The remains of England's King Richard III, killed in battle 500 years ago, may have been found in ancient ruins long-hidden by modern development: "a result beyond our wildest dreams." [Telegraph]

  • Wreckrob8

    Just a hunch, really.

  • http://www.zazzle.com/InfinitudeTortoises* An Infinitude of Tortoises

    “Richard was responsible for a lot of the laws that today uphold personal freedom – the right to justice whether rich or poor, the presumption of innocence, the clear title of property – so everyone has an interest in being able to piece together his full story.”

    Clearly, he had to be poleaxed.

    • Wreckrob8

      Our view of Richard is all a Shakespearean hatchet job to legitimate the Tudor dynasty which had little real claim to the throne. After the mess of the fifteenth century the best thing the Tudors had going was that they were not Plantagenets.

      • http://www.zazzle.com/InfinitudeTortoises* An Infinitude of Tortoises

        I trust Mr. Shakespeare was paid well for his PR work.

      • Brainspore

        Our view of Richard is all a Shakespearean hatchet job to legitimate the Tudor dynasty which had little real claim to the throne.

        The only claim to the throne that has ever really mattered is “which family has the most swordsmen at their disposal?”

      • Zhiva

         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6JczvS1PL4

      • Antinous / Moderator

        Our view of Richard is all a Shakespearean hatchet job to legitimate the Tudor dynasty which had little real claim to the throne.

        There wasn’t really a Tudor dynasty (which somewhat proves your point); they should still be classified under the House of Anjou.

        the best thing the Tudors had going was that they were not Plantagenets.

        Henry VII’s claim to the throne was that he was a distaff great-great-grandson of John of Gaunt, the progenitor of the Lancastrian faction, and that his paternal grandfather secretly married Katherine of Valois, (Lancastrian) Henry V’s widow.  The dubious claims were cemented by his marriage to Elizabeth of York.

        On a marginally related note, the marriage was brokered by Queen Elizabeth Woodville, the most beautiful woman in Britain, who had “heavy-lidded eyes like those of a dragon.”

  • Petzl

    What is up with the knights in armour at the dig site??

    I was expecting one to step up to the interviewee and whack him with a large fish.

    • Antinous / Moderator

      Probably Richard III’s fan club. They’re quite…..enthusiastic.

    • UFIA

       Oh, so then those aren’t robots?

  • CLamb

    Hmmm, buried under a car park.  Sounds like a mafia hit.

    • http://profiles.google.com/iandavidosmond Ian Osmond

      That’s as good a summary of the Wars of the Roses as any, really.

  • niktemadur

    “Ah, Ring Kichard, yes… but surely that’s not an anagram, that’s a spoonerism!”
    “If you’re going to split hairs, I’m going to piss off!”

    “A shroe! A shroe! My dingkom for a shroe!” – Ring Kichard the Thrid

    • Wreckrob8

      “A Porsche! A Porsche! My kingdom for a Porsche!”

      • niktemadur

        Borscht:  A Russian or Polish soup made with beets and usually served with sour cream.

        A borscht!  A borscht!  My Lincoln for a borscht!

  • Paul Renault

    “Skeleton found at dig may be Richard III”

    In other words:  “Skeleton found at dig may not be Richard III”

    • http://lemoutan.blogspot.com/ Lemoutan

      Dig found around skeleton may be Richard’s third.

  • Symbiote

    I went to school in the adjacent building (no longer a school, but the diagram shows the friary’s alter extending into what was the playground in 1996).  

    I knew the area was the one of the oldest parts of Leicester, but it’s still amazing to see maps from 3, 4 or 500 years ago and to recognise the street layout (and then to scroll down and think “that’s my school!” just over the wall.

    (I’d also like to see a map of Roman Leicester.)

  • Philboyd Studge

    Poor Uncle Dickie, that Ralph The Liar really did a hatchet-job on your legacy.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/PKXS423IBMYRITJ36ZZSGL6EMM history

    I’m a little suspicious at the speed in which a “suitable” candidate skeleton has been found. The claim that it shows signs of scoliosis is makes it more dubious as Richard’s deformities are the work of Tudor  propagandists.
    That they’re digging in a churchyard should mean there’d be hundreds of bodies buried there.

    • Antinous / Moderator

      It’s not buried in the churchyard; it’s buried under the choir of the church. The injuries are consistent with the story of his demise. And the fact that Tudor propagandists called him a hunchback doesn’t rule out scoliosis.

      They have a sample of his mtDNA from a relative and feel that the remains that they’ve found should produce usable DNA, so they should be able to confirm it.