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| England's King Richard III found after 500 years - Reuters Posted: 04 Feb 2013 09:10 AM PST  LEICESTER, England | (Reuters) - A skeleton with a cleaved skull and a curved spine entombed under a car park is that of Richard III, archaeologists said on Monday, solving a 500-year-old mystery about the final resting place of the last English king to die in battle. Cast by Shakespeare as a deformed tyrant who murdered two princes in the Tower of London, Richard was slain in a bid to keep his crown at the 1485 Battle of Bosworth Field, immortalised by the words: "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" In one of the most significant archaeological finds of recent English history, a team from the University of Leicester said evidence showed a skeleton found last year in excavations of a mediaeval friary under a city car park was that of Richard. "It's the academic conclusion ... that beyond reasonable doubt the individual exhumed at Grey Friars in September 2012 is indeed Richard III, the last Plantagenet king of England," lead archaeologist Richard Buckley said. The skeleton had 10 wounds, eight of which were to the head clearly inflicted on the battlefield. A photograph showed a sword had cleaved away part of the rear of the skull. A metal fragment was found between Richard's vertebrae. After the battle, the victor, the future King Henry VII, had Richard's naked body exposed to the people of Leicester to show the battle was won, ending the bloody 30-year civil conflict known as The Wars of the Roses between the houses of York and Lancaster. Other wounds were consistent with being caused after death when his body was taken from the battlefield to the nearby city of Leicester on the back of a horse. All of the wounds were from swords or daggers and it appeared his hands had been bound. Confirmation the bones were Richard's hinged on DNA taken from the skeleton matching that of Michael Ibsen, a Canadian-born furniture maker in London who genealogists said was the direct descendant of Richard's sister, Anne of York. Admirers of Richard hope that the discovery will fuel interest in the mediaeval monarch and dispel Shakespeare's physically impaired protagonist who said: "And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover ... I am determined to prove a villain." CROOKED BONES REVEAL KING'S SECRET The curvature of the spine, so ruthlessly mocked by Shakespeare and famously depicted by Laurence Olivier, was striking. After a detailed presentation focusing on the life, wounds and physique of Richard, Buckley, announced his conclusion to world media amidst cheers and applause. The project almost ended prematurely, but funds from countries ranging from the United States and Germany to Australia and Belgium kept it afloat. Richard, who died aged 32 after just two years on the throne, will be interred at Leicester Cathedral, which traces its history to a Saxon bishop in AD 680, in line with guidelines about burying bodies close to where they are exhumed. The grey, concrete car park with its red-brick walls and a payment hut, under which the bones were found contrasts sharply with the grandeur of traditional sepulchres for English kings and queens at Windsor Castle and Westminster Abbey. Asked whether the prime minister agrees with some Conservative MPs who said they believe the late king should receive a state burial, a spokesman for David Cameron said: "The decision on burial is a matter for Leicester University who hold the licence to exhume the remains." The evidence ends the centuries-old mystery which has fascinated historians in Britain and around the world and which has provided material for a welter of legends, one of which maintained the body was dug up in the reign of Henry VIII, thrown in a river and the stone coffin used as a horse trough. One of the most famous English kings, Richard's grave, which was lost after Henry VIII ordered the monasteries dissolved, had been as elusive as his reputation. Richard was cast by Shakespeare as a monster but supporters say he was enlightened and unfairly maligned by a victorious House of Tudor. "INFAMOUS RICHARD" There was also a DNA match with another unidentified descendant of Anne of York who wished to remain anonymous. The genetic match was especially significant as it was a rare type of DNA found in only a few percent of the population, said Turi King, a geneticist at the university. "It's really difficult to come to grips with the fact that there is some part of you that is part of somebody as famous or infamous as Richard III," Ibsen said in an interview, adding that he was stunned to find his royal connection. Unlike his mediaeval ancestor, Ibsen said he did not plan to put forward his family's claim to the throne: "I think our chances are long gone." Buckingham Palace declined comment on the importance of the discovery, which is expected to increase interest in Richard and bring more visitors to Leicester. The remains of the king were put on display on a black velvet cloth encased in a glass box for the media and other guests in a small room with a worn red carpet that is part of the University of Leicester's library. There was reverential silence as two security guards manned the door and a chaplain looked on. No photography was allowed as a mark of respect to the remains of the man who once ruled England. While the findings may solve the mystery about the whereabouts of the grave of Richard, the last Plantagenet king of England remains a complex figure whose life, made famous by Shakespeare's history play, deeply divides opinion. In a sign of the widespread public interest in Richard, photographs of his skull were published on the front pages of national newspapers in Britain on Monday and the academic briefing on the find was shown live on television news channels. A tough soldier and popular in northern England, Richard was crowned at Westminster Abbey in July 1483 after replacing his 12-year-old nephew Edward V on the throne after claims that the young prince and his brother, the sons of Richard's elder brother Edward IV, were illegitimate. The two boys later disappeared from the Tower of London, and their fate is one of the greatest unanswered historical questions. However, Richard has long been blamed for ordering, or even carrying out, the murder of the "Princes in the Tower". SHAKESPEARE'S TYRANT RICHARD Much of that is thanks to Shakespeare's "The Tragedy of King Richard the Third", which portrays him as a power-crazed, evil hunchback who killed off his rivals to get to the throne. Richard has been played by a multitude of actors including Olivier, David Garrick and Kenneth Branagh. Lines from the play include "Now is the Winter of our discontent" as well as "Where Eagles Dare" which became a film title. His supporters say Shakespeare's play is misleading, written as it was over a century later when Queen Elizabeth I, the granddaughter of Henry Tudor, who became Henry VII after his victory over Richard at Bosworth, was on the throne. "People can see he's been done a massive injustice and I think it gets them angry and I think they want people to look at the facts about this man and change everything that we've ... been told about him," said Philippa Langley, of the Richard III Society which launched the four-year search for the lost king. The level of international interest in the project was shown when the money nearly ran out and supporters from the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Belgium, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Britain came forward to help. Langley's mission is to re-write history. "No disrespect to Olivier because he was a brilliant actor, but that portrayal of Richard III is going to be consigned to the dustbin of history. (He) was a mediaeval man and mediaeval king," said Langley, adding: "He just wasn't the monster of Tudor legend." And the answer to the burning question of whether Richard killed the princes in the Tower? Langley, a pro-Richard devotee, was adamant. "The evidence that we have says he did not". (Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Maria Golovnina and Peter Millership) |
| Baltimore Ravens Beat San Francisco 49ers in Historic, Unusual Super Bowl - ABC News Posted: 04 Feb 2013 09:48 AM PST The Baltimore Ravens emerged Super Bowl champions after one of the strangest and most incredible Super Bowl games in recent memory. It's the second championship for the Ravens, who pulled out a 34-31 win over the San Francisco 49ers at the Superdome in New Orleans. The Super Bowl is the biggest spectacle in American sports, and each year becomes the most watched television event in history. This year, Jennifer Hudson kicked things off with a touching performance of "America the Beautiful" with a choir of students from Sandy Hook Elementary School. RELATED: Super Bowl XLVII: Top 6 Things to Know Alicia Keys accompanied herself on the piano for a long, jazzy rendition of the national anthem, before the coin toss which resulted in San Francisco receiving to start the first half. Although the game looked at one point like it was going to be a completely unexpected blow-out, with the Ravens leading 28-6 at the beginning of the 3rd quarter, the 49ers got some unusual help that turned the showdown into a much more exciting battle. About a third of the way into the 3rd quarter, right after a record-tying Ravens rushing touchdown, the power went out at the Superdome, knocking the lights and air conditioning out in the indoor stadium. The crowd of more than 71,000 strong, along with a lot of antsy players, coaches, and staff waited for 34 minutes for the power to fully come back on and the game to resume. In a statement, the NFL said authorities were "investigating the cause of the power outage," and law enforcement sources told ABC News it was just an issue with the building. That didn't stop many people on Twitter from jokingly blaming Beyonce, the energetic halftime performer who surprisingly reunited shortly with her former band Destiny's Child, for shutting down the power. After her performance, even her husband Jay-Z got in on it, tweeting "Lights out!!! Any questions??" VIDEO: Super Bowl 2013: Beyonce Rocks the Halftime Show The 49ers quickly followed the long delay with a touchdown, getting themselves right back into the game. Then just a few minutes later, they found themselves in the end zone again, and it appeared the power outage had flipped the momentum towards the 49ers. With a score of 31-29 with more than 7 minutes left in the game, San Francisco looked poised to make the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history, but the team, trying for its 6th title, wasn't able to overcome the Ravens lead. Baltimore was able to run out the clock, and the game ended with a final score of 34-31. Purple and gold confetti fell as the Ravens rushed onto the field and celebrated -- with some colorful language from quarterback Joe Flacco audible on the live broadcast, who was caught saying, "f***ing awesome" on CBS' cameras. The game was already historic thanks to the match-up for John and Jim Harbaugh, the first head coach brothers to ever face each other on football's biggest stage. It was also the final game for the future Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis, who is, as of the conclusion of the game retired from football. This is the fifth season in a row that the Ravens have made it to the playoffs, led by Coach John Harbaugh, and SB XLVII MVP Quarterback Joe Flacco. It's the team's first Lombardi trophy since 2000. Their victor tonight made them the only team left in the NFL to have never lost a Super Bowl in multiple appearances. |
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