Daniel's Diorama of Delights! 2022 Richard Armitage Birthday Fundraiser
Danielâs Diorama of Delights! 2022 Richard Armitage Birthday Fundraiser
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Daniel's Diorama of Delights! 2022 Richard Armitage Birthday Fundraiser
Danielâs Diorama of Delights! 2022 Richard Armitage Birthday Fundraiser
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Your Favourite - a greater challenge!
Your Favourite â a greater challenge!
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Your Favourite - a difficult challenge
Your Favourite â a difficult challenge
Michele has set a fun Q &A on her blog, which has been a great distRAction. Rachel took up the challenge with gusto over at hers. This is my contribution but donât expect many sensible or answers without drool! It is difficult also to choose favourites where Richard Armitage is concerned. Your favorite John and why: 1 Thornton 2 Proctor 3 Porter 4 Standring Answer: Portah! Need I say why?âŠ
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Lost in Space Sweepers
Lost in Space Sweepers
As spring cleaning is in the air Iâm sweeping away the cobwebs from this space with a few random and superficial thoughts about Space Sweepers, with the emphasis on Richard Armitage who plays another dislikeable James â this time, Sullivan. Even though dystopian sci-fi isnât my favourite genre, Space Sweepers is good-natured fun and the special-effects are impressive (although I am easilyâŠ
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Richard Armitage Blog Reunion day
Richard Armitage Blog Reunion day
I feel like an interloper by participating in this celebration. Iâve only been blogging for two years and even then it has been a lazy, mostly reactive, effort. But I am a long-term Richard Armitage adorer who has lurked on blogs for many years before dipping my toes into blogging.
I want to acknowledge the bloggers who over the years have informed, entertained, inspired, provoked and supportedâŠ
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This is part two of my answers to Guyltyâs DistRAction Challenge. Estherâs part two is here.
Part one here:
15. Favourite quote of a chaRActer?
16. Saddest chaRActer death? Guy of Gisborneâs death because it marked the end of Guy of Gisborne (obviously) and also the happy duel-purpose watching of Robin Hood, with my young son on Saturdays, at 7.45pm. I still get delicious nostalgic shivers at the weekend in anticipation of regular Guy doses at that time .
R.I.P. Gisborne the Glorious
17. Favourite century? My favourite century is the 18th but Richard hasnât graced that time â so far (apart from Clarissa but that was audio). I donât know â preferably one where facial hair wasnât obligatory. I love his 21st century personas but it would be nice to see him in a different period â 18th-century highwayman, stern Edwardian, swashbuckling pirate, scheming Plantagenet King (but not with King Oberonâs hair â is that possible?) noble ancient-Roman âŠ
18. Your consolation show, i.e. your go-to show when you need distRAction? If I didnât allow myself to only watch North and South once a year on my birthday I would probably choose that for comforting escapism. I donât tend to watch individual episodes of my favourite RA series. Oddly, itâs probably Hannibal as I enjoy it so much or Strike Back.
19. Theatre or small/big screen? Nothing beats the excitement of seeing Richard Armitage live, even being in the same room is enough, but these opportunities are few and far between, so Iâll pick the small screen, as there tends to be more Armitage screen time and I enjoyed the anticipation of seeing him week after week (which I could have had with The Stranger if Iâd been more disciplined).
20. Best costume/look? No, I really canât choose: there is Gisborneâs leather â any black leather-clad Armitage, Richard impeccable in suits, particularly with an open necked white shirt, his Berlin Station great great-coat with the turned-up collar, his so sexy fitted Spooks and Hannibal jackets, the bomber jackets of Berlin Station and The Stranger, the beige raincoat in the latter âŠ.Â
Exhibits 1-6
But then again ..
.
21. Imagine your favourite chaRActer â assign them a colour, a scent and a chocolate flavour
Black, leather, Black Magic (the dark chocolates)
22. Your favourite audio book? David Copperfield. I want to drive through the streets with a megaphone, shake people vigorously by the shoulders, fly a plane with a streamer proclaiming how incredible Richard Armitageâs narration is: the astonishing variety of his accents is a revelation but also his love for his favourite book shines through in his sensitive and perceptive understanding of Dickensâs words.
