Reorganising- I Found...

I've been getting on with the sorting out I mentioned recently.

There's been a lot of shredding and recycling going on in my house over the weekend and the bin for dry recyclables is filling up quickly, unfortunately it isn't due for emptying for another week.

I have to admit that I don't like throwing magazines and newspapers away. I will, but only after I've checked that I've removed interesting items for future reference- and of course they then sit there waiting to be used or filed for future use...

So in my effort to get organised and make space for these items I've started on the book shelves, well the cardboard magazine files that I started with some years ago. And as I realised when I pulled out the first one, it was some years ago- 2004-5... That's what happens when something is so tidy you forget it's there.

I went through a dozen magazines, cut out snippets, pages, stapled where needed and then discovered I'd run out of the thin clear plastic A4 covers.

Well I did find a few interesting items. A piece about Priest's Holes and a short list of properties that contain them. I'm considering if I can put one of these 17th C. examples to use in a story set in a later time period.

Another item about the changing face of beauty and the power beautiful women could wield as a result.
Clever women throughout history have gained power by using their looks and their bodies to get what they wanted, and who could blame them when men decided their futures, and usually their views weren't considered at all.

I think I'm going to need to have a box just for the items that spark ideas as I go through- thank goodness for post-it notes.

Next for cannibalising are the old family history type magazines, and I know there are always useful and inspiring articles in those.

So I've made a start. Now I just need to be ruthless...

Some Actors Are Natural Costume Hero Models...

I know there are a few writers who almost swoon over Sean Bean's Sharpe, and I'm sure if I ask you'll tell me your favourite actor in a costume role.

Some actors just seem to suit historical costume and just don't look quite right in modern clothes- but that may just be me of course...

I like costume dramas - I always have - and we have been spoilt in the UK with the number that have been produced over the years- Pride and Prejudice, Poldark, the Onedin Line, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and many more.

Does anyone remember The Flashing Blade serial ? Early 1970's I think. A tale of love and adventure in French with voice dubbing that just didn't fit the actors, but probably helped get me hooked on romance and costume drama.

A friend at the writers' club went down to the south-west recently to see Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, because one of her favourite actors was in it- the guy who plays Becker in Primeval (Ben Mansfield) and for the part he has a beard, and very attractive with it he is too... :-)

She sent me a copy of the picture she was lucky enough to have taken with him, and I'm very certain one day that image will create a hero character in one of my novels.

There was mention of pirate scenarios from my friend...

A very long time ago when I lived down south I went to the Barbican to see the RSC doing Henry IV (both parts). That time it was Timothy Dalton (who years later played James Bond) playing Harry 'Hotspur' Percy.

I'd booked a ticket for both parts but actually only saw part 1. I was asked out to the theatre (by my now husband) elsewhere in the West End on the same night as my ticket for part 2. It wasn't much of a dilemma- my OH has a beard, so I chose him over Timothy Dalton... :-)

So please tell me, are there any actors or actresses (or characters) in costume dramas that you like or drool over?