In the chronology of Richard's life it's time to pick our way through the miasma of mid fifteenth century politics, and the chaotic reign of Henry VI.
I don't much like Henry and what he let be done to England and the lands we then held in France, so I'm going to avoid that for the moment and talk about Brad Pitt.

Just seen The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which gets a 5 star rating from Paul Trevor Bale. [That's a top rating!] It is in some ways an old fashioned film, in that it has a story to tell that it takes it's time telling. But then it is a romance, albeit with a difference.

Benjamin (Brad Pitt) is born in 1918 - old, and as his life progresses he gets younger. When she is only 7 Daisy meets him in the old people's home her grandmother moves into, which happens to be where Benjamin is being taken care of. After he has got a bit younger, and learned how to take care of himself, Benjamin goes out into the world and begins his adventures, that take him to, amongst other places, Russia, and an affair with Tilda Swinton. It is not until many years later that he comes home and meets the now grown up Daisy (Cate Blanchette) again. It is only when they have grown to almost the same age though, he getting younger, she older, that they become lovers. But it is a doomed love affair.

Told in flashback by Daisy's daughter, reading to her dying mother the diary Benjamin wrote and left her when he finally has to forsake her, it is a gorgeous looking film, with good performances from all. The Oscar though goes to the make up team who perform miracles, not only with the older Benjamin, but also with the ageing Daisy and the ever more youthful Benjamin. Brad Pitt in his teens looks stunningly beautiful.
Clearly one has to suspend disbelief, but this upside down tale is thoroughly engrossing, and at times, deeply moving. It is a long time since I had tears streaming down my face at the movies, but the end of Benjamin Button did the trick!

Tomorrow, back to Richard, or rather the battle royal between Richard's father, the Duke of York, and King Henry VI and his self seeking, mainly untalented courtiers. Things do not take long to get bloody!

Richard liveth yet