Talk on Richard III

Today, back with London Social Detours for an NPG talk on Richard III.. specifically, on what a famous portrait of him can tell us about his true character. Well, that's how it was advertised anyway.

Signed on roughly on time - happily, we didn't have the tech problems of previously. Not with logging on, at least - although it proved a lesson in screensharing for both host and speaker. (Yes, the host has to stop sharing in order for anyone else to start.. and the speaker had to get help to start her slideshow!)

The slides were well-chosen, albeit with rather spidery calligraphy for the titles. And we opened with that famous portrait - where we learned that his action of putting a ring on (or taking it off, it's not clear which) refers to his being free to marry, following his wife's death. It's an action repeated in several portraits of him, and it's interesting to speculate why. Not that we did in this talk, mind. But it's not her fault that I didn't learn anything else new in this talk - well, apart from the fact that, when they were digging up that car park in Leicester where he was buried, they happened to start at the section labelled "R" - and that was where they found him! Oh, and his skeleton showed signs of scoliosis..

All the rest I already knew - and indeed, must commend her on her summary of the Wars of the Roses. As she mentioned afterwards, it's kind of necessary to give the background, as it would have shaped Richard's personality so much. And I knew all that stuff, what happened to his brothers, the rumours about the validity of his brother, Edward IV's, marriage.. Gotta commend her, also, on her accuracy; I've known several guides and speakers get their facts wrong. And yes, if you ever want an expert on royalty, you could do worse than consult me.. I've never come across a tv quiz question on royalty that I didn't know. What can I say - it's a hobby! ;-)

Well, I'm thinking film for tomorrow. Had the same thought a couple of nights ago, actually - but being sick to the teeth of nature documentaries, I thought I'd finally avail of my Mubi membership. Three months' free trial, and I hadn't availed of it yet! Still haven't, really - highest rated on it at the moment is Kurosawa's last epic (as advertised) - Ran. The Japanese version of King Lear, really. So, I tried to watch it. Twice. The first time, I gave up after about 10 minutes - there was so much buffering, I'd got through under 3 minutes' worth of material. The second time, I did a bit better - managed 26 mins worth of material in just over an hour. Both times, I got tired and gave up. Third time lucky..?

What I can say about the first 26 minutes is - it's quite shouty, the (16th Century) costumes are really weird, and the scenery is spectacular. Dunno what the problem with Mubi is - I don't have the same issue with YouTube, or any of the theatre websites. Watch this space..