23. Your favourite piece of fan art you own? I donât own many pieces but those that I have are treasured and made with such kindness, care and consideration that I donât want to choose one above the others. I did enjoy smirking secretly at my Gisbauble ( from the Flat Ritchie tour box) hanging from my tree this year, hidden in plain sight.
24. If you had the opportunity to meet RA, what would you like to talk to him about? Iâve often fantasised about meeting Richard Armitage, bumping into him in the country side, being stuck in a lift together or on a long drive (and I often dream of him when heâs trying to get away from me, which seems an unfair waste of a dream).
As Iâm rather inarticulate and quiet, I would want to feel on safe ground with my subject. As I love film, and can talk relatively volubly on the subject, we would have lots to discuss (as well as which side of the bed he prefers!).
25. Anything you dislike about the fandom? I like the fandom a lot more than I dislike it. The odious quibbling, divisive party-lines, blind adoration (although I can be guilty of that) is tiresome but expected in a wildly varied group who like different facets of the divine one. The thing I do dislike â and I feel really mean saying this â and there have are some breathtakingly good pieces, which I admire â are some of the drawings and paintings of RA, where his features are slightly wonky (and I can be guilty of these). A personal bug-bear of mine also is seeing Armitage cute-sified, but I mean no criticism of others. I just donât like to see my potent fantasy figure emasculated.
Thanks for reading and thanks Guylty for providing this distRAction!
*I apologise if Iâve used any images without permission. I will credit where I can but I have no idea where some originated from. Please let me know if I have used any of your images and I will either remove them or credit.
Meeting the Richard Armitage DistRAction Challenge â part two This is part two of my answers to Guylty's DistRAction Challenge. Esther's part two isâŠ
Wonderful Guylty has provided a fun challenge over at her place as a much-needed distraction for these difficult days. She is posing 25 questions about the inestimable Richard Armitage (not that I need much more encouragement to be distRActed over RA but spirits keeping up, yes). Esther has answered the call magnificently on her blog here  and this is my contribution â I found it rather challenging, partly because I am incapable of making choices (and Iâll probably change my mind tomorrow).
1. Which series would you like to have seen a sequel of? Strike Back. The awful execution footage was faked and John Porter returns for more derring-do adventures, looking hunky and lethal and narrow-eyed.
2. Which film/series do you think is underrated? Leaving aside the missing Urban and the Shed Crew, (teeth-gnash) I would like to have seen Hannibal reach a larger audience. Richardâs skilled performance as the Great â Red â Dragon was extraordinary and showcased what a truly great, versatile, actor he is.
3. Your current favourite show?  Well I wouldnât call it my favourite show but for the novelty of its relative newness, Iâm still drooling through re-watches of The Stranger â despite my reservations. I am also working my way through Robin Hood on the BBC iPlayer (even though I have the DVDs) and no doubt will do the same with Spooks (ditto). And Iâm also watching Hannibal as a delayed RD5 anniversary.
4. Whatâs your favourite episode of your favourite show? I canât possibly pick a favourite show but if I go with my currents, I particularly love the last episode of Hannibal for the homoerotic tussle with Will in the hotel and the lean mean Dolarhyde machine.
5. Â Least favourite episode of your favourite show? My least favourite episodes, full stop, are those in Robin Hood and Berlin Station 3 when Richard didnât appear for these are devoid of colour, filled with greyness, ashen, desolate, barren, a joyless desert.
6.  Which question would you like RA to answer in a Q&A? Apart from why Dolarhyde signed his name as John Crane in the Brooklyn Museum visitor book (and Iâm not bloody asking that again) there was one question that I really wanted to ask but canât remember. As a placeholder question, I would like to know if he would be prepared to live at the bottom of my garden in an Armitage hermitage. No thatâs silly. In lieu of the other question Iâll ask what was the incident from his real life that was used in The Stranger. Did he lock someone in a cellar, decapitate an alpaca, bury someone in the woods? We must be told.
