The above link goes to an article at The Scotsman. One of the treasures that will be on display in this collection is a tiny pair of miniatures in lockets painted by Nicholas Hilliard of Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley.
Here is a link to the National Galleries of Scotland. If you are unable to make it to the exhibit (like me!), there is a catalog of the miniatures available from the SNPG shop for £9.95.
The link goes to the BBC article on the painting. Be sure to click on the “enlarge picture” for the full view.
For those of you in the UK, the Elizabeth I program starring Helen Mirren will start on Channel 4 on Thursday, September 29. The link goes to the Channel 4 page about the mini-series. Just from the few pictures I’ve seen, I think Helen Mirren makes a good older Elizabeth. I’m probably biased though, since I’ve always admired her as an actress!
Hurricane update: The current track is still keeping us clear of the worst in central Texas, although we’re looking at the possibility of a lot of rain if the storm gets pushed back into our area early next week by an approaching cold front. I know my house is okay because we’re on a hill, but there are a lot of areas around Austin that can be flooded if we get a lot of rain over a short period of time. And once again, for those of you might have had to evacuate, I hope you’re somewhere safe and sound now.
As some of you know by now, I live in Texas and yes, we have a big hurricane aiming towards us. I’ve already gotten a couple of emails, and I just wanted to let everyone know that I appreciate them thinking about me. I live in a small town about 25 miles east of Austin, so I’m not very close to the coast and I will not be evacuating. With the current track (always subject to change), it looks like we’ll get some rain and moderate winds where I am. If the track returns to the forecast path of yesterday, then we may still have a category 1 hurricane to deal with by the time Rita is in Central Texas. Should that happen, we’re going to pack up the animals and go into Austin, since our house is in a relatively high and exposed area where winds could be a problem.
I have no idea if I’ll be answering email quickly or not in the next few days, so I would appreciate your patience if you are waiting for a response on something. If there is strong rain on Saturday, the satellite internet at the house will probably be knocked out and I won’t be able to send anything or do any updates. If things turn worse for those of us inland, we’ll probably be obsessively watching the Weather Channel, but I might want to deal with Tudor things to take my mind off the other stuff!
And, of course, any readers who are in an area of potential danger, please take care of yourself!
Please, please, if you wish to send me a suggestion, etc. send email directly to my address mentioned on the Send Mail page and not through the forms. Those forms are just for Pen Pal Messages, Query Submissions and New Link Submissions. And PLEASE check that you have typed your email address correctly. I was just trying to get back to someone who sent a suggestion and it bounced back. Thanks!
The link above goes to the Red Cross
Part of the reason I’ve been slow in posting updates this week was that I’ve been trying to keep up with the unfolding tragedy going on in my neighboring states in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I know a lot of my readers are overseas, and I don’t know how much coverage this is getting in the rest of the world. It’s bad… there is no other way of putting it. If you can help with a donation, please do so.
After finally sorting out which was which, I’ve got informaiton on the two upcoming television programs on Elizabeth.
One is starring Helen Mirren as Elizabeth I and Jeremy Irons as the Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Interestingly, Irons is also playing Leicester in the upcoming film with Cate Blanchett. Typecasting as Robert Dudley?
Here is a link with more information about the Helen Mirren program, including a small photo: http://www.companypictures.co.uk/elizabeth.asp Funny enough, Helen Mirren is getting a little bit of typcasting too… she’ll be playing the second Queen Elizabeth (the current monarch, of course) in another upcoming program. Some of you have probably also seen her as Queen Charlotte in The Madness of King George.
The second will be later this year on BBC One and will be starring Anne Marie Duff as Elizabeth. Here is a BBC blurb about it:
Anne-Marie Duff stars as The Virgin Queen in a new drama for BBC ONE about the life of one of Britain’s greatest monarchs, Elizabeth I.
Paula Milne’s powerfully authored drama about the long and eventful life of England’s iconic Queen is currently filming against a backdrop of some of Britain’s most beautiful houses and landscapes.
The Virgin Queen explores the full sweep of Elizabeth’s life: from her days of fear as a potential victim of her sister’s terror; through her great love affair with Robert Dudley; into her years of triumph over the Armada; and finally her old age and her last, enigmatic relationship with her young protégé, the Earl of Essex.
The cast also includes: Joanne Whalley as Queen Mary; Dexter Fletcher as the Earl of Sussex; Tara Fitzgerald as Kat Ashley; Sienna Guillory as Lettice Knowles; Tom Hardy as Robert Dudley; Ian Hart as William Cecil; Robert Pugh as Lord Chancellor Gardiner; Kevin McKidd as the Duke of Norfolk; Hans Matheson as the Earl of Essex; Emilia Fox as Amy Dudley; Ben Daniels as Francis Walsingham; Ewen Bremner as Sir James Melville; and Bryan Dick as Thomas Wyatt.
Also, I’ve added the older “Gunpowder, Treason and Plot” to the Tudor movies list, since it started out before the death of Elizabeth I. I still haven’t seen this program, so I didn’t release that it did include stuff from Tudor times.
