard Armitage as Lucas North in Season 8 of Spooks

In 2010, RA hoped these lovely flowers would cheer up his love, as she was not feeling well and had to stay in hospital...

Richard Armitage played Sgt. John Porter in Chris Ryan's Strike Back

In 2011, he declared his love for all the world to see...

Richard Armitage leads his fellow cast members in the Powhiri ceremony
on the first day of filming for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Wellington, New Zealand

In 2012, he sent Valentine cards to all his friends!

And in 2013, under a Black Sky or threatened by Dragon fire, whether on Valentine's Day or not, may our very own King Richard love with all his heart and find that special someone who says 'I love you' back to him.



Let's make him number 1!

As of today, Richard Armitage is ranked #2 on the IMDb Starmeter.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0035514/

Wouldn't it be great if he got to number 1?
I know Richard probably couldn't care less about his rank, as it's a popularity contest of the purest form and he has no interest in being popular whatsoever.

Richard Armitage promotes The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Toronto, Canada on 3 December 2012

But still, as a fan, I would love to see my favourite man in the top spot.
And, as it's so easy to make it happen, why not?

All you need to do is get as many different people as possible to go to the IMDb website and visit pages related to Richard Armitage. Not only his profile page, but also the pages of the projects he's been involved in: Spooks, Captain America, North and South, The Hobbit, Chris Ryan's Strike Back, Black Sky, The Phantom Menace, Robin Hood - it all counts.

So let's all do this and show our man that he is our number 1!

Nice to meet you...

... Gary!

For weeks now, we have been wondering whether Richard Armitage’s character in the new film ‘Black Sky’ would be another ‘John’, a name that so many of his most memorable characters have shared: John Thornton in North and South, John Standring in Sparkhouse, John Bateman in Spooks, John Porter in Strike Back, John Mulligan in Moving On…

Todd Garner, producer of the film, has been tweeting pictures of RA on set, in character, making us fans extremely happy. Thank you, Mr. Garner!

Richard Armitage as 'Gary' on the set of Black Sky
Picture shared on Twitter by the film's producer, Todd Garner

Today, Mr. Garner also solved the mystery of the character’s name, in answer to a question from fellow blogger Gratiana Lovelace on Twitter. To my extremely great pleasure, it’s not another John. RA’s character in Black Sky is named ‘Gary’. It sounds very American to me, for some reason, but that’s OK as RA will also be rocking an American accent in this film.

But does the name fit the character? Well, let’s have a look at the meaning of the name ‘Gary’:

The masculine given name Gary is derived from the word 'spear' in Germanic (gar = spear), meaning a 'spear bearer' and the name (also spelled Garry) is an "acceptable" Anglicised spelling of the Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic personal name Garaidh which, like Gary, is also pronounced gæri.

In German the meaning of the name Gary is: Gentle. Modest and brave Sir Gareth was a legendary knight of King Arthur's Round Table.

People with this name have a deep inner desire to use their abilities in leadership, and to have personal independence. They would rather focus on large, important issues, and delegate the details.

Well, now you know what to expect! ;-)

I, for one, am very much looking forward to this film (we will have to wait until 2013, unfortunately). It may be ‘just another tornado movie’, but Richard Armitage’s talent will take any old disaster movie to a completely different level (in my own humble opinion, that is). And it’s another chance to see my second favourite man (after my own sweety, of course!) on the silver screen. I’m sure Mr. Armitage is also enjoying the chance to play a ‘normal’ character after going through life as Thorin Oakenshield for The Hobbit for almost 2 years!

Thank you Todd Garner – and please keep sharing those pictures!
You can follow Mr. Garner on Twitter @Todd_Garner