7. Whatâs the best scene ever? I think the âHe was her brotherâ scene in N&S takes some beating. Nicholasâs casual mention of Margaretâs brother sets in motion the gloriously happy ending. We see the slow realisation on Johnâs face and the cloud lifting. Beautifully played. It breaks the tension of us knowing something that he didnât and misunderstood badly.
Credit: north-and-prejudice.tumblr.com
8. Which audiobook would you like RA to read? Iâd rather watch than listen to Richard but I still bend an ear to his audiobooks, as I consume anything RA produces. Iâd love to hear RA narrate more Dickensâs works. Fingersmith by Sarah Walters would be enticing.
9. Which show did you think you wouldnât like but you did? Strike Back. Soldiers, guns, patriotism, upholding the Establishment, no thank you. Apart from the achingly beautiful Richard, the series had more heart and depth than I expected, the storylines were gripping and RAâs emoting and comic timing were a revelation.
10. Which show did you think you would like but didnât? The Stranger. I wasnât expecting Dostoevsky but I didnât expect it to insult the intelligence of its audience. Although I wouldnât say I didnât like it, wearing my RA goggles I really enjoyed certain âaspectsâ â Richard was a picture of suave, beardless perfection and he gave an affecting performance. The drama had thrills and it exposed more people to Richard Armitage, which is fantastic and hopefully will bring him more quality work.
11. Which episode did you watch more than five times?  Iâve watched most of Richard Armitageâs work more than five times! I donât tend to watch episodes of the multi -series, like Spooks, Robin Hood, Berlin Station, individually as I prefer to re-watch them as a whole. Spooks however is returning to the BBCiplayer, now as a comforting salve of terrorism, bombs and viruses, to comfort the nation during the pandemic. I do love Series 7, Ep. 7, when Lucas is in Russia looking glorious. It is absolute perfection of an episode, a nail-biting, thrilling, shocking mini film.
12. Your favourite kiss? Hmm, which to choose? N&S obviously is one, but perhaps it is too respectful for me (RAâs kisses often seem to be chaste and reverential). Iâm rather fond of âPeteâ and his jawline when kissing Ros in Spooks âŠ
but Iâm going to plump for the snogs between Esther and Daniel in Berlin Station, which are passionate but often have a delicious undercurrent of ambiguity to them.
13. Favourite season finale? I wonât be alone with this choice, the North and South station scene. A magical, gut-wrenching, perfect conclusion, with sublime music. It is the Armitage scene that has the most emotional impact on me. Even my mother was crying and she had served during the WWII and never cried. She said afterwards, âUm, whatâs the name of that actor, he was rather good!â Yes he was.
14. Most annoying character? I donât find any of RAâs characters really annoying. I didnât like Craigâs jumper in Casualty, John Standringâs hat-ted hair in Sparkhouse or The Dreaded Beard in any of RAâs guises. Grumpy Thorin would be annoying if he wasnât so majestic. Myopic drunken sad-sack Astrov is a near contender but then he is an environmentalist and looks beautiful in a waistcoat.
Perhaps this will count in terms of an annoying character. Something dreadful happened when I was watching episode 3 of The Stranger. When Adam went to visit Vicki, the teacher, he scratched his nose at the door. I paused the screen to admire the magnificent Armitage downward glance and, the horror!, the freeze-frame had morphed the beautiful one into looking exactly like Mr Bean! It was the raised eyebrows as he looked up. Now I canât un-see it. Even when I was watching his Astrov there was the occasional expression that suggested MB again. I beg you not to do the same!
Thatâs it for part one, thanks for reading. Iâll be back with the final 10 questions when I have the answers.
*I apologise if Iâve used any images without permission. I will credit where I can but I have no idea where some originated from. Please let me know if I have used any of your images and I will either remove them or credit.
Meeting the Richard Armitage DistRAction Challenge â part one Wonderful Guylty has provided a fun challenge over at her place as a much-needed distraction for these difficult days.
The Voice - Richard Armitage speaks
The Voice â Richard Armitage speaks
Not only is Richard Armitage exceptionally beautiful but he is a great actor and a funny, decent, intelligent man. In fairness, with these attributes, he should really have a high-pitched squeaky voice, helium-gas high â to add balance. But he doesnât. The heavenly one has a rich, labia-twanging timbre, a fantastic range from roar to whisper â and if that isnât enough, he is a master of accents.
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Favourite Richard Armitage âIn Characterâ Images
Favourite Richard Armitage âIn Characterâ Images
In her recent Armitage Weekly Round Up, Guylty included a Tumblr  post from Fizzy Custard of favourite R.A. âin characterâ pics. Guylty asked âWhich are yours?â There was a flurry of responses with gorgeous examples of the captured Richard Armitage: Esther Guyltyâs own favourites Mezz Widoedm53 There may be more that Iâve missed.
So hereâs my small selection of the Armitage characters I haveâŠ
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Part one here Sunday The day began with a terrible panic as I had lost my stewardâs card and didnât think that I could do my stint at the photo shoot. Luckily someone had handed it to one of the staff (which didnât surprise me as the attendees were proving to be generous kind people).
The queues for photos with the guests started to form. I should have mentioned before that there were signs showing the guestsâ names, indicating where people should queue. Seeing âRichard Armitageâ on the sign increased the anticipation, before he appeared, and I made sure to hover in his area of the room for my stewarding duties. Richard arrived, dressed similarly to before, apart from substituting his hoodie for a thin grey jumper, and took his position. But, WHAT!!!! He was now giving hugs (or arm contact anyway) to everyone he was posing with. I waved to Guylty, who was in the queue, and we then spoke excitedly about her impending hug but I still felt bitterly disappointed. What a difference a day makes. Then thought, sod it. Iâve spent so much money already, what would ÂŁ45 matter. Luckily we werenât busy so I abandoned my stewarding post and flew (Iâm over 50 and over-weight, but I flew) to the other side of the hotel to buy another photograph and was just in time. Red-faced and puffing I joined the queue.
We were still told not to touch him, which contradicted his behaviour. This time I made eye-contact with a gimlet stare, so that Iâd remember his expression (of resignation, no doubt), obediently stayed on my mark and my dream came true: my arm briefly round his pleather-clad , I think, waist (he felt surprisingly slight) and his hand lightly on my back. Afterwards I was tearful again. Ridiculous. What is it with this man? It was a glorious moment, a memory that will stay with me for a long time. His change of mind/heart made me wonder what more he would have given if there had been a third day of photo shoots, a tango-style clinch or even a North & South-style snog perhaps. Arm dream come true I have mixed feelings about my consuming desire to touch and be touched by Richard Armitage, which overrode any consideration for his feelings â and much has been written already about Hug-Gate. Yes he is an experienced professional. He chose to do the Con, and presumably was well paid, but that doesnât stop me feeling uneasy about participating in a paid transaction that he wasnât exactly enthusiastic about â the beautiful reluctant âgigoloâ [Joke, joke, this is a joke. Iâm not seriously comparing being paid to be photographed with fans to an act of prostitution, but then again â no stop.]
Richard gave another Q&A in the afternoon and he seemed more at ease. I had a couple of questions I wanted to ask and, as the queue wasnât long, I joined it â without a qualm. This was an astonishing thing for me to do as I can be crippled by shyness and dread public-speaking. That I felt confident enough speaks volumes for the non-judgmental, liberating, atmosphere at the Fannibal con, and it helped that no one knew me. The first question I considered seemed so convoluted (about RA getting into character of Dolarhyde during the Hobbit promo in China) that I knew Iâd make a mess of it. It turns out that Iâm quite capable of making a mess of a simple question too. When my time came, I made eye-contact and asked him why, as Dolarhyde, he had signed the name John Crane in the Brooklyn Museum register. Was it his idea because he had played so many Johns before? For a moment he looked nonplussed and then said. âIt was in the book, wasnât it?â.  Someone in the audience shouted out that it was. Then RA chided, âIâve read the book!â Oh no, not another finger wagging! Well Iâve read Red Dragon too and didnât think it was John Crane, but couldnât remember. I felt a right idiot. A wasted opportunity. When I spoke to Guylty afterwards, she said that it was Paul Crane in the book and she had been shouting this in the audience.
