Ten years ago today …

… it was announced that the remains discovered on the site of the Leicester Greyfriars were indeed those of Richard III. On this page you can see both mitochodrial DNA lines: the first by John Ashdown-Hill and the back-up by Leicester University, both to collateral descendants in Commonwealth nations. Here you can see how easy it…

The Stanley Cup: Guess Who’s The Great Grandaddy

All ice hockey fans, especially Canadians, are aware of the famous Stanley Cup, awarded to Canadian amateur ice hockey teams from 1893 onwards (American teams now also participate). The cup is known variously as Lord Stanley’s Mug and The Holy Grail of Hockey. And yes, the Lord Stanley in question is, in fact, a direct…

More naval archaeology

We now know a lot about Henry V’s Holighost, Henry VIII’s Mary Rose and the Kingmaker’s “Newport ship“, as well as the Boyne’s mediaeval log boats. Now there is evidence of a much later find, also in Ireland. The SS (HMS) Laurentic was a White Star liner and sister to the Titanic, sunk by two…

Richard III and the Ancient Egyptian cheese….!

In this intriguing list of twenty , the discovery of Richard III’s remains comes in at number two! He was pipped at the post by an extremely old cheese from Egypt. Eh? Old cheese? Sorry, but can that possibly be more important than Richard? It doesn’t even have King Tut’s fingerprints or teethmarks! 😦 Oh…

Together in Mechelen?

As Ashdown-Hill found, although he was unable to locate her precisely in the genealogical research that eventually located Michael Ibsen as a mitochondrial DNA match for Richard III, Richard’s sister Margaret Duchess of Burgundy was buried in a Franciscan church in Mechelen, in her Duchy Although it was destroyed during subsequent religious conflicts, a reconstruction…

MODERN RICHARD!

I came upon an interesting Instagram post  by Royalty-now where someone had taken the Society of Antiquaries portrait of Richard III, removed his hat and long hair and blended his face with that of a 21st century man. Although I miss the hair personally, I think he scrubbed up rather well! A few folk commenting…

Twin boys in the Tower were drowned in champagne. By Richard III of course….

  The boys in the Tower were drowned in champagne? And they were twins???? Quote: “…His [actor Ben Stevens] first role ever as the youthful characters Fleance and Young Duff in Macbeth, and later, as one of the twins drowned in champagne in Richard III, set Stevens on the path to a much-loved career…” My,…

“King Richard and his Women”

I don’t know what your reaction would be to reading the following, but my Ricardian heart plummeted:- “….There have been many versions of Shakespeare’s Richard III over the years. But King Richard and His Women may be the first to focus on the title character and his relationships with the women in his life….” Firstly…

Henry Tudor Sailed the Oceans Blue?

In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Henry Tudor Sailed the Oceans Blue?  No, no, we all know that’s NOT the way the rhyme goes…however, apparently, some publishers do not know the difference between the English king and the explorer Christopher Columbus. A picture of Henry VII, labelled as Columbus, recently appeared in a child’s history textbook…

The last time the Bard’s Richard III was played on horseback at London’s Astley’s Amphitheatre….!

Well, here’s a novel claim to fame – the Richard III bit, I mean! An excerpt from an intriguing story:- “…The road to redemption led him back to the theatre. ‘To satisfy his creditors’, notes one biographical account, ‘he played leading roles in seven London playhouses and is reported to have been the last to…