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.
... 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
Richard, please forgive me if I use your birthday countdown to talk about a worthy cause...
It's exactly one year ago today that 3 men from Little Rock, Arkansas, were released from prison. They had spent 18 years in prison for a crime they did not commit and one of them had been sentenced to death. On 19 August 2011, these men agreed to take a so-called "Alford Plea" to be released from prison. The Alford Plea basically means that you plead guilty in court while you maintain your innocence.
Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Miskelley Jr. are free, but their names have not been cleared.
Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of The Rings trilogy and the upcoming The Hobbit films has been instrumental in getting these men, known as the West Memphis Three out of prison. He continues to support their case and today published a message about this case on his Facebook page.
The documentary West of Memphis, directed by Amy J. Berg and produced by Peter Jackson was shown at this year's Sundance Film Festival.
Damien Echols is an inspired writer. His story, Life After Death, will be released on 18 September 2012. See it on Amazon here. It's at the very top of my reading list.
Richard Armitage as John Porter in episode 3 of Chris Ryan's Strike Back
Today, my thoughts go out to Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Miskelley Jr. I hope they are finally getting the chance to enjoy life, a life that was taken away from them by a failing judicial system.
My heart goes out to the families of Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore and I hope that they will someday know who is responsible for the death of their children.
"Lay beside me, tell me what they've done Speak the words I want to hear, to make my demons run The door is locked now, but it's open if you're true If you can understand me, then I can understand the you"
(From The Unforgiven 2 by Metallica)
What's a
birthday without a birthday present? But what do you get the man who's living
his dream? This year,
consider donating to one of Richard's selected charities (Shelter, The Salvation
Army, Childline and Barnardo's) - visit his Just Giving
page. Thank
you!
OK, this post is completely random and just a little present for myself after a long day. Let's have a look at Richard Armitage characters named John!
Ah, John Thornton, the TDHCMO himself... By the way, if you don't know what that means, you have not watched North & South often enough!
John Standring from Sparkhouse. So shy, but so very strong in love at the same time. I love this character because it gave Richard a challenge as an actor and his performance is overwhelming! Just like Guy of Gisbourne become almost more important than "Forrest Boy" in Robin Hood, John Standring is what keeps me coming back for more in Sparkhouse...
John Mulligan doesn't look like a bad boy, does he? Nooo, he's cute, he's sweet, he's kind and generous. Not to mention incredibly S-E-X-Y! Too bad about the whole drug dealer thing... Fortunately, it's always a pleasure to watch Richard Armitage play the baddie!
And just for your info: one of the reasons why I like John Mulligan is because he looks like Lucas North from season 7 of Spooks which was filmed around the same time as Moving On (designer stubble, anyone?).
"Just so you know...I'm going to kill every single one of those bastards."
Need I say more? John Porter... I would willingly put my life into his hands. If you have not seen Chris Ryan's Strike Back, go watch it - right now!
I'm still in denial about John Bateman. In season 9 of Spooks, we find out that Lucas North is not really Lucas North. He's John Bateman and John is not exactly a nice guy... Although I thought the 'downfall of Lucas North' twist was completely unbelievable, I have to take my hat off to Richard Armitage for the way he portrayed the slow transformation from Lucas, the hero, into John, the killer. In every single picture from Spooks 9, you can clearly see the difference between Lucas and John. I can't exactly put my finger on what the differences are, but they seem to be two completely different characters. That, ladies and gentlemen, is real talent!
... for neglecting my blog for so very long! Don't worry, I'll make it up to you in the coming days, I promise! Starting today with the final part of the 30-day Richard Armitage Challenge. My replies to questions 21 to 30. As always, pictures were taken from http://www.richardarmitagenet.com/ and videos from http://www.youtube.com/
21.A role of his I haven’t seen, but would like to.
I would have loved to see Richard when he was in Cats, just because it would have been so wonderful to see him dance!!
22.Your least favourite photo.
The suit is wrong. The hair is wrong. The shoes are wrong. The moves are wrong. So not him.
Yes, I know I just said that I would love to see him dance. But not like this. Please.
23.A confession.
I love Lucas North. Can’t help it. Gisborne, Porter, Thorin, Ricky, Harry, Standring, Thornton. I love them all, but I absolutely LOVE Lucas North.
24.A cameo role you would like to see.
If they ever make a film of Spooks, I hope there will be a flashback to Lucas North. I love Lucas North. Did I say that before? J
25.An audio book you would like him to record.
The Hobbit, LOTR, North & South (of course!), anything by Jane Austen, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, one of Mo Hayder’s thrillers.
Listen to Richard read a tiny part of the proposal scene in North & South.
Check the ‘blogs I love section’ on the right-hand side for more fantastic blogs!
27.Your favourite gif(s).
Go to Bccmee’s Richard Armitage Vid’s & graphics page for original GIFs, and other fabulously designed graphics work! Don’t ask me to select a favourite, I simply can’t…
Guy of Gisborne in leather… of course! Especially in Season 2 of Robin Hood.
The belt, the gloves, the Guyliner, the boots, the spurs, the hair, the eyes… indeed, Gizzy looks pretty good!!
29.Your favourite personal look.
Richard tends to dress like the character that he’s playing. We’ve recognised Lucas North’s jeans and shirts in TV interviews and Porter’s leather jacket has also made an appearance.
The discussions about the hair and especially the beard continue with every new picture that is released. I personally like the beard a lot. And the short hair. And I think Richard looks completely adorable in this screencap from Peter Jackson’s videoblog from the set of The Hobbit. So this is my favourite personal look.
30.Your favourite picture.
This is so difficult! I love so many pictures for so many different reasons.
Here’s one that literally took my breath away when I first saw it. It's from the photo and video shoot for Project Magazine.
The first day of my 'detox week' was not an easy one...
This morning, my train was delayed for 45 minutes. My commute usually takes about an hour in total. So, on the first day of a week when I'm trying to avoid stress because I want to allow my body to properly heal from the ear infection that kept me away from work for most of last week, I arrived at work late. I'm sure you can imagine that I wasn't exactly stress-free by that point!
When I finally got there, and got an overview of all the work that had been waiting for me during my absence... Well, let's just say that it didn't really ease my mind.
On the other hand, I was a very good girl today. Had some lovely tomato soup for lunch and a healthy drink based on green tea. I had fruit in the afternoon and I drank only 2 cups of coffee in the morning. And best of all, I said 'No thank you' when a colleague offered a chocolate-filled treat for dessert.
It turned out to be a long day, but when I got home, my husband cooked dinner and gave me a chance to relax on the couch for a while. In the evening, when hubby was watching sports on tv, I did the flexibility exercises that I had planned and even had enough energy to work with my 2kg weights. With every movement, I could feel my muscles stretching and the stress of the day was gone...
One thing I do want to clarify: this detox week is not about losing weight. I'm perfectly happy with my 173cm and +/-55kg, so that's not the point. So why am I saying no to chocolate and desserts? Simply because I want to eat healthy food and give my body what it needs to feel better. There's nothing wrong with chocolate, and I will be having some...next week! :-)
Now which picture could I use to illustrate this post? I just realised that there are hardly any pictures of RA while he's working out. Here's one from Strike Back!
John Porter tries to stay in shape while he fights to put his broken life back together again (and what a lovely tattoo!)
Richard Armitage as John Porter in episode 1 of Chris Ryan's Strike Back
This is the 30 day Richard Armitage Challenge created by http://recycledvinyl.tumblr.com/.
Thanks to Delia for sharing the challenge on Facebook.
Unfortunately, I won’t be able to post one answer per day, so I’m cheating and providing my answers to all questions in 3 parts. Of course, that should not stop you from coming back to my blog every day to read one answer at a time J
The first ten questions and answers are below. Here we go!
1. The first role I saw him in.
I first saw Richard Armitage as John Thornton in the BBC’s adaptation of Elisabeth Gaskell’s North & South. A beautiful story, beautifully portrayed. For some reason, Richard caught my attention.
Richard as John Thornton in North & South
2. The role which made me fall for him.
After North & South, I started looking at other things he had done.
This one sealed the deal for me. Sparkhouse is seen as a modern Wuthering Heights, although I think there are too many differences between the stories for that comparison to make sense. The book features prominently in the series and that basically creates the link between the two, but putting Sparkhouse on the same level as Wuthering Heights would be giving it too much credit.
What Richard did with John Standring is remarkable. For that reason only, I would recommend it.
Richard as John Standring in Sparkhouse
3. My favourite character.
That’s a difficult one.Lucas North (Spooks) is definitely a favourite, but I also love watching Guy of Gisborne (Robin Hood) and John Porter (Chris Ryan’s Strike Back) but I can’t really say I prefer on character over another. At this particular moment in time, I have to say my favourite is probably Robert Lovelace as voiced by Richard in the BBC Radio play Clarissa, the History of a Young Lady.
Richard as Sir Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood, as Lucas North in Spooks and as John Porter in Chris Ryan's Strike Back
4. My least favourite character.
The Captain doesn’t do anything for me… I don't like the show, don't like the character.
Richard as Captain Ian Macalwain in Ultimate Force
5. My favourite photoshoot.
2011 Project Magazine photo and video shoot. I especially love this one…
6. My favourite interview.
Definitely one of my favourites is this interview for Series 9 of Spooks.
Richard looks great as Lucas North with the black hair, the sideburns and the 5 o’clock shadow. He speaks so passionately about his work in series 9 in which he was faced with the great challenge of making a very difficult and even contradictory storyline look believable.
And, what can I say: I can't resist a man who speaks with his hands…
7. A scene of his which made me laugh.
The proposal scene in The Vicar of Dibley, The Handsome Stranger. It had me literally crying with laughter!!
8. A scene of his which made me cry.
It takes an extremely gripping story to make me cry, so that very rarely happens, but this scene is very powerful. The proposal and rejection scene in North & South. I 've included the extended version that never made it into the final film, but it touches my heart every time I watch it...There must be a hopeless romantic inside me somewhere!
The fact that this is unedited footage without music, makes it even more powerful...
9. My favourite character pics.
Oh, there are so many favourites!! Today, I would say it's these:
Richard as John Porter in the promo pictures for Chris Ryan's Strike Back
10. My favourite body part(s).
His hands, no doubt.
But I also have to add his back. He used to be a dancer and that shows in his posture, as you can clearly see in this picture from Captain America.