No rest for the Richard. After the Q&A, he and Mads had another autograph-signing session. It is obvious from comments RA has made in the past, that he believes in a strong work ethic. This was evident at the Con, in his patient, [stoical!] , non-chatty, conscientious application of his duties and considered responses to questions.
I had two items to be signed by RA: the staggeringly sexy promotional photograph, sold at the Con, of Dolarhyde in his zipped-up black leather jacket and then Guyltyâs creation, the Flat Ritchie log book, part of a wonderful fan project instigated by her, which is travelling the world.
Queuing up for his signature, we were given pens to write our names on our autograph cards so that the guests presumably wouldnât have difficulty spelling names etc. I toyed with the idea of writing âI love youâ after my name, in the hope that Richard would write it automatically without noticing (perhaps I should have written Paul Crane, ho ho). He did anyway write an approximation of âLoveâ for many of his autographs that weekend â it looks like âLol.â (Laugh out loud?). Presumably itâs illegible to avoid him being sued multiple times for breach of marriage promise.
Richardâs signature in the log-book seems to end in an ice-cream flourish
Beforehand, Kate and Guylty and I had discussed the best place for RA to sign the log. Kate sensibly suggested asking him to sign the back page as it was flat. Iâve just noticed that he signed the opposite page, avoiding the pretty patterned page.
I have alluded to the Wizard of Oz in the heading but I did feel like the Cowardly Lion approaching Oz, except that this wizard was a 6ft+ hunk not a wee man. I still tugged my forelock afterwards.
When my turned came, I passed the photo and log-book to RAâs minder for approval, expecting him to whip out a thick black marker pen and redact certain passages in the log. He passed the photo of Dolarhyde to Richard and I blurted out, âPlease donât write on your face,â my stupid sense of humour, which he sensibly but thrillingly (masochist me) ignored. The following account was included in Guyltyâs blog but, for the sake of completion, this is what happened when I asked RA to sign the log:
I wish I could recount an articulate and fascinating conversation with him. The truth is that, flustered as usual, I garbled something incoherent like âThis is Flat Ritchie, heâs travelling round the world in a box. Heâs been to the States twice and round Europe and weâre putting gifts in and taking them outâ. He said âAh, impressiveâ and then asked if he should address it to an individual or in general and I stammered, âAn individual â no, in generalâ. I wish I had been collected enough to suggest a message. He was poker-faced, eyes down, but when I said âIt would mean the world to us if you signed itâ (which he was doing anyway) he looked up and my heart stopped.
I was a bogus Fannibal at the Con. My reason for attending was solely to meet Richard so I didnât seek out photo opportunities with the other Hannibal guests or attend many Q&As, but I did get Mads Mikkelsenâs autograph. He is a fine actor, fabulous as Hannibal, and I now admire him as a person. Watching him interacting with fans, his eyes and smile would stay on a person â even after they were walking away â and didnât switch quickly to the next in line. The affection he showed to attendees was truly touching and he was such a good sport. When he was autographing my card, I was flustered with him too and muttered something like âYou are so lovely and warm with the fansâ (this wasnât a jibe at RAâs reserve) and Mads misheard and said âYes, they are greatâ and shook my hand.
Madâs autograph My last sighting of Richard was at the closing ceremony. He was sitting, a picture of awkward handsomeness, not apart on a stage but at a table with the other guests, in a very crowded but happy room of Fannibals and Armitage-loving Hannibal imposters. Each guest gave a brief farewell speech. RA spoke of people coming together from all over the world, of the camaraderie, and how he was also a misfit. He gave a shout-out to an attendee dressed as the Vicar of Dibley and two jokers who had used hotel sheets to dress as ghosts, on his suggestion for a costume. Jeremy Knight had also praised the lateral-nature of the Fannibals. And he was right. They are a lovely, inclusive, warm and generous group. I never for a moment felt too old, too awkward, too self-conscious (except in His presence). I met two lovely fellow fans Guylty and Kate, the latter I was able to witness literally walking on air after presenting a delighted RA with Jillâs Gymkhana to sign, and I made a new friend, Debbie, a fellow steward, bogus Fannibal, and long-time Armitage fan.
Whatever RAâs reasons for attending, he gave a wonderful generous gift of closer contact with fans (which I doubt was his most relaxing experience) and Iâm so grateful. If this is a facetious, even carping, account of three memorable days in February, it is because I am unable to master or channel my intense feelings, on seeing him in the flesh, and put them into sensible words. If Richard does appear at more conventions and you are tempted to go, can afford it and are able to travel there, donât hesitate â and I highly recommend volunteering as a steward. It was an amazing experience, a rare opportunity to be near to and observe an Object of Desire for a prolonged time. I donât regret a second of the adventure and am still in a state of bliss.
 #Richardarmitage Weâre off to see the Dragon, the wonderful Dragon of - um- RD5 Part one here Sunday The day began with a terrible panic as I had lost my stewardâs card and didnât think that I could do my stint at the photo shoot.
Part one (Any similarities to other RDC5 accounts, i.e. by Kate and Guylty!, is entirely coincidental. Mercifully my account will diverge at various points and it wonât read so much like a version of Groundhog Day.)
Red Dragon 5 Convention? Pah! I couldnât be seen dead there. I adore Richard Armitageâs Dolarhyde but wasnât mad about Hannibal itself â at least not enough to attend a convention. Why had RA agreed to attend? It seemed demeaning. I wasnât a Fannibal. Iâd feel a fraud and might be uncovered and shamed in some grotesque and horrible rite. It was expensive and indulgent. But the devil [dragon?] on my shoulder started to gain the upper hand. âItâs the Armitage!â, it muttered, âHeathrow isnât farâ. I had also unexpectedly been repaid a large bill. The Con would be a chance to get a photograph with him at last, after previous appalling attempts, and â itâs the Armitage! In person. By the time Iâd decided to go, the Gold tickets had gone but there were still Regular tickets. So I bought one. Hannibal himself, Mads Mikkelsen, was announced and, for a while, Hugh Dancy, and I couldnât wait.
My memory isnât good enough to relate all that RA said nor are my photography skills worth exposing. Such wonders have been archived in the RDC5 blogs of Guylty, who captured the experience so well and took wonderful photos, and Servetus who diligently harvested tweets and images. Kate also has written some great posts about RDC5. Here are a few scattergun reminisces and thoughts of mine.
Friday The Con was held at the Renaissance Hotel, which was the perfect setting â the long corridors had the sinister look of those in The Shining (but then I suppose most hotel corridors do).
The first sighting of Richard was at the opening ceremony. One by one the guests came on stage, RA second before last. After some gloriously silly shadow-puppetry, foreshadowing the Red Dragonâs entrance, he appeared, not seeming as tall as expected, and, as if in character, wearing a leather jacket, black jeans and boots, with dark short hair and not too much beard (hurrah). Dolarhyde was back on stage.
Hello Dolly!
RA was absurdly handsome â of course â and looked healthier and younger than his drawn and frail appearance in photographs last year. Maybe it was the weird situation of the Hannibal con or my excited nerves but I felt uncharacteristically emotional seeing him in the same room, more so than on a previous occasion in Leeds. Perhaps it was the warm reception of the audience cheering and responding to his friendliness and good-naturedness (on stage).
Saturday I had volunteered to steward at the event and was luckily given a slot at both the Saturday and Sunday photo sessions. This was a privileged opportunity to spend time observing the Glorious One, although I alternated between neglecting my duties to peer surreptitiously at him and then reluctantly averting my gaze because I felt like a sinister voyeur. RA was dressed in similar dark clothes to the previous day but his manner was quite different: face set, avoiding eye contact and looking stiff and uncomfortable. On stage, addressing the Fannibals, he could play to the audience, be in character; it is not the same as meeting people individually, as himself or a version of himself.
We were told that, as stewards, we could leap in to the photo queues when we saw an opportunity. What! Not queue for ages patiently? I canât do that! Iâm British! I stubbornly joined the end of the queue for Richard Armitage. We had been warned off inappropriate touching or lifting (like that was going to happen with a 6ft+ man). When near to the object of desire we found out that Richard had asked not to be hugged. This was in stark contrast to the other side of the room where other Hannibal guests, Mads Mikkelsen and Jeremy Davies, were squeezing the life out of fans and I had been looking forward to a similar bear-hug with RA. Disappointing but I canât blame him, whatever his reasons.
When my turn came I just couldnât look him in the eye, due to my own shyness and awareness of the disparity between my rapture and his likely discomfort. Â I lurched next to the Armitage, looked at the camera, thanked him, all of it a blur.
Just as I was leaving I felt a deep voice vibrating really close to my ear as, giraffe-like, Richard had swooped down from a great height to whisper, âYou stepped off the mark!â Small crumbs, I know, but his voice was so intimate and unexpected that it shot volts through me. What had I done? Groped him by mistake? Was it because my sleeve had âaccidentallyâ touched his? I realised later that there were taped marks on the floor to indicate where to stand.  I seem to bring out the headmaster in him: the last time at Leeds for the Urban and the Shed Crew premier I had received an admonishment from him for not taking a selfie properly and now here was another finger-wagging.
     Finger-wagging
 I still donât know what the implications of not standing on the mark were â a badly composed photograph or standing too near to a guest perhaps. It was too late to do anything about it anyway.
Here is one of many replica poses by RA from the photo shoot.
After the photographs there was a Richard Q&A, he seemed slightly more relaxed but still rather diffident. These are the best of my shaking photos, which is not saying much.
I love the bit of hair sticking up at the back of his head.
From my position RA was quite difficult to see, because of the elaborate flower crowns, so my best view was of the enlarging screen at the side.
Most of the Q &A responses have been reported elsewhere so I wonât repeat them but one of his answers struck a chord with something Iâd been contemplating over the weekend, and previously. He said that during the run of the Crucible his face changed considerably (Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde came to mind) until at the end he thought that he had aged 10 years. He said that when he met Yael Farber in New York later she didnât recognise him (presumably his youthful looks had sprung back). Having the opportunity to gaze at his ever handsome but mellow features, I could see few vestiges of Lucas, Guy, Thornton etc, Daniel even â although of course he was still playing a role of sorts at the convention.
 John Thornton
So different: John, Lucas, Guy, Daniel and John, with Richard I know RA had different hair, lighting etc in these roles and he is older now but not to the degree of making it difficult to believe he is the same man inhabiting these roles. It shows what a truly remarkable actor he is. The many faces of Richard Armitage was further brought home later in my hotel room. Not being able to resist watching the Hobbit for the hundredth-millionth time I marvelled at the strangeness of watching the distanced, filmed, performance of a heavily made-up Armitage in New Zealand when he was in reality at the hotel that weekend.
When the Q&A ended and we were filing out, the screen curiously started showing images of Guy of Gisborne, rather than Dolarhyde, so I had stay and watch.
Itâs not like working in a coal mine but these conventions must still be hard work. The Saturday involved hundreds of small interactions with fans during the photo shoots; next came the Q&As then, very soon after, Richard and Madâs autograph session, which took nearly three hours. The guests must have been exhausted. I certainly felt tired and emotional.
Part two to follow âŠ
Weâre off to see the Richard, the wonderful Richard of â um â RDC5 Part one (Any similarities to other RDC5 accounts, i.e. by Kate and Guylty!, is entirely coincidental. Mercifully my account will diverge at various points and it won't read so much like a version of Groundhog Day.)
Make yourself at home, Flat Ritchie
Make yourself at home, Flat Ritchie
Good things have all come at once. There was a wonderful surprise waiting for me at home on Wednesday. The international jet setter Flat Ritchie had come to visit. Then, after parched months with only ears being treated to the magnificent one, itâs raining visual man â Armitage at Sundance.  And there will be Red Dragon con next weekend.
But first, I have to be a good host to FR. Iâm not braveâŠ
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