ARTICLE: R3 Channel 4 has cast a "Body Double" for Richard, for next documentary

Quote from the article (URL below):

Quote :

The broadcaster has started working with the 26-year-old, who suffers from the same form of scoliosis as Richard, and will attempt to discover whether his disability would have prevented him from fighting at the battle.

Viewers will see the man put on a suit of armour wearing 30kg and attempt to recreate Richard’s charge at Bosworth....

YORKSHIRE POST ARTICLE HERE

If it's done respectfully, it sounds like a good idea.  The results should be interesting.

Interesting, but remember that Richard would have been in training since what, his pre-teen years? Maybe earlier? And from what I've read, his scoliosis would have come on gradually probably during his teenaged years. I guess my point is that no matter how this experiment turns out, Richard would have had the advantage of training before his scoliosis became more severe, likely allowing him more freedom of movement than might be first imagined.

I keep thinking about my grandmother, who created lovely crocheted laces while suffering  severe arthritis in her hands and developed what is referred to as swan-neck deformity. Because she learned to crochet when she was young, she was able to "train" her hands to continue the delicate work of creating laces even after the deformity set in. So I'm thinking the similar situation could easily have applied to Richard.

Hope I'm making some kind of sense and not just rambling on. (At least I know what I'm trying to say!   )

MAHibbard wrote:

Interesting, but remember that Richard would have been in training since what, his pre-teen years? Maybe earlier? And from what I've read, his scoliosis would have come on gradually probably during his teenaged years. I guess my point is that no matter how this experiment turns out, Richard would have had the advantage of training before his scoliosis became more severe, likely allowing him more freedom of movement than might be first imagined.

That's a very good point. I think he started training at thirteen when he went to live with Warwick. I believe there's a record of a suit of armor being made for him at that time. But he would have been much stronger than his slender limbs suggested, very practiced in warfare (two major battles and a number of sieges and skirmishes). He would have known from an early age how to ride and control a destrier as well as how to wield various weapons (lance, sword, and battle axe?--someone who's better informed than I am regarding late medieval warfare, please feel free to correct me). This young man may share his body build and a similar type of scoliosis with a similar time of onset, but he can't possibly share Richard's training, nor would he be comfortable in armor whereas Richard spent large amounts of time wearing it, not to mention that his must have been the finest quality armor made specially for him. And if the young man fails to charge successfully down a hill wielding a battle axe (which is how I imagine they'll stage it), will that prove that Richard couldn't have done what even his enemies said he did, fight manfully until his last breath? Will it prove that he "couldn't" have fought in those other battles, leading the van at Tewkesbury and possibly at Barnet? Of course not. Even his detractors know he did those things. We don't need a "body double" to prove it.

So what sounded like a good idea when I first heard about it (the "body double" documentary) now seems questionable. Still, if the young man has no visible deformity except, say, a raised shoulder, he may help to end the "hunchback" myth. And if he succeeds in charging down Ambion Hill (whether or not that was how it really happened--I haven't read the latest Bosworth books) and makes Richard look heroic in so doing, that also all to the good.

As you can see, I have very mixed feelings about this project. Everything depends on the results--and on what the commentator says about Richard in the voice-over.

If they have him charging down the hill with a battle-axe, there's going to be much wailing from Ricardians who know he charged with a lance, killed the Tydder's standard bearer with it (which broke the lance) and then unseated 6'8" John Cheyne with the broken bit.

He came so very close to doing what he set out to do. I'm hoping they've hired someone who's been a reinactor. If he's a fan of Richard, so much the better. Richard's upper-body strength must have been tremendous, even if to look at him as he was wearing a doublet or armor you couldn't see